Local election guide: Metchosin candidates for mayor and council

This year’s election in Metchosin will pit former councillor Steve Gray and newcomer Shawn Melinchuk against incumbent Marie-Térèse Little for the mayoral race.

For the District’s council election, seven candidates will be up on the election block, with the only incumbent being Shelly Donaldson.

There are four council seats available.

Candidates for mayor

Marie-Térèse Little, incumbent

Marie-Térèse Little grew up in a Vancouver Island farming community, and went to school at UVic, UBC and Harvard.

Little believes that her education ensures that her work ethic is approached using fact-based decision making with the district’s overall best interests at hand.

She says her background in farming allows her to understand the value of hard work, of neighbours helping neighbours and of preserving Metchosin’s unique rural character.

Little’s platform is rooted in protecting Metchosin’s rural character while ensuring fiscal resilience, modernizing healthcare services and enhancing public safety infrastructure.

She says that if she is elected, she plans to build on the foundation that has been established since 2022 when she was first elected.

Little points to securing $9 million in grants for the district’s firehall replacement project, establishing key strategic, agricultural and climate action plans and building strong relationships with regional, provincial and federal partners to enhance open and transparent government.

More on Little can be found on her website here.

Steve Gray

Steve Gray was elected as a councillor in Metchosin in 2022.

He and his wife have lived in Metchosin for more than 40 years and raised children in the district.

Gray is a retired medical doctor, and says he has decades of senior public service leadership and management experience.

He says his priorities focus on fiscal responsibility, protecting Metchosin’s rural future and making informed decisions.

If elected, Gray says he intends to build council consensus rather than governing by a three-to-two vote and support the non-profits and volunteers that make the community strong.

He also says he will provide honest, team-based leadership, ensure Metchosin’s community and environmental values are upheld, offer due diligence on all decision-making and support Metchosin’s volunteers and non-profits.

More information about Gray and his platform can be found on his website here.

Shawn Melinchuk

Shawn Melinchuk is running for mayor of Metchosin for the first time.

Melinchuk has no available candidate website.

Candidates for Metchosin Council

Shelly Donaldson, incumbent

Shelly Donaldson is finishing her first term as an elected Metchosin councillor and is seeking re-election.

She has called Metchosin home for more than four decades, raising a family on her property at Ewe View Farm. Her children are the sixth generation of her family to live in Metchosin.

Donaldson is a retired chef and business owner. She says she understands the value of hard work, responsible financial management and supporting the people and organizations that strengthen the community.

She currently serves as chair of the District’s Finance Committee and represents Metchosin on the Greater Victoria Public Library Board, West Shore Parks and Recreation Society and the Juan de Fuca Water Distribution Commission.

She is also chair of the IslandLink Library Federation and an alternate member of the CRD Regional Water Supply Commission.

Donaldson says her priorities lie in being a strong advocate for local agriculture, food security, responsible infrastructure investment, reliable emergency services, accessibility and meaningful public engagement.

She believes municipal decisions should be transparent, financially responsible and grounded in respect for Metchosin’s rural character.

More information about Donaldson can be found on her website here.

Ellen Frisch

Ellen Frisch and her husband have lived in Metchosin for 24 years.

She has worked for the BC government, and says that when she first moved to Canada and became a citizen over 35 years ago, she was able to purchase the cheapest house in Victoria at the time, in Saanich.

Frisch has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Washington and says she has extensive training in facilitation, negotiation, meditation and leadership.

She says that her experience from her 32-year career working for government as well as with government, communities and private clients makes her uniquely qualified to work on the Metchosin council to help navigate complex legal and policy issues regarding operational management, fiscal planning, land use, environmental protection, bylaws and project management.

Frisch says she is passionate about good governance, practical decision making, understanding risk and benefit, fiscal responsibility and providing advice based on facts, not opinion.

Her platform promises to streamline administration and reduce costs while achieving more net revenue, use a business-like lens in her duties, implement transparency and accountability for services and use proactive, purposeful planning.

More information can be found on Frisch’s website here.

Kyara Kahakauwila, former councillor

In 1999, at the age of 21, Kyara became the youngest woman in Canada to be elected to public office when she won a seat on Metchosin council.

She went on to serve five terms and a total of 17 years as a Metchosin councillor until the 2022 election.

During that time, she served as deputy mayor and represented Metchosin through local and regional boards, commissions and committees.

She says the past four years away have allowed her to continue learning and growing as a community and business leader.

Since 2022, she has served as president of the Metchosin Community Association, co-chair of the Victoria Cruise Industry Alliance, a director of Destination Greater Victoria and the Canadian director on the National Limousine Association Board.

Kahakuawila says these roles have strengthened her experience in governance, collaboration, advocacy and responsible decision making.

She says her priorities lie in being accountable, inclusive, collaborative and transparent.

More information on Kahakuawila can be found on her website here.

Mattie McMillan

Mattie McMillan is seeking election to Metchosin council for the first time.

McMillan has no available candidate website.

Mark Muldoon

Mark Muldoon is seeking election to Metchosin council for the first time.

He and his partner have lived in Metchosin since 2007, and says they are still overwhelmed by the beauty of the district and the quiet volunteer network that quietly holds the district together.

Muldoon studied psychology at UVic, then went to the University of Leuven, in Belgium, for graduate degrees.

When he returned, he went to work in Victoria’s non-profit sector: first with adults leaving prison and trying to rebuild a life in the community, and then with young people at risk of homelessness.

Since 2018 he has worked with the BC Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, with much of his work done with communities of all sizes, including First Nation communities, experiencing challenges in workforce shortages, especially small communities impacted by such events as mill closures and natural disasters.

He has also worked as a volunteer with the Metchosin Emergency Program for eight years in the communications unit.

Muldoon’s priorities lie in creating a culture of respect at the council table, spending within the means of Metchosin’s rural tax base and creating a rural district sustained on purpose.

He says Metchosin’s potential in food security, climate resilience and environmental stewardship has not been fully realized.

More about Muldoon can be found on his website here.

Jesse Pewarchuk

Jesse Pewarchuk was born in Metchosin in 1989, attending Metchosin Elementary with his two brothers, then Dunsmuir High followed by Belmont Secondary, graduating in 2000.

He says he did not fully appreciate just how special Metchosin was until he left it, saying a few months in Edmonton fixed that.

Pewarchuk was accepted into medical school in the prairies at age 19 and graduated in 2006 as a doctor of medicine, where he met his wife, Nicole, a former Alberta 4-H girl and farm-show veteran.

He also became involved in student politics and served a year on the University of Alberta Students’ Council.

Pewarchuk went on to specialize in internal medicine in Edmonton.

Pewarchuk says his priorities are to build a safe fire hall with a safe financial plan, run a rural municipality like a rural municipality, incorporate rural rules for a rural community, avoid hollowing out the community and listen to residents first.

More information about Pewarchuk can be found on his website here.

Eric White

Eric White is running for Metchosin council again after being unsuccessful in 2022.

During that election, he received 580 votes.

White has no available candidate website.