To clarify (and I am pretty sure this is correct):
To run for council you must be eligible to vote in the community.
To be eligible to vote you must live in the community or own property in the community.
Everybody on Prince Rupert council could be from out of town, but they would have to be property owners.
As well, if a single property is owned by more than one individual and all the owners live out of town, then only one of those owners can vote and only that person could run for council.
Seems like a very fishy rule. I’d rather have a full Council full of people who are residents of Prince Rupert.
Show me where in the community charter it states that you must live in a community/own property to run for council in the community.
Anyone who is a resident of BC (and meets a few other requirements) is free to run anywhere they want to file nomination papers.
Again, the theory being that you won’t end up with a council full of outsiders because VOTING is limited to residents/property owners - and why would they choose to vote for someone from out of town, unless that person had some amazing qualities which made them an attractive candidate, and in that case, why shouldn’t they be on council.
I don’t have the community charter in front of me. I posted earlier from municipalelections.com. If I am reading it correctly you can run for office in a community if you are eligible to vote. You are eligible to vote if you live in the community or own property in that community. I don’t think a person can decide to run in any community just because he/she feels like it. I don’t think people living in Prince Rupert can run in Port Edward without owning property in Port Edward.
yeah, the reference there means that you can run for office if you are eligible to vote… it does not limit WHERE you can run for office, except that of course we are only talking about within BC.
I think if you research this issue you will find that I am correct. Yes - a person CAN decide to run in any community just because they feel like it. Again, just running does not guarantee the person is going to be ELECTED, far from it.
And if they do end up being elected - obviously the voters have exercised their power to judge a candidate however they choose.
A potential candidate does need to have nominators (the number varies by municipality) and the nominators must meet residency/ownership requirements.
I’m looking… but I don’t see anything in here that says candidates must live in a municipality…
I didn’t say I knew where to find it…I only provided a link to the charter. 
Kittie said “I think if you research this issue you will find that I am correct. Yes - a person CAN decide to run in any community just because they feel like it.”
I did and you are.
According to Lonnie Miller at city hall you can run anywhere you want. You have to be a Canadian citizen, a resident of BC, 18 years old, have registered voters nominate you etc. but residency or property ownership are not part of the package.
I humbly bow to your knowledge. My problem is where I went wrong. The voter’s guide clearly states that you can run IF you can vote. If you can run anywhere, why put in the IF qualifier? Why be purposely vague? I don’t mind being wrong, but I sure feel stupid putting so much faith in a government produced document.