After a Year of Criticizing Council, Should I Run for It?

For a long time, the idea of running for Kamloops City Council was something I dismissed almost immediately whenever it came up.

Over the past several months, Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson has repeatedly suggested that I should consider running in the 2026 civic election. My initial response was always the same: no.

Not because I lack opinions about how this city is being governed, but because I worried about what it would mean for Kamloops Critic itself.

To be honest, this is not a decision I ever expected to seriously consider.

Kamloops Critic was built around independence. The goal was simple: examine Council decisions more closely, review reports and agendas in detail, question inconsistencies, and look beyond official statements and headlines. Running for Council changes that dynamic. Once you become part of the system, people naturally question whether criticism remains independent. Some will inevitably see it as political positioning.

That concern is legitimate, and I still take it seriously.

But the more I thought about it, the more I found myself asking a different question.

At what point does years of criticism create a responsibility to participate?

The Responsibility to Participate

There is a difference between criticizing decisions from the outside and being willing to sit at the table where those decisions are actually made.

Municipal government affects nearly every part of daily life in Kamloops. Infrastructure, development, policing, housing, taxation, and public safety are all shaped by decisions made at City Hall.

Over the last couple years, I have spent countless hours reviewing agendas, reports, policies, minutes, investigations, and Council discussions. One thing has become increasingly clear to me: too many important decisions move through the system with limited public awareness and limited scrutiny.

That does not mean every decision is wrong. It does not mean administration acts in bad faith. It also does not mean every closed meeting is inappropriate.

However, Council often presents the public with conclusions instead of context.

One area where I increasingly find myself aligned with the Mayor is the issue of closed meetings. Some discussions clearly need to happen privately, especially legal, labour, and land matters. Even so, I believe local governments can become too comfortable operating behind closed doors.

Council frequently tells residents only what it decided after the fact. Meanwhile, the discussions, disagreements, and reasoning that shaped those decisions remain hidden from the people expected to live with the outcomes.

Personally, I believe disclosure should happen at the earliest legitimate opportunity, not the latest possible moment.

Concerns About Public Participation

I have also become increasingly concerned about what appears to be a gradual reduction in meaningful public participation.

Over time, residents have seen public representation removed from committees. Public Inquiries disappeared from regular Council agendas. Automatic email responses were added to citycouncil@kamloops.ca discouraging expectations of engagement. Public events also became more controlled by limiting broader discussion and restricting conversations to one-on-one interactions.

On their own, each of these decisions may appear relatively minor. Together, however, they create a governance culture where public participation feels increasingly controlled, filtered, and managed rather than openly encouraged.

That concerns me.

I also believe local government has developed a tendency to treat administrative recommendations as though they carry an implied presumption of correctness. In many cases, Council appears to function less as a body critically evaluating recommendations and more as one validating work already substantially decided elsewhere.

What I Would Do Differently

If I were to run for Council, that would likely be one of the areas where my approach would differ.

I would not campaign on slogans like accountability, communication, or transparency because I believe those should be minimum expectations for anyone seeking public office. Those are not ambitious campaign promises. They are basic obligations.

What I would commit to is something more specific.

I would commit to reading deeper into recommendations before casting votes.

That includes asking more difficult questions when reports appear incomplete, assumptions appear unsupported, or public explanations appear insufficient.

Greater public disclosure should also happen whenever legally possible.

Most importantly, I would evaluate decisions through the lens of what is genuinely in the best interests of residents and the long-term health of the community, even when doing so may be politically uncomfortable.

That does not mean opposing administration for the sake of opposition, nor does it mean rejecting compromise or teamwork. Council cannot function effectively through constant conflict. Good governance requires professionalism, collaboration, and respect for differing viewpoints.

But collaboration should never come at the expense of independent judgment.

Elected officials are not there simply to ratify recommendations, preserve institutional comfort, or avoid difficult conversations. They are there to exercise oversight, apply scrutiny, and make decisions on behalf of the public.

The Kamloops Critic Question

If I ultimately decide to run, I will also need to carefully consider how Kamloops Critic operates moving forward and what boundaries would be appropriate. That question deserves serious thought, both for myself and for readers who have come to expect independent analysis from this platform.

I have not made a final decision about whether I will run.

But I also no longer believe the answer is automatically no.

What are your thoughts? Is it more valuable to remain entirely outside the system criticizing decisions after they happen, or to participate directly in the difficult process of making them?

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Disclosure: This article reflects personal thoughts regarding a possible Council campaign and is not a formal announcement of candidacy. No final decision has been made. Kamloops Critic remains independently operated and no campaign organization currently exists.