CANDIDATE FOR SCHOOL TRUSTEE
Jim Strachan
Kelowna educator and school-trustee candidate prioritizing student resilience, responsive leadership and spending efficiencies that protect students.
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 14, 2026. Published with authorization; answers are the candidate’s own statements. [394]
Experience & background
His campaign describes 34 years teaching at Kelowna Secondary and a background as a teacher, coach and mentor. [117]
UBC’s 2024 account independently identifies him leading the KSS Engineering 11/12 programme with university faculty and graduate-student participation. [118]
UBC’s account describes his Engineering 11/12 students exploring civil, mechanical, electrical and manufacturing topics with university faculty and graduate students. The 2024 cohort presented projects and toured engineering laboratories. This provides an independently documented example of his approach to practical learning, rather than a promise about future district-wide provision. [118]
Reports 34 years teaching and volunteering, with experience as a district parent and student, and over $400,000 raised through Western Canada Basketball for KSS students. The fundraising amount is candidate-reported. [394]
The Canadian Association of Physicists names James Strachan as its 2015 British Columbia and Yukon high-school/CEGEP physics teaching award recipient. [395]
SD23’s December 15, 2021 minutes recognize his National Certificate of Achievement in the 2021 Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence. [396]
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 14, 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.
Outside my role
2. The City should reduce development cost charges on new housing.
Outside my role
3. Restrictions on short-term rentals should be loosened.
Outside my role
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.
Outside my role
6. The City should advocate for expanded involuntary addiction-treatment capacity.
Outside my role
7. The City should invest in wildfire prevention and preparedness.
Outside my role
8. The City should carry out additional spending audits or operational reviews.
Not answered
Editorial note: No answer was shown in the original submission table; no position is inferred.
9. The City should make individual councillors’ voting records easier to find and search.
Outside my role
10. Would you have supported the October 27, 2025 electoral-reform study and conditional referendum-preparation motion? This bundled decision did not implement wards.
Outside my role
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.
Outside my role
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.
Outside my role
13. The City should help expand co-operative housing and community land trusts.
Outside my role
14. The City should strengthen protections for tenants displaced by redevelopment or renovations.
Outside my role
15. The City should allow more small shops and cafés within residential neighbourhoods.
Outside my role
16. The City should advocate for a second bridge crossing of Okanagan Lake.
Outside my role
17. The City should invest in filling gaps in its sidewalk and cycling networks.
Outside my role
18. The City should expand foot patrols in commercial areas experiencing crime and disorder.
Outside my role
19. The City should support expanded non-police response teams for suitable mental-health and substance-use calls.
Outside my role
20. The City should increase access to public washrooms.
Outside my role
21. The City should prioritize protecting agricultural land when making land-use decisions.
Outside my role
22. The City should strengthen protection for existing trees.
Outside my role
23. The City should limit annual property-tax increases to inflation.
Outside my role
24. Mayor and council pay increases should take effect only after the next election.
Outside my role
25. Would you support a ward system for Kelowna, where residents elect councillors to represent defined geographic areas?
In a sense this exists with 4 trustees from Kelowna, 1 from Lake Country, 1 from Westside and 1 from Peachland
Editorial note: This response describes school-trustee representation. It does not establish support or opposition to a municipal ward system.
Learning & opportunity
Connects resilience with academic, athletic, artistic, applied-skills and extracurricular opportunities that help students find belonging. [394]
Earlier campaign material: Supports academics, athletics, arts, applied skills and extracurricular opportunities as parts of student growth. [117]
School inclusion & wellbeing
Review status not recorded for this section. Missing information does not establish a position. Submit information or a correction ↗
School funding
Would assess spending and allocations for efficiencies that do not harm students; no quantified savings or delivery timetable is supplied. [394]
Earlier campaign material: Pledges efficient and effective spending to improve student programmes and services. A costed budget or specific proposed savings were not found. [117]
School accountability
Supports direct communication among parents, staff and students and continued public access to board decision records. Detailed conflict-of-interest and recusal commitments remain unspecified. [394]
Earlier campaign material: Would listen and respond to parents, educators and staff and strengthen their participation in district decisions. [117]
Recent public statements
What the candidate has said publicly, with links to the original sources.
Learning pathways and fiscal stewardship · Campaign website
Supports academic, athletic, arts and applied-skills opportunities; accessible listening to families, students and staff; and responsible, transparent use of school funding.
Current campaign priorities, without a costed programme; historical UBC classroom evidence remains dated.
Read the original source ↗School priorities in public interview · Candidate interview
Would make financially responsible budget decisions while protecting classroom funding and resources.
Edited public interview; candidate account.
Read the original source ↗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 sources identify education employment. No current private company ownership, financial-interest inventory or asset valuations were verified. [117][118]
Reports 33 years of COTA membership and 34 years of BCTF membership; this is a disclosed professional affiliation, not a political-party affiliation. [394]
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
Political alignment unknown
Review status not recorded for this section. Missing information does not establish a position. Submit information or a correction ↗
Broader public & foreign policy
Dated personal statements, historical campaigns and organizational positions are distinguished below.
At a February 2012 public board meeting about Bill 22 and labour negotiations, urged trustees to speak up for teachers and students, arguing that silence signalled agreement. These were public comments as a KSS teacher, not a trustee vote or a new 2026 platform statement. [119]
Review status not recorded for this section. Missing information does not establish a position. Submit information or a correction ↗
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: phone. 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 prior elected public-office tenure found in the reviewed sources.
- No detailed costed platform, current financial-interest disclosure or documented party affiliation verified.
- Recently reviewed statements appear separately; individual social-post, biography and voting research remains incomplete.
- The audit question is blank. His ward answer describes trustee representation and does not establish a municipal-ward position. Most municipal questions and both affordability questions are marked Outside my role.
Questions worth asking
Editorial questions, not statements attributed to the candidate.
- Which programmes would he expand and what funding tradeoffs would follow?
- How would trustees report their response to concerns raised by students and parents?
Sources & references
9 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: City of Kelowna candidate listing
View original image · Checked September 6, 2026. Photographer and reuse licence not stated on the candidate listing.
- 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 - 264Reviewed public statement — Learning pathways and fiscal stewardship
Campaign · 2026 campaign; page undated; reviewed October 7, 2026
jimstrachan.ca - 272Reviewed public statement — School priorities in public interview
Campaign · October 7, 2026; reviewed October 7, 2026
castanet.net - 117Jim Strachan — 2026 education platform and biography
Campaign · 2026 campaign; page undated
jimstrachan.ca - 118UBC Okanagan — KSS engineering programme and Jim Strachan
Professional biography · June 18, 2024
news.ok.ubc.ca - 394Jim Strachan — submitted candidate questionnaire (public transcript)
Candidate questionnaire · Submitted September 14, 2026; reviewed and published with candidate authorization September 14, 2026
vote.oksoundsfun.com - 395Canadian Association of Physicists — 2015 British Columbia and Yukon teaching award
Professional biography · 2015 award; reviewed September 14, 2026
services.cap.ca - 396SD23 — recognition of James Strachan’s 2021 Prime Minister’s teaching award, page 2
Official record · December 15, 2021; reviewed September 14, 2026
sd23.bc.ca - 119SD23 — public comments on Bill 22, page 3
Official record · February 29, 2012
sd23.bc.ca