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.