Welcome to the Duncan Taxpayers website.
My name is Mark Anderson and I am running as a candidate for City of Duncan Council in the upcoming municipal election to be held on 17 October 2026. Here are the candidates for Duncan Council in the October 2026 municipal election.
I believe the City of Duncan needs to change course from the direction Mayor Staples has steered during her two terms as Mayor of Duncan.
I do not believe the residents, taxpayers and businesses in Duncan have been well served by Duncan Council since Mayor Michelle Staples was first elected in 2018. I disagree with the ideological direction Mayor Staples and the Council members aligned with her have pursued over the last four years and I think it is worth noting that Mayor Staples and three members of the current Council who typically align themselves with Mayor Staples are not Duncan residents AND Duncan taxpayers.
I do not believe these Council members place Duncan’s taxpayers and businesses at the top of their priority list. Far from it. They have consistently voted to increase Duncan taxes while not being subject to those taxes themselves. They have not prioritized the needs of Duncan residents or Duncan businesses.
Only three members of the current Council are both Duncan residents AND Duncan taxpayers. These three are Councillors Gary Bruce, Carol Newington and now Mayor elect by acclamation Mike McKinlay. Two other Council members are residents of Duncan but not Duncan taxpayers while Mayor Staples and one other Council member are not Duncan residents or Duncan taxpayers.
On the matter of the ideological direction pursued by Mayor Staples and the current Council members aligned with her have pursued during her two terms in office, I note that in the 2022 election Councillor Gary Bruce, who is ideologically opposed to Mayor taples, received far more votes than any other candidate.
Clearly Councillor Bruce was the most popular candidate among Duncan voters. I was one of the over 800 Duncan voters who voted for him in 2022 and I will be voting for him again in the upcoming election.
Yet Councillor Gary Bruce was, and is, ideologically opposed to the direction Mayor Staples has taken the City and, over the last four years of the current, now outgoing, Council, Gary Bruce has been effectively sidelined and consistently outvoted by Mayor Staples and the four Council members who have typically aligned themselves with Mayor Staples.
I believe that needs to change. We need to elect a majority of Council members who are:
- ideologically aligned with Councillor Gary Bruce and;
- taxpayers in Duncan and thus subject to the taxes they vote to impose on Duncan’s taxpayers.
That is not the case with the current, now outgoing, Council If elected, my top priority will be “Putting Duncan’s Residents, Taxpayers And Businesses First.”
I have been a City of Duncan resident and taxpayer since 2007. I also operate a successful business serving Duncan and the Cowichan Valley, Greater Victoria and Nanaimo.
So I totally understand the leading issues that are most important to Duncan’s residents, taxpayers and businesses.
In my view those issues are keeping taxes in check; public safety; public infrastructure; maintaining safe and attractive neighbourhoods and a safe and attractive downtown core; maintaining the livability and small town character of Duncan; and creating and maintaining policies to promote and encourage local business.
I want to ensure that Duncan is, and remains, a prosperous small town that is an attractive place to live and visit.
The ways of accomplishing this are not a mystery or a closely guarded secret. The 18th century Scottish economist Adam Smith laid down the basic common features of successful nations and cities in his classic book, The Wealth Of Nations, first published in 1776 and still considered one of the most influential books ever written.
According to Adam Smith, successful nations and cities shared some common key characteristics. The governments of successful nations and cities were:
- serious about keeping their public finances in order. The governments of successful nations and cities are, in Adam Smith’s phrase, “not profligate” with public finances. Ensuring that the City of Duncan keeps taxes at reasonable levels and ensuring those tax dollars are used efficiently are essential. We are in a period of the highest inflation in 40 years. People and businesses are having trouble making ends meet and we simply cannot increase their municipal taxes to unaffordable levels;
- diligent in building and maintaining public infrastructure. As Adam Smith emphasized, societies function far better with good infrastructure than with poor infrastructure or without infrastructure. This is also one of the most basic, fundamental roles of local government;
- serious about maintaining public safety and the rule of law, without which society descends into anarchy and crime and public disorder become intolerable. Crime and public safety are very important issues for Duncan residents, taxpayers and businesses;
- diligent in creating a climate in which business could prosper. In Adam Smith’s classic phrase, successful businesses create a prosperous society through the actions of “the invisible hand“;
- providing quality public education. (I will add comments on the District 79 School Board candidates in due time)
These things are as true and as important today as they were when Adam Smith first wrote about them in 1776.
If elected to the City of Duncan Council I will constantly keep Adam Smith’s admonitions in mind.
- I will ensure that Duncan’s finances are kept in order and that the City of Duncan is “not profligate” with your tax dollars. Duncan’s municipal taxes must NOT be an onerous burden on its residential or business taxpayers;
- I will be diligent in building and maintaining the public infrastructure that the City of Duncan is required to provide, and in keeping the cost of that infrastructure within the means of Duncan’s taxpayers;
- I will be very serious about maintaining public safety and the rule of law. Crime, disorder and a lack of public safety do not lead to successful cities or desirable places to live; quite the opposite.
- I will emphasize the creation and maintenance of a political climate and economic policies under which Duncan businesses can prosper. Successful businesses are a fundamental component of any successful city.
Here is a video with some of my comments about building housing in downtown Duncan:
Here is another video with more of my comments about City of Duncan housing policy:
Here is a video with my comments on protecting Duncan’s low density residential neighbourhoods:
Just FYI, here are links to lists of candidates in nearby and adjacent jurisdictions:
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