Election day is tomorrow, Saturday, October 17. Polls are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Brennan Park Recreation Centre.

I built Squamishvoters . com because I found it hard to figure out where everyone actually stands. It's free, it has no ads, and it doesn't endorse anyone.

What it does:

- Quiz: answer 17 statements and see which mayor and council candidates are closest to you. It takes about 3 minutes, and your answers stay on your phone. Nothing is sent anywhere.

- Where they lean: every candidate on simple sliders for growth, money, homelessness and street safety, climate, and the Woodfibre tax deal.

- Compare: pick a topic and see all 18 candidates' answers on one screen.

- Candidate pages: 15 of the 18 candidates answered a 38 question survey directly. For the other 3, the answers come from council votes and their own public statements, each with a link so you can check it.

- My ballot: save your picks to your phone for the voting booth.

How I tried to keep it fair:

- Everyone got the same questions.

- Names are in alphabetical order everywhere.

- The colours are teal and purple, not party colours, and every dot also has a ✓ or ✗ for colour blind folks.

- The whole thing is open source. The code and every score are public on GitHub, so you can check the math yourself.

The images are charts from the site: the mayor race on all 38 questions, all 15 council candidates, and 10 of the big topics (Woodfibre tax deal, growth, taller buildings, shelter, encampments, Under One Roof, taxes, police, Brennan Park, parking).

If you spot a mistake or think a candidate's position is wrong, tell me in the comments and I'll fix it today. Whoever you pick, please go vote.

Since the grocery drop, this place is slowly becoming my first-stop shop and I’m sure many others. A (yes, one) bag today rang through and I was fully prepared for $100~. It was $60. I thought I’d time travelled.

Walmart, if you’re on here - please don’t do that thing where you open with low prices, and slowly start to squeeze us all. Don’t do that thing. Ok thanks!

I had an oat milk latte and the meat sando. They were both epic. I don't know anybody who works there, nor am I affiliated in any way. Just thought they were good quality and delicious and wanted to spread the word!

Hi everyone! I’m a veterinarian starting a mobile veterinary service.

I’m looking to rent a small amount of secure, ground-level commercial storage space in Squamish to put a large chest freezer.

The space needs to have a reliable electrical outlet, easy vehicle access, and flexible access hours. I don’t need an entire commercial unit, just enough room for the freezer and access to it.

If you have suitable space or know someone who might, please send me a message. Happy to discuss more details privately.

I asked the 18 candidates: 9 answered yes. 3 didn't commit. 5 didn't reply.

Only one candidate opposed.

Every answer, in full, exactly as written: https://medium.com/@romvnfranco/should-squamish-ask-conservation-officers-to-share-the-record-behind-each-bear-killed-and-make-the-c6d9f539c142?postPublishedType=initial

I promised every candidate I'd publish their answer in full — here it is, in their own words, for the Squamish community to read.

Please read what they wrote before voting on October 17 and share this with your neighbours.

Transparency starts with asking.

Hey folks, Josh here. I live in Squamish and I’m looking for feedback on a mountain biking guidebook we built with pro rider Ollie Lowthorpe.

When I moved here I was new to riding, and the trail network was exciting and intimidating in equal measure. I had no idea what to expect from a trail before I was on it. What got me through was friends who knew what I should ride next and what was coming before I dropped in. Without them I’m not sure I’d have stuck with riding at all.

That’s the gap this is built for. The guidebook is written by Ollie, who knows these trails inside out and has coached plenty of riders who started where I did. It has 16 of his recommended rides in the order he’d take you through them, with a full POV video of every descent and offline navigation. We will keep adding rides over the winter, with about 40 by spring. There are demo routes you can try for free.

We always donate a portion of proceeds to trail building, and until the end of the year, 20% of every sale goes to SORCA. If we’re making content on these trails, we have a part to play in developing them.

Quest is in flight, and we are working to make it better for exploring trails and getting out there. Drop a comment, DM me, or email [josh@questoutside.com](mailto:josh@questoutside.com). We can't make this better without your help!

