Elevate your local knowledge
Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!
Acton not dropping out of Lumby mayoral race so challenger isn’t acclaimed
Lumby Mayor Kevin Acton is defending his decision not to step down in his bid for re-election even though he’s also running for a seat in the legislature, saying it wouldn’t be fair to the village to allow an unchallenged candidate to become mayor.
Acton said he’ll also foot the bill for a mayoral byelection if he wins his seat in Victoria. He estimates it will cost between $5,000 and $10,000 and would be given as a donation.
“I just don’t feel right about bowing out when there’s only one person that just gets to walk freely into an open seat,” Acton told iNFOnews.ca. “I personally don’t have anything against (mayoral candidate) Brad (Weston), I just don’t think anybody should walk into that seat without having a proper contest.”
This year’s double election has created a situation unseen in previous campaigns.
Seeking his sixth term, Acton put his name in the hat to run for mayor just days before the province called a provincial election. He then became the BC Conservative Party Candidate for Vernon-Lumby MLA days later.
Based on 2022’s results and the riding’s right-leaning history, it’s thought Acton will likely succeed in his campaign to become MLA.
However, because he has only one contender in the mayoral race, stepping down would hand the mayor’s seat to political newbie and anti-vax conspiracy theorist Bradley Weston.
Weston ran in 2022, getting 12% of the vote. He campaigned on getting rid of property taxes and would introduce a pay-for-service model, although he didn’t explain how it would work.
In 2025, he said on social media that the government reclassified the common cold as COVID-19 and that the vaccine had killed lots of people.
“Globally, they want to create the social credit score system and give everybody digital IDs, and they want to take away private property. They want to take away your private property… They want to take away that you don’t have ownership of not just land and a home, that you don’t have your vehicle,” he said in a social media interview. “They want to take away everything so that the government is in control of everything, and we, as an individual, don’t have any more control.”
He’s also posted on his YouTube channel saying that there is pornography in Vernon’s public schools.
In 2023, he accused the School District 22 board of filing false police reports, along with criminal negligence, abuse of authority and professional misconduct.
Weston worked for School District 22 as a custodian until being fired in 2020. He fought the firing and received a $16,000 settlement payout, although he continued legal action against them.
If Acton stood down, Weston would become mayor of Lumby.
However, Acton denied he was staying in the race because of what Weston stood for.
“(Lumby residents) need to have their day to actually have a proper election,” Acton said. “And then the other reason is kind of selfish, is that if I don’t win the provincial election, I would love to still be the mayor for another four years.”
If Acton does win the mayoral and provincial election and a byelection is called for the mayor’s job, Lumby councillor Randal Ostafichuk has said he’ll run for mayor.
News from © iNFOnews.ca, . All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Join the Conversation!
Want to share your thoughts, add context, or connect with others in your community?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
8 responses
Can you tell us this is bought and paid for media without telling us?
The writer of this article, Ben Bulmer is clearly biased towards the self-serving career politician everyone knows as the 2024 provincial vote splitter, Mr. Kevin Acton and is only trying to generate a smear campaign hit piece against Bradley Weston to discredit him and pit voters against him for exposing government wrongdoings.
Acton is a globalist sell out who is only interested in serving his own interests and lining his pockets with tax payers dollars while Weston is cleary a man of his word who actually cares about those around him and will do what is in the best interests of his community.
Mainstream media obviously has an absolute disconnect from real human to human relations, this trash article is proof of that.
I honestly was not surprised to read this from Acton. He showed himself as a man who wants to have the cake and eat it too. Time for him to retire, and let new blood take over. Someone who will be proactive for the people of Lumby. I believe Acton’s hit piece on Weston says more about Acton than Weston.
Weston has his eyes wide open, and has a natural instinct for what is really going on behind the veil of political propaganda.
He also has a deep passion for his community of Lumby, and the people who live there. He will do you good.
Kevin is showing his true colors.
Kevin is on two ballots this month, and in his own words, one reason he’s staying in the mayor’s race is “kind of selfish”: he’d “love to still be the mayor” if the provincial race doesn’t go his way. That should have been the story.
Instead, it turns into a hit piece on the guy who dared to challenge him. Whether Kevin had a hand in it or not, it lands on him. He says he has nothing against Brad, then sits back and lets the article do the dirty work.
That’s not class. That’s politics as usual, and it’s exactly why so many of us are losing trust in Kevin.
I live in lumby. I followed the 2022 municipal election and I am closely watching this 2026 municipal election. While his 2022 campaign may have been considered uncoventional to most, Brad Weston has not been shy in putting himself out there in speaking facts.
He has clearly learn a lot in the past 4 years as is shown through his facebook profile and website weston4mayor.com. He has a lot of folks talking about the direction our community is heading and is gaining a lot of support from our residents.
Kevin Acton has shown his true colors as he is ignoring the people of our community and not debating what Brad is revealing Acton and our council has done to this village. They are clearly serving themselves and misusing our tax dollars and I hope Weston exposes more of their hidden dealings.
Looks like a real smear campaign against Mr. Weston and he has been speaking the truth. The youtube videos where he speaks about the x rated books in public schools has a police officer talking with him, admitting that the books are in the schools accessible to children.
He is also correct about the harm those injections caused to millions of people world wide.
I have fully reviewed his website Weston4Mayor.com and can clearly see his high level of intelligence and dedication to serving the residents of Lumby for the right reasons.
“Cheeuck”…. are you not Brad Weston himself? Cant help but notice your name is spelt the same as the “hot shot” service Cheeuck Bareknuckle Norras.
Well this does seem something of a mess doesn’t it??
Take a look at Westons facebook profile and his website. He is the man who will do right for our community.