CANDIDATE FOR CITY COUNCIL
JC Rathwell
Entrepreneur and BRACE for Change candidate prioritizing public safety, lower development charges, business rules and council accountability.
Nomination checked September 28, 2026. Earlier platform and record research: September 8, 2026. Recent statements show their own review dates.
Candidate questionnaire received and reviewed September 16, 2026. Published with authorization; answers are the candidate’s own statements. [403]
Experience & background
Public campaign describes entrepreneurship in business services, technology and tourism. Earlier reporting identifies previous unsuccessful council campaigns. [81][7]
His website says he leads the Old Mill Waterfront Revitalization Committee, advocating preservation of a machine-shop building for a market and creative workspace. This is a campaign-reported advocacy role. [81]
Reports more than 30 years in Kelowna and business experience in rentals, tourism, media and AI operations. [403]
Issue positions
Campaign proposals are attributed positions. A blank area is an information gap, never an assumed vote against an issue.
IN THE CANDIDATE’S OWN WORDS
Candidate questionnaire · September 16, 2026
Answers supplied by the candidate and published with authorization. Conditional explanations are retained. Answers about past motions are hypothetical, not recorded votes.
Read the full response, priorities and affordability proposals ↗
Read all 25 quick-position answers
1. The City should shorten and simplify the process for approving new homes.
Yes / Support
2. The City should reduce development cost charges on new housing.
yes - Development cost charges in Kelowna are one of the key reasons real housing for real people is unaffordable, and they hit small builders and buyers hardest; I support significantly reducing DCCs on new housing so we stop using fees as a barrier to supply and start making it possible for business‑minded builders to actually get projects done.
3. Restrictions on short-term rentals should be loosened.
Yes / Support
4. The City should pursue expanded public transit service.
Yes / Support
5. Infrastructure and service capacity should be ready before major additional growth is approved.
Yes / Support
6. The City should advocate for expanded involuntary addiction-treatment capacity.
Yes / Support – Kelowna doesn’t just have a homelessness problem, it has a hard‑drug problem, and pretending everyone can “choose” treatment while they’re deep in addiction is fantasy; I support expanded involuntary treatment capacity with strong safeguards, because getting repeat offenders and severely addicted people into real treatment is the only way we’re going to stop the cycle of open‑air drug use, crime, and street disorder
7. The City should invest in wildfire prevention and preparedness.
Yes / Support
8. The City should carry out additional spending audits or operational reviews.
Yes / Support
9. The City should make individual councillors’ voting records easier to find and search.
Yes / Support
10. Would you have supported the October 27, 2025 electoral-reform study and conditional referendum-preparation motion? This bundled decision did not implement wards.
Conditional / Depends – I support serious electoral reform work, including looking at ward or hybrid systems and ranked ballots, but I do not support half‑measures that burn staff time and taxpayer money without a clear path to real change and better accountability. I would only back a study and referendum‑prep motion if it included a concrete commitment to present voters with a clear, binding choice on wards or other reforms—and if it came with full transparency on how each councillor votes, so people can see exactly who fought for change and who protected the status quo we’re stuck with today.
11. Would you have supported the March 16, 2026 second and third land-use and rezoning readings for part of Kelowna Springs? These were not final adoption.
No / Oppose – I would not have supported moving those readings forward, because pushing industrial rezoning on a floodplain golf course after years of public controversy showed exactly how disconnected this council is from residents, long‑term environmental risk, and community spaces. Any land‑use change of that scale should have waited for full floodplain and environmental work, clearer public support, and a transparent breakdown of who benefits financially; instead, the current council forced through readings that helped trigger an outcome many residents still see as a betrayal of trust, and they should be held accountable for that.
12. Would you have supported the April 20, 2026 financial-plan and tax-funding motion, with its stated average net property impact of 4.40%? Individual bills vary.
No / Oppose – I would not have supported a $1.1‑billion budget with a 4.4% property tax hike when families, renters, and small business owners are already getting hammered by rising costs, fees, and red tape. When council spends 11% more and calls a 4.4% tax increase “reasonable,” it’s clear they’re protecting their own spending priorities instead of cutting waste; my position is that the current council should be held accountable for piling on tax increases without first stripping out bloated management pay, failed projects, and unnecessary bureaucracy.
