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Mark Anderson, 4 September 2018 (photo: Lexi Bainas, Cowichan Valley Citizen)
Mark Anderson, Candidate for Duncan Council (photo: Lexi Bainas, Cowichan Valley Citizen)

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 15 October 2022. Here are the candidates for Duncan Council.

I believe the residents, taxpayers and businesses in Duncan have not been well served by Duncan Council since the last election in 2018. The current Mayor and many members of the current Council, with some notable exceptions, do not place Duncan’s residents, taxpayers and businesses at the top of their priority list.

I believe that needs to change. If elected, my top priority will be “Putting Duncan’s Residents, Taxpayers And Businesses First.”  I will be voting strategically for Garry Bruce, Mike McKinlay, Mark Anderson and Carol Newington on 15 October 2022.

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 taxes; public infrastructure; maintaining safe and attractive neighbourhoods and a safe and attractive downtown core; public safety; 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;
  • 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 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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