Take action
Four things that actually move this
Councils hear from very few residents about recreation. A handful of specific, polite, local emails genuinely registers — especially in the weeks when priorities and budgets are being set.
1. Email your mayor and council
Write to the council for the municipality you live in. Use your own words if you can — a message that sounds like a person always lands better than a form letter. If you would rather start from something, this template is yours to edit.
Template: to your mayor and council
Each municipality publishes a single address that reaches the whole council — usually something like mayorandcouncil@ on the municipal website. Search your municipality's name plus “contact mayor and council”. Sending to the whole council at once puts your message into the public correspondence record, which is more useful than emailing one person.
2. Ask candidates at the door
Between now and October 17, candidates will knock on your door, stand outside grocery stores, and hold all-candidates meetings. That is the cheapest advocacy there is. Two questions worth asking:
“The region just lost nine lanes of pool space. What will you do about it in your first year?”
Specific enough that a vague answer is obvious. Listen for whether they name an action or just agree that pools are nice.
“Would you support funding pools regionally, the way the Peninsula funds Panorama?”
This is the structural question. A candidate who has thought about it will have a view; one who has not will say so, which is also useful.
If you get an answer worth recording, send it to us — especially from a candidate who has not returned the questionnaire.
3. Speak during the budget window
Getting onto a council agenda months in advance is hard. Budget consultation is comparatively easy, and it is the point at which a council is actually deciding what it will spend money on. Newly elected councils also set strategic priorities in the months after an election — that document determines what staff work on for the next four years.
Watch your municipality's website for budget engagement in late 2026 and early 2027, and for strategic-planning sessions after the new council is sworn in. Showing up to those with a two-minute, specific ask is worth more than a dozen emails at any other time of year.
4. Tell us what you are seeing
The strongest thing we can put in front of a council is evidence, and most of it is sitting with families. If you tried to register for lessons and could not, if a program your child was in has been cut or moved, if you now drive across the region for something you used to walk to — that is data.
We publish patterns, never individual names or personal details, and we ask before using anyone's story. Get in touch.
We ask everyone acting under this banner to disagree with decisions, not with people. No personal attacks on elected officials, candidates, or staff. It is the right thing to do and it is also more effective — a reputation for being reasonable is what gets you a second meeting.
Key dates
| When | What | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | Crystal Pool closes | Displacement becomes visible as fall programs are scheduled and some are cut. |
| October 17, 2026 | Municipal election | New councils and mayors across the region; mayors carry influence at the CRD. |
| Late 2026 | Councils sworn in, priorities set | Strategic priority documents shape four years of staff work. |
| Late 2026 – early 2027 | Municipal budget cycles | The easiest point in the year for residents to be heard on spending. |
| January 2027 | Interim facility programming begins | Roughly four lanes replacing what Crystal provided. |
Dates reflect the best information available to us in August 2026 and may change. Check your municipality's website for current schedules.