13. The City should help expand co-operative housing and community land trusts.
Yes / Support – I support expanding co‑ops and community land trusts as part of the toolbox for fixing housing affordability, because taking land out of pure speculation and locking in long‑term affordability can help lower‑ and middle‑income residents actually stay in the city. My condition is that these projects are run with clear, transparent governance, hard affordability targets, and no insider deals—if taxpayers are helping fund co‑ops or land trusts, then the units they create must stay genuinely affordable over time, not drift back toward full market pricing while politicians pretend they solved the problem.
Editorial note: Although the answer begins Yes / Support, its explanation sets explicit conditions on governance and permanent affordability. It is retained without a binary match score.
14. The City should strengthen protections for tenants displaced by redevelopment or renovations.
Yes / Support
15. The City should allow more small shops and cafés within residential neighbourhoods.
Yes / Support
16. The City should advocate for a second bridge crossing of Okanagan Lake.
Yes / Support
17. The City should invest in filling gaps in its sidewalk and cycling networks.
Yes / Support
18. The City should expand foot patrols in commercial areas experiencing crime and disorder.
Yes / Support
19. The City should support expanded non-police response teams for suitable mental-health and substance-use calls.
Yes / Support
20. The City should increase access to public washrooms.
Yes / Support
21. The City should prioritize protecting agricultural land when making land-use decisions.
Yes / Support – I support protecting agricultural land as a core priority in land‑use decisions, because once you pave over good farmland you don’t get it back, and BC’s Agricultural Land Reserve exists precisely to stop short‑term development pressure from destroying long‑term food security. Kelowna’s own plans already say agricultural areas should be shielded from urban encroachment, and I believe council should be held accountable any time it votes to chip away at that land base for non‑farm uses that don’t deliver clear, overwhelming public benefit.
22. The City should strengthen protection for existing trees.
Yes / Support
23. The City should limit annual property-tax increases to inflation.
Yes / Support – when council keeps approving tax hikes above inflation year after year, it’s basically using homeowners and small businesses as an ATM to fund its own growth instead of cutting waste and fixing priorities. I support tying tax increases to inflation as a default cap, and forcing council to publicly justify and vote on any exception—so residents can clearly see who is voting to take more than inflation from their wallets and hold those councillors accountable at the next election.
Editorial note: The answer permits publicly justified exceptions to an inflation cap. It is retained as conditional for comparison purposes.
24. Mayor and council pay increases should take effect only after the next election.
Yes / Support
25. Would you support a ward system for Kelowna, where residents elect councillors to represent defined geographic areas?
No / Oppose
Housing & growth
Supports faster approvals, lower development charges and looser rental rules. Supports tenant protections; co-ops and land trusts require transparent governance and lasting affordability. [403]
Earlier campaign material: Advocates reducing development cost charges and loosening short-term rental restrictions. [81]
Safety & homelessness
Advocates stronger repeat-offender enforcement, a crime dashboard and expanded involuntary treatment with safeguards. Supports foot patrols and suitable non-police teams. [403]
Earlier campaign material: Calls for strict public-drug-use enforcement and mandatory treatment or jail for repeat offending. These are campaign proposals, not powers independently available to a councillor. [81]
Transportation
Supports transit expansion, infrastructure readiness, a second lake crossing and filling sidewalk and cycling gaps. [403]
Earlier campaign material: Proposes AI-driven adaptive traffic signals that respond to current conditions, citing Highway 97 and bridge congestion. [81]
Taxes & spending
Supports spending reviews and an inflation-based tax cap with publicly justified exceptions. Supports delaying council pay increases until after elections. [403]
Business & jobs
Proposes a first-year review of ten business bylaws and fees for reduction or removal, with public reporting. [403]
Earlier campaign material: Would reduce business red tape and convert an old mill shed into a public market. [81]
Accountability
Proposes searchable council votes, public forums and two-term limits. Opposes wards as asked; support for a reform study depends on a clear path to a voter decision. [403]
Earlier campaign material: Argues council needs more business-operating experience and stronger accountability. [81]
Climate, land & water
Supports wildfire preparedness, farmland protection and stronger existing-tree protections. [403]
Community & services
Supports expanded public washrooms and prioritizes affordable transit, spending review and local jobs for everyday affordability. [403]
Shared BRACE platform
BRACE describes these four candidates as independents sharing priorities: safety, business, wildfire prevention, housing, transportation, homelessness services and spending accountability. Shared commitments are not a substitute for each candidate’s detailed proposals. [6]
Recent public statements
What the candidate has said publicly, with links to the original sources.
