Kevin Murdoch

Mayor · Oak Bay

29 yrs

About

Mayor Murdoch worked in the IT industry in engineering and business roles for 25+ years, has served on Council (as Councillor or Mayor) four terms, on the CRD/CRHD/CRHC Board two terms, and on over 20 community boards and committees across the CRD.

Policy commitments

Buildings

We all want healthy, affordable, and comfortable homes. These policies will help to lower energy bills, cut pollution, and improve indoor air quality.

✓ Support electrification of new buildings. Supportive

Climate Justice

Our community is already experiencing the harmful impacts of climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution, and taxpayers are on the hook to upgrade and repair critical infrastructure.

✓ Collaborate with Indigenous peoples as partners in the stewardship of the land, air, and water, and work towards reconciliation. Supportive

Ecosystems

The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat all rely on healthy ecosystems. Nature can also help protect our community from extreme weather by controlling floods, protecting shorelines, and cooling neighbourhoods. Access to nature improves the health and well-being of residents, and supports biodiversity.

✓ Protect and restore ecosystems, which are essential to human survival, health, and economic well-being. Supportive

✓ Expand and protect tree canopy, parks, and green infrastructure to cool neighbourhoods, clean air, and manage stormwater. Supportive

Land Use

We envision vibrant, walkable communities that protect nature and improve food security.

✓ Upgrade critical infrastructure for heat, fire, flood, and storm resilience. Supportive

✓ Increase food security by supporting local agriculture and community gardens. Supportive

Transport

Connecting neighbourhoods through public transit and active transportation networks will cut pollution, improve public health, and make our communities more affordable (and fun!).

✓ Build bike and roll networks that are safe for everyone. Supportive

✓ Expand EV charging infrastructure. Supportive

Watersheds

Climate change, increasing populations, and overconsumption threaten our water security. Healthy watersheds and forests are critical to support clean drinking water, stormwater management, climate resilience, and biodiversity for future generations.

✓ Protect and restore watersheds as vital municipal infrastructure. Supportive

Zero Waste

Zero waste policies reduce pollution, keep waste out of landfills, build resilient local economies, and safeguard public health by shifting society away from a disposable culture toward a sustainable circular economy.

✓ Implement bylaws to eliminate waste from new buildings, renovation, and demolition projects and to use existing buildings as efficiently as possible. Supportive

✓ Supportive

~ Neutral

× Opposed

– No response

Climate action

How have you contributed to climate action in your community through advocacy, past work, advisory committees, volunteer work, and/or reducing your personal carbon footprint?

I am an avid lover of the outdoors, be it cycling, kayaking, hiking, sailing, or other... so protection of the natural environment is a core part of my values. I Chaired the Oak Bay Environmental Advisory Committee, which developed priorities for Council still being followed today. I initiated the change to allow Oak Bay to capture and spend carbon offsets internally, which resulted in accelerated projects such as LED streetlights, energy transition at OB Recreation, and more. I supported the introduction of the Coolkit program which educates and support community-level climate mitigation and adaptation measures. On a personal level I have volunteered at numerous community clean up, invasive species removal, and other activities. Our 4-person household is close to zero waste, producing less than 1 small bag of garbage per week.

Questions for Oak Bay

What are your top priorities for the next 4 years to address Oak Bay’s climate, environmental, and Coolkit goals?

In my time on Council, Oak Bay has been committed to reduction in operational greenhouse gas emissions across our many services and assets. This takes the form of vehicle electrification, right-sizing vehicles (i.e. using e-bikes where appropriate rather than a car), building remediation and energy conversions, equipment electrification, and more. With limited funds available, I am committed to doing this work in an analytic manner, ensuring that decisions maximize the environmental benefit per dollar spent. I also support the ongoing support of resident-focused education and change through the Coolkit and other programs, as well as supporting our amazing residents who do the invasive plant remediation and other cleanup work in our parks and along Bowker Creek through their thousands of volunteer hours. Thanks to work over decades, Oak Bay has one of the highest tree canopy levels in BC, but we need to keep working towards the 40% tree canopy goal. Our ongoing support for the BC Zero Carbon Step Code is key to future emissions - I do want to compliment Oak Bay on reducing our overall community emissions by 22% over the last 20 years or so, 7% in just two years recently as prior investment is paying dividends.

How would you ensure natural assets like mature trees and ecosystem corridors on private and public land, and Bowker Creek Blueprint goals, are prioritized before buildings are sited or designed? Does this support or change the OCP, processes, or bylaws?

It should be said up front that recent Councils and Oak Bay staff have been strong advocates for environmental protection, green space preservation, and environmental matters generally, which helps ensure that we don't rely too heavily on rules and regulations. However, those are necessary too...
Oak Bay has implement robust Development Permit Areas near Bowker Creek and along all waterfront and riparian areas. This requires all development to have an environmental assessment completed to ensure changes do not negatively impact the sensitive receiving environment. The Oak Bay tree protection bylaw is among the most robust in the region, and requires justification for removal of all trees and a 2:1 replacement where removal is deemed reasonable. Rules are not helpful if not enforced, so Oak Bay has used fines where appropriate to discourage illegal removal of significant trees, seeing two incidents resulting in fines of over $50,000 each awarded in recent years.

The federal government just gave Oak Bay $70,000 to plan for climate resilience. How would you support the allocation of these funds to increase community health and safety?

The federal climate resilience funds are specifically earmarked to help with climate adaptation planning. This helps us ensure that municipal infrastructure will be right-sized for current climate modelling, that our foreshore planning is ready for sea level rise, and other planning purposes. To date, most funding, including planning and prioritizing, has been focused on mitigation, with most of that pool prioritized for physical changes to improve emissions. This separate funding is very helpful to ensure Oak Bay's adaptation planning is robust.

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Vote4Tomorrow is an independent voter guide to evaluate where local candidates stand on climate and environmental policies that will affect our future.

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