Image: Submitted. Mayor Ken Popove is pictured with his wife Gail during early Saturday night results that show him cruising to a resounding win over challenger Ian Carmichael.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack votes

Ken Popove overwhelmingly wins a second term as Chilliwack mayor over challenger Ian Carmichael

Oct 15, 2022 | 9:31 PM

CHILLIWACK — Mayor Ken Popove has won a second term in a landslide victory, according to election results released Saturday night.

With 25 of 25 polls reporting, Popove received 12,028 votes, or nearly 75 per cent, of the vote. Challenger Ian Carmichael garnered 4,056 votes, or 25 per cent.

“I want to thank the voters of Chilliwack for putting confidence in me to lead,” Popove said Saturday night. “That is my job to lead the team, but I’m a team player. It’s all about the team. It’s not just me making decisions. Chilliwack is in a great place. I’m honoured to be a part of it and to see Chilliwack grow.”

Popove, a longtime business owner who was first elected to Chilliwack City Council in 2011, said he believed Chilliwack was heading in the right direction after a tidal wave of issues the past couple years.

“It feels like we’re doing the right thing,” Popove said. “People were satisfied with the work that the team and I were doing. We’ve been through a pandemic, floods, and heat dome, and we were still able to do a lot of infrastructure work and do the work of the City. I’m proud of the work we’ve done.”

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The third time was not the charm for Carmichael, who ran into a buzzsaw of popularity surrounding Popove and his steady hand at governing during a series of unprecedented events, ranging from the pandemic to extreme heat events and atmospheric river flooding, the past four years.

Carmichael had his sights set on civic government before, running in 2008 and 2011 for Chilliwack City Council. He came within 923 votes of sixth-place finisher Ken Huttema in 2008, but settled for seventh out of 19 candidates. In 2011, he finished 16th out of 20 candidates.

Popove said back in July he was looking forward to another term serving the residents of Chilliwack.

Image: Supplied by City of Chilliwack.

“I’m eager to serve another term as the Mayor of Chilliwack,” Popove’s statement read. “There is no doubt that the past four years have been the most challenging any mayor of this great community has dealt with. The pandemic, fires, heat domes, atmospheric rivers and flooding posed some very challenging times…with the health and safety of all residents being at the forefront.”

Popove touted the addition of new leisure spaces, supportive housing developments, and improving relations with Indigenous people among the endeavours he sought to accomplish during his first term as mayor.

“Road upgrades, the addition of new parks, the housing developments for the lower income and vulnerable population, strengthening our indigenous relations, and addressing the opiate crisis are some of the major endeavors [I] committed to addressing and delivered on during [my] current term as mayor,” Popove said. “The revitalization of downtown Chilliwack speaks for itself as the busy sidewalks of people enjoy all the new stores and restaurants. The new pump track, which is the longest in North America, is also making headlines full of enthusiasm and excitement.”

Popove cited his experience as president of the Downtown Business Improvement Association, his 30 years as a local business owner and 11 years on Chilliwack council as evidence that he has tried to move Chilliwack forward.