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Candidate Information

Are you eligible to run for office?

A person is qualified to be nominated, elected, and to hold office as a member of local government if they meet the following criteria:

• 18 years of age or older on general voting day for the election or assent voting; and
• a Canadian citizen; and
• a resident of British Columbia for at least 6 months immediately before the day of registration; and
• a resident of the Regional District of Nanaimo for at least 30 days immediately before the day of registration; and
• not disqualified under the Local Government Act or any other enactment from voting in an election or assent voting and not otherwise disqualified by law.

A person is specifically disqualified as a candidate for office if they fall within any of the following categories:

• are a Judge of the Provincial Court, Supreme Court or Court of Appeal; or
• are an employee or salaried officer of the local government [unless a leave of absence is taken to run for office and agrees to resign if elected]; including if you are running as a regional district electoral area director when employed by a municipality which is a member of that regional district; or
• are under sentence for an indictable offence and are in custody or in prison; or
• are disqualified from candidacy under any law or enactment (ie failure to file a candidate disclosure statement in the previous election, not making an oath of office, etc.)

Nomination Packages

Nomination packages are now available for pick up at the RDN Administration Office. Nomination packages for Islands Trust Trustee are available for pick up at the RDN Administration Office and the Islands Trust Office on Gabriola Island.

Candidates may file nomination papers with the Chief Election Officer at the RDN Administration Office during the Nomination Period, beginning 9:00 am Tuesday, September 4, 2018 and ending at 4:00 pm Friday, September 14, 2018. Those persons unable to deliver nominations in person may swear the documents before a commissioner for taking affidavits in BC and mail, deliver or fax documents to the attention of the Chief Election Officer (CEO) by the deadline; however, if sent by facsimile, the CEO must receive the originals by 4:30 pm on Friday, September 21, 2018. From the time of receipt, the nomination documents are available to the public for inspection at the RDN Administration Office and on the website.

Additional Resources and Guides

For additional information please see Resources and FAQS.

Candidate Information Session

Thank you to those interested candidates for attending our July 23, 2018 Candidate Information Session. The presentation shared at the session is a great resource document to learn more about the RDN, click here for a copy.

Thinking of Running for Office?

Serving your community can be very rewarding and there are many good reasons to run for office including:

• being an active participant in the local decision-making process
• being able to provide your expertise and experience to the community
• the opportunity to deal with issues, both small and large, in your community and to lead change.

Prepare yourself:

• Attending Board and Committee meetings to learn about priority issues/projects and observe what being a Director on the Regional District of Nanaimo Board might be like
• Read the Regional District's key planning documents and reports
• Get to know key groups in the community to understand the diversity of interests in our area
• Research the internet for information about regional districts and basic facts about the local government system in BC.