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Woody Maguire Answers 3 KCFN Questions - Kimberley Municipal Election, October 2026
Municipal elections matter.
From land use and infrastructure to affordability, emergency preparedness, community services and local food systems (to name just a few)... politics and public policy have real consequences in our everyday lives.
With Kimberley and Cranbrook soon to be hitting the municipal ballot boxes — Advance Voting is open Wednesday, October 7 & Wednesday, October 14, with General Voting Day on Saturday, October 17 — the Kimberley Cranbrook Food Network recently narrowed our many possible interconnected food-system questions down to three (3) that we sent to all candidates for Mayor and City Council in both communities.
We're sharing their responses on our website/socials as they come back to us to help residents (which includes ourselves) hear directly from the people seeking to represent us all on important community matters such as the three questions we asked below.
Woody Maguire is running for Kimberley City Councillor. You can learn more about their candidacy through their Facebook and Instagram — but first, please see below for Woody's responses to our three KCFN questions, which we have shared as submitted.
Q1. What specific actions would you support at the municipal level to strengthen local food production and access to local food in our communities?
I'd like to see the City continue to support and create opportunities for local food production, whether that's community gardens, urban agriculture, farmers market, or making underused public land available for food-growing projects where appropriate.
Through my work with Wildsight, I've seen the value of connecting people with local food and supporting the people and organizations working to build a stronger local food system. This work does include building local skills but it must also include building stronger community relationships.
At the municipal level, I'd support reviewing City policies and bylaws to identify barriers to local food projects, looking for opportunities to partner with community organizations, and supporting initiatives that make locally grown food more accessible and affordable.
I'd also like to see us build on the work already happening in our community rather than reinventing the wheel. There are knowledgeable, passionate people doing this work, and the City can support these initiatives.
Q2. Food insecurity is affecting households in our communities, while local organizations providing food access and food-security programs are often working with limited resources. What role do you think the City should play in supporting this work, and what specific actions or partnerships would you pursue?
I think the City has an important role to play, both by supporting the organizations already doing this work and by helping bring partners together to address gaps in our community.
I've been heavily involved with the Kimberley Food Recovery Depot which helps turn recovered food into nutritious meals for people who need them. That experience has shown me how much can be accomplished when community organizations, volunteers, funders and local government work together. It has also shown me how much work and infrastructure sits behind programs that people rely on.
I'd like to see the City continue supporting these organizations through appropriate grants, partnerships, access to facilities and other practical forms of assistance. In the past couple of years we have provided long term grants from the City that have been awarded to both the Kimberley Food Recovery Depot and the Food Bank. We also recently approved in-kind use of centennial hall for a meal program run by the Kimberley Food Recovery Depot. I would like to see this kind of support continue into the future. I'd also support ongoing conversations with local food-security organizations to better understand where the biggest needs are, what barriers they're facing, and where municipal support could make the greatest difference.
Q3. Wildfires, drought, extreme weather and disruptions to transportation can affect both local food production and our communities' access to food. How should the City incorporate food security into its emergency preparedness and climate-resilience planning?
Food security should be part of how we think about community resilience and emergency preparedness. Wildfires, drought, road closures and other disruptions can affect both the food we produce locally and the supplies we depend on from elsewhere.
I think the City should work with local food-security organizations, emergency responders, regional partners and food producers to understand where our vulnerabilities are and how we can prepare for them. That could include identifying critical food-distribution services, considering backup power and refrigeration needs, and developing plans to maintain access to food for people who may have difficulty getting it themselves during an emergency.
We should also recognize that resilience is built before an emergency happens. Supporting local food production, food recovery, community connections and the organizations that help people meet their basic needs makes us better prepared for disruptions.
Many thanks to Woody Maguire for taking the time to respond to our questions — and cheers to all of the candidates who have put their names forward to serve our communities in these important roles (and thank YOU for stopping by to read & add some more context to your voting decisions/discussions).
You can learn more about Woody's campaign through their Facebook and Instagram — and you can read responses from other candidates via our Municipal Election 2026 page (which we will continue to update as more responses come back).
For official municipal voting information and full candidate information, remember where you live and then visit the City of Kimberley 2026 Election page and Kimberley candidate profiles (if you live in Kimberley), or the City of Cranbrook 2026 Election page and Cranbrook candidate profiles (if you live in Cranbrook). And for wherever you live, ElectionsBC is always a good spot online to visit for trustworthy election information.
And then remember, for the upcoming Municipal Election, whether you live in Kimberley or Cranbrook or somewhere else… these are the dates for voting in the upcoming Municipal Election:
Advance Voting: Wednesday, October 7 & Wednesday, October 14
General Voting Day: Saturday, October 17
Please Note: Kimberley Cranbrook Food Network (KCFN) sent the same three questions to all candidates for Mayor and City Council in Kimberley and Cranbrook that we were able to find contact information for on Sunday, October 4th (27 candidates in total between both communities). Candidate responses are published as submitted, with only minor formatting changes if necessary for readability. KCFN does not endorse individual candidates, we just endorse informed & engaged voters (and we hope people find these Q&As as engaging as we do).
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