kelownaelections.ca

Randy Millis

Candidate for Councillor

Background

Randy Millis is a multimedia journalist, advocate, and longtime Kelowna resident with more than 30 years of experience in communications, technology, photography, journalism, and community service.

His background includes journalism, radio, information technology, community and shelter support work, and approximately ten years running his own small consulting business. He is self-educated in journalism, having studied independently since 2011.

Millis is a wheelchair user with lived experience of disability and housing instability. He has said: "I also bring lived experience of disability and housing instability. I know personally how decisions about housing, accessibility, transportation and public services can affect someone's ability to participate in their community."

He runs "Personal Dispatches," an independent journalism, photography, documentary, and advocacy project documenting homelessness, disability, housing insecurity, and recovery in the Okanagan.

In 2024, Millis was featured in a Global News story raising BC Transit accessibility and safety concerns as a wheelchair user, describing an incident where "partway through the trip the driver applied the brakes fairly firmly and I actually rolled ahead and crashed into another wheelchair patron."

In 2025, he was quoted in a Global News story about a friend's eviction from transitional housing, saying: "I just kind of feel like he was dumped like garbage."

Millis was evicted from subsidized housing at Columbus Centre (operated by Columbian Centennial Housing Society) in 2026 after the BC Residential Tenancy Branch dismissed his application to cancel a One Month Notice to End Tenancy for Cause and granted the landlord an Order of Possession. The RTB found Millis had failed to comply with an earlier settlement requiring him to complete an RTB-51 Address for Service form. Millis sought judicial review of the RTB decision in BC Supreme Court and later entered Kelowna's emergency shelter system. Millis says the judicial review remains before the Supreme Court and is awaiting further scheduling steps on his part.

Correction (2026-09-22): revised to reflect the Residential Tenancy Branch decision's stated finding.

He was receiving approximately $1,500 per month on disability assistance at the time of his eviction.

No prior Kelowna campaign-finance disclosure is on file (2014–2022), and no previous elective office in Kelowna has been identified.

2026 Campaign

Millis's campaign slogan is "I'm here to listen." His tagline: "a Kelowna people can afford, access and belong in."

He has said: "I'm running for Kelowna City Council in the 2026 municipal election because I believe we can work toward a Kelowna people can afford, access and belong in."

His platform emphasizes listening to residents, evidence-based decision-making, measuring outcomes rather than activity, affordability, accessibility, housing, and public accountability. He has stated: "I believe local government should listen carefully, communicate clearly, examine the evidence and remain accountable to the people it serves."

Millis has also said: "I don't pretend to have every answer. I want to listen, ask questions, understand the problem and determine what City Council can actually do before deciding on a solution."

He has been actively campaigning via X/Twitter, attending events such as the Pandosy Candidate Speed Meet and Orchard Park listening sessions, and soliciting resident input. (X/Twitter @poohbah431111, captured 2026-09-18 via xurl API)

In an undated ForChange Kelowna candidate questionnaire, Millis detailed his positions. On affordability and homelessness, he supported preserving and expanding rental housing, using City land strategically, strengthening partnerships that prevent housing loss, and requiring clear measures showing whether City-supported programs actually reduce homelessness. On accessibility, he called for identifying recurring barriers, improving the design of new infrastructure, and reviewing transit routes, stops and connections. On climate resilience, he supported stronger wildfire, heat and flood preparedness, climate-conscious land-use and transportation planning, and protecting and expanding the urban tree canopy.

Campaign site: https://randymillis.ca

Contact: Campaign Listen Line at (236) 361-0435.

Follow-up responses

Answers to the Kelowna Elections follow-up questionnaire on three live community issues, sent in identical form to every councillor candidate. Published verbatim; received 2026-09-27.

1. Audible bird-scare devices (“bird cannons”)

I could support reasonable limits if the evidence shows they are necessary, but I would not want residential growth to make legitimate agricultural operations unworkable. I would want to understand the actual impact on neighbours, the effect proposed restrictions would have on producers, and what practical alternatives exist. My preference would be to first look for a collaborative solution that meaningfully reduces disruption without creating unnecessary hardship for farmers.

2. Prospera Place / MNP Place operator and transparency

I support maximum lawful transparency. Information that must remain confidential to protect legitimate commercial or negotiating interests should remain protected, but evaluation criteria, the rationale for the decision and other information that can legally be released without disadvantaging the City should be made public. If concerns about favouritism or an unfair process are being raised, I would want to know what evidence supports those concerns and whether the procurement record addresses them.

3. Highway 97 right-of-way protection

I would not choose between widening, transit or another congestion strategy without understanding the long-term costs, expected use and consequences of each option. I would want to know which properties would be affected, what protecting or not protecting the corridor would cost, projected transit and traffic demand, and whether alternatives such as transit priority, network improvements or other congestion measures could achieve better results. Property impacts, environmental effects and any heritage concerns also need to be understood before making a long-term decision.

Questionnaire responses

Did not respond to the Kelowna Elections questionnaire (deadline October 2, 2026).

Registered campaign links

From the official candidate registration record; presence here is not an endorsement.

Financial agent: Self

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