I am Sean Wood, running for Parksville Council in the October 17, 2026 election.

 

Parksville is nearly half over 65, the oldest urban area in Canada. That statistic shapes a lot of our public conversation, as it should. But it also has a quieter implication: the community you build here as young people is the community that will still be here when the next decade of decisions comes due. The next Official Community Plan will shape Parksville for that decade. Housing, water, growth, community safety, transportation: every choice we make in the next four years is a choice younger residents will live with the longest.

 

 Five things I would commit to young people:

 

1. Housing that young families can actually afford here. Market and nonmarket both, including the Parksville Lions Housing Society's 36-home nonmarket project. Nobody should be priced out of the community they want to raise their kids in.

 

2. A real voice in the OCP review. Every neighbourhood, every constituency, every generation at the table. Younger residents have been underrepresented in past reviews, and I want to change that.

 

3. Property tax discipline held as close to CPI as we can manage. Municipal taxes shape rent, mortgages, and cost of living. Discipline here creates room for young households to make it.

 

4. Growth that pays its own way on water infrastructure, roads, and the community safety systems it needs. Otherwise those costs land on the residents already here.

 

5. Long-term stewardship. Water at the same table as land use. Tree canopy expansion. Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region stewardship principles guiding how we plan. Decisions that pay off in a decade are decisions worth making now.

 

An honest caveat: these are targets, not promises. Budgets shape what's possible, and every commitment on this list will need support from a majority of a council whose members come from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives.

 

What I can commit to is bringing these as priorities to every conversation, and to working with council and staff to move them forward wherever the numbers and the votes support them. Underneath all of it is the listener-councillor thesis my whole campaign is built on: being a councillor is but one vote at the council table. My job is to invite every voice to that table, including younger voices specifically. I would welcome yours.