Find the guidebook on the Quest Outside mobile app, available on iOS and Android.

www.questoutside.com/go/community

https://darkesthouse.ca

I’ve always wondered why some parts of town lose the sun so early in the fall, so I made a free map that works it out for every house in Squamish. Type your address and it shows when the sun actually clears the mountains around your house, how many hours of direct sun you get, and how that compares with the rest of town, for any day of the year.

It measures the real horizon from each house using the District’s LiDAR surveys.

Some surprises:

• University Highlands is the sunniest neighbourhood, at about 10.1 hours a day. Valleycliffe is near the bottom at 8.3.
• On December 21, the average Garibaldi Highlands home gets about 5.9 hours of direct sun. The average Valleycliffe home gets about 1.9.

There’s also a 3D view of the sun moving across your roof (best on a computer). It’s a clear-sky estimate, and the surveys are from 2016 to 2020, so newer houses and trees aren’t in it.

Know someone who brags about their sunny house? Send it to them. Every house page has a “Send to a friend” button, so you can find out who actually gets more sun.

Free, no sign-up, no ads. Let me know if your address looks off :)

Wanting to create a special destination cafe+ experience for locals and tourists. I'd like a business partner who is trustworthy and experienced, and willing to put in some effort (and possibly invest) in a one of a kind experience.

Do such people exist, or read these posts on here? 🙏😎

Does anyone know if there’s a local artist in town who does paint & sip events where they provide easel, canvas, paints, brushes, apron and drinks/appies for a group?

Looking for some more hidden suggestions that don't immediately come up with a Google or AI search.

Looking for a quiet, partially secluded get-away for my partner and I for a weekend in November. Ideally, it has a kitchen (even if small) and bonus points for a hot tub or sauna/cold plunge. One bedroom, some outdoor space would be great.

Ideally anywhere within a few hours of Squamish - Whistler, Pemberton, Sunshine Coast, would prefer not the island to save on ferry costs.

Appreciate any insights! Thanks in advance.

Anyone know of someone in town who does banjo lessons? I don’t think anyone at SAM offers them, was curious is someone in the community would be willing to teach.

Tnx!

We often talk of community as if it were a monolith, but even in a sea of Blundstones and Gore-Tex there is diversity in values.

Each of us comes from different places, families, and circumstances,, public decisions will never be neutral. There will always be trade-offs, limited resources, and competing priorities.

One thing this campaign has taught me is that listening is only the beginning. How do we make space for different perspectives to shape the work Council does? Especially when priorities conflict.

I’d rather listening not just be a sentiment, though, I don't think it can exist with the way things work currently. There are too many voices for any one individual to absorb. Even with six Councillors, there isn’t enough time. I want to see the relationship between the Squamish community and Council become an established part of Council’s regular work, one that can outlast a campaign promise, and hopefully outlast a four-year election cycle.

None of us will agree with every decision of every council past or present, but I also recognize that the people before us have left pieces of good work behind. We have had efforts to create opportunities for the Mayor to sit with the public. We have Community Agreement and Operating Agreement policies. We have the IAP2 Framework. We have routes for feedback.

What I want to do is close the loop.

Starting in 2027, I want to ensure Council has scheduled time with community to identify overlapping goals, how resources could be shared, and where priorities conflict. I would work to establish a Community Partnership Framework that is based in quarterly discussions. This process would be supported by staff, but the purpose of the framework would be to bring community sectors into direct conversation with Council.

Staff provide reliable coordination, publishable summaries, and relevant technical expertise. Community groups work within their sectors to identify shared priorities and set the agenda. Council listens, engages in discussion, and makes decisions. The discussions would be followed up by clear documentation so residents can see whose perspectives shaped the work and understand how Council responded.

This isn’t just about the established groups either; this framework needs to hold space for the smaller voices in each sector of our community and ensure no one is excluded for lack of capacity. The community already proves it can self-organize and lift each other up. The effectiveness of this system relies on cooperation across differing perspectives.