Review status not recorded for this section. Missing information does not establish a position. Submit information or a correction ↗
How to read these statements
Voting record
Selected decisions, not a complete voting history. Follow each record for the full motion. Historical votes do not automatically establish current views.
No elected public-office tenure was identified in the reviewed sources. No voting record is attributed. Campaigns, employment and community-board service are not legislative votes.
No individual voting records have been verified for this section. Submit information or a correction ↗
Business & finances
Public business & professional interests
Public reporting associates him with Empire Business Solutions; professional material also identifies Homefinders. Campaign describes cruise-boat and AI ventures. A complete current ownership inventory was not verified. [7][82][81]
Identifies his BRACE for Change affiliation. His response does not provide a complete current financial-interest inventory or recusal procedure. [403]
Personal net worth
No reliable, dated net-worth disclosure was verified in the reviewed sources. Business roles, real-estate interests, public remuneration and campaign donations cannot establish personal net worth. Submit information or a correction ↗
Campaign finances
Campaign receipts and expenses are separate from personal wealth. Historical Kelowna campaign filings can be searched at Elections BC. The City lists January 15, 2027 as the 2026 campaign disclosure deadline. [8][2]
Politics & broader policy
Political alignment & party history
BRACE coalition · independent
BRACE identifies its candidates as independents. Broader ideological alignment is unverified. [6]
Broader public & foreign policy
Dated personal statements, historical campaigns and organizational positions are distinguished below.
Public campaign posts propose restricting plastic roadside election signs and shifting toward digital campaigning. [82]
Uses a campaign message opposing what he calls ideological agendas. The site does not infer positions on specific minority groups from that slogan. [6]
Review status not recorded for this section. Missing information does not establish a position. Submit information or a correction ↗
His campaign opposes future blanket business closures and related fines during public-health emergencies. This is his stated policy preference; a councillor could not independently override provincial public-health requirements. [81]
This collection is selective. It does not claim to capture every interview, speech, social post or position held over a lifetime.
Contact & follow
Public links from the candidate’s campaign or an official directory.
Not yet verified: email. This does not mean the candidate has no account or contact channel.
Contact sources · checked September 13, 2026 (City directory base); later checks noted individually; older campaign contacts retain their original source
Campaign-linked accounts are listed as supplied by the campaign or election directory. Links and contact details can change; availability or a reply is not guaranteed.
Research gaps & questions
What still needs an answer
- No independently verified costing or legal pathway for treatment and term-limit proposals was supplied.
- Crime and budget criticisms are attributed campaign claims; the questionnaire does not independently establish their factual premises.
- The five submitted video links remain under separate media review. Hypothetical motion answers are not recorded votes.
Questions worth asking
Editorial questions, not statements attributed to the candidate.
- Which enforcement and term-limit changes would require action by other levels of government?
- What funding would replace lower development charges and pay for the proposed services?
Sources & references
6 relevant sources · original publication and review dates appear below. Nomination checked September 28, 2026. Campaign pages describe what a candidate says; official records establish recorded actions.
Photo: Contributed via Okanagan Edge
View original image · Checked September 6, 2026. Article states Photo: Contributed; footer: © 2026 Castanet Media. All rights reserved. No photo-specific reuse permission found. Photograph published March 18, 2021. The source caption identifies Rathwell at left; the portrait frame isolates him from the group.
- 1City of Kelowna — officially declared 2026 candidates
Official record · Declared September 18, 2026; declaration reviewed October 1, 2026. Campaign-directory links were separately captured September 28, 2026.
kelowna.ca - 6BRACE for Change — current coalition and shared platform
Campaign · 2026 campaign; page undated
braceforchange.ca - 7KelownaNow — earlier BRACE candidate announcements
Reporting · August 4, 2026
kelownanow.com - 81JC Rathwell — campaign website
Campaign · 2026 campaign; page undated
voteformeordont.com - 403JC Rathwell — submitted candidate questionnaire (public transcript)
Candidate questionnaire · Submitted September 16, 2026; reviewed and published with candidate authorization September 16, 2026
vote.oksoundsfun.com - 82JC Rathwell — public professional profile and campaign posts
Professional biography · Checked September 6, 2026
ca.linkedin.com