Photo via Facebook.
Karen Harper will be running for mayor of Saanich, against fellow councillor Zac de Vries and Save our Saanich candidate Rishi Sharma
On April 14, three-term District of Saanich Councillor and UVic masters of education alum Karen Harper announced her intention to run for mayor.
The announcement came a month after Dean Murdock, current mayor of Saanich, announced he would not be seeking re-election. Harper was the first candidate to announce she is running.
While on council, Harper has pushed for improving efficiencies in bureaucracy, including pushing the district to electronic document management, which she said Saanich had not done prior to 2017.
More recently, Harper pushed for greater access to doctors and nurse practitioners in Saanich alongside fellow councillor Teale Phelps Bondaroff, she told the Martlet in an interview. As one of Harper’s main priorities, she hopes to continue fixing inefficiencies, such as she did with digital electronic management, to ensure fiscal accountability.
Outside of council, Harper has advocated for the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the workforce.
“When I look back on my history … I was the chair of the Status of Movement Committee for the BCTF, [and] I moved a motion that the BCTF change its code of conduct … not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation,” Harper said. “Back in the day this was not an easy thing to do.… [But] it was the right thing to do.
Another priority for Harper is housing. When Harper first announced she was running for mayor, she told Times Colonist she wants to carry on the work of the current council on housing and asset management, while improving service delivery and building various housing types to attract and keep young people in the district. Harper also wants to protect the environment in Saanich via its natural park system.
Over the past few years in Saanich, there has been a growing divide over development projects and municipal spending, with reports of inappropriate conduct at city halls over controversial projects such as the Quadra-McKenzie Plan (QMP).
The Martlet asked Harper how she would work with a divided Saanich. Harper said that she wants to improve how the district communicates with the public and that, in her experience, most people agree on the end goal, but disagree on the path forward.
“I think we need to have a lot of clearer discussions about why what [changes] coming before us achieves the goals that most of us would agree with,” she said.
“I do remember what it’s like to be young, and so one of my goals is … that young people have the same opportunities that my generation had,” she said. “It’s really important that we provide an environment where people know that if they’re here, they will be able to thrive.”
Harper told the Martlet that she thinks younger and older generations can work together and learn from each other, and that it is important to have young people in Saanich because, “without young people around, we are all losers.”
She also said that many of the challenges facing young people today, such as LGBTQ+ exclusion, are challenges that have been faced before.
Harper has extensive background in education and with students, working as a teacher for 17 years, as well as working with the BC Teachers Federation (BCTF). “I was a union activist. I worked at the Teachers Federation and then I was at the Pension Corporation…. I had to develop skill sets where I helped people to work together,” she said.
Harper also hopes her running for mayor inspires more women to do so in the future. “There [has] never been a woman mayor in Saanich,” she said. “People shouldn’t vote for me because I’m a woman. They should vote for me because I’m the right person. But having said that, it’s kind of mind-boggling that after 120 years, Saanich has not had a woman mayor.”
Voting for the 2026 local general elections will be held on Oct. 17. The elections will include voting for new mayors and councillors, regional district directors, school board trustees, parks boards, and the Islands Trust. More information on this year’s local general elections can be found at elections.bc.ca.