Community often gets thrown around as a noun, particularly in marketing language, but through this campaign I am coming to understand community as an action. The work of bridging differences.

I'd like to see us doing the work together.

KB - Kieran Brownie (Council Candidate)

Anyone know what the Sirens and then gunshots downtown were about this morning?

I was so sad to hear of the sudden passing of Squamish Logger Sports legend Brian Bartow. I didn't know him well, but over the last ten years of covering the logger sports events for the Squamish Chief, I've taken his photo many times. I went through my files last night and put a little blog post together.

https://davidbuzzard.com/2026/10/09/brian-bartow/

Mayoral elections

Hi everyone! This is nothing new, but as tons of people are aware, there is a house downtown on fourth avenue with 2 larger dogs that are aggressive and bark frequently. As well as other dogs locked inside in crates/cages who whimper and cry constantly in the evening. These dogs do not go outside. Just the German Shephard and the Rottweiler (once at a time as they attack eachother).

I am sick and tired of this and won’t give up until these dogs have been removed. The not so much of a gentleman who lives there with his mother is absolutely psychotic/ violent and threatens people walking too close to his home while he is outside (speaking from experience, and yes police were called, I’m taking him to court for this in new year).

If anybody has any video legitimate video evidence of these dogs being berated, physically abused (audio is fine also) please send me a message. I have finally got in touch with an SPCA officer who needs as much evidence as possible.

Thanks Squamish!

I'm getting tired of seeing people smoking weed and tobacco in the gazebo beside the kids park, for those wondering it is the park beside the library.

That specific gazebo needs a No Smoking sign.

I get it, I've been a smoker, weed, tobacco whatever. But come on you gotta do it right beside where small children are playing. Squamish has plenty of spots where you can go drink, smoke, whatever you want, without being near small kids or for that matter bothering anyone else.

I think this is worth being enforced.

Protecting small kids, that have a right to enjoy their playground is worth it.

Is it just me or has the place gone a bit spider crazy? I don't ever recall so many webs around. To walk out to my patio is to cover oneself in barely visible silk.

Catch and release from indoors feels like a daily occurrence right now! I appreciate it is their time of the year to get a bit freaky but I can't ever recall so many.

Squamish Valley Golf Course

Anybody here have any experience renting at Venture? I’m looking at a few buildings in town and I like the location and layout options at Venture so I am hoping to get some intel.

does anyone know what it was here for? or what kind of helicopter it was specifically? was larger like a Blackhawk, but from what I could tell it was a different kind of helicopter.

Over a dozen candidates for council, three candidates for mayor, and all their information and platforms scattered across the internet. It was a nightmare to try to find out and compare who stood for what, who supported which initiatives, and who aligned with my views the most.

It was so bad that I decided to build something where it would be easy for me to compare all the counselors and mayoral candidates side by side.

I started out by just aggregating all the information online onto a website (squamishvoters(.)com), but realized that it was too fragmented. Not everyone had commented on every single issue.

So, I sent a 37-question questionnaire to all the candidates and aggregated all of their answers onto a single website so that it was easy to see who supported the things that I supported as well.

Now there have been over 4,000 visitors to the squamish voters site in the last 14 days and I'm really happy to hear all the positive feedback on how much it's been helping everyone.

I've also gotten some critical feedback about it being biased or the results not lining up with what people expected. So, to remedy that, I put the entire codebase open source, as well as how the quizzes are created, how the answers are derived, and how everything works. Every single statement from every single candidate on the site includes a source and a link to that direct source, so everything is provably fair and unbiased. I have no outside funding. This was a hobby project that has just taken off.

So, if this is something that you support (people in the community stepping up and helping inform others on who's best to vote for), it would mean a lot if you could toss a comment and an upvote so that more people could get informed. We're not just running an election based on vibes and a popularity contest.

Thanks!

Jeff