kelownaelections.ca

Rick Webber

Incumbent councillor

Background

Rick Webber was first elected to Kelowna City Council in October 2022, receiving the third-most votes among councillors.

Before entering politics, Webber worked as a broadcaster for 43 years, including approximately three decades as News Anchor and Executive Editor for Global Okanagan/CHBC Television. He retired in 2019.

Webber's father served in the Canadian Armed Forces, and he lived on various air force bases across Canada as a child. He graduated from high school and began his broadcasting career in 1976 in Summerside, PEI. He attended the University of PEI, moved to BC, covered council as a radio reporter on the coast, and joined CHBC/Global Okanagan in 1990.

He currently serves as an alternate board member on the Regional District of Central Okanagan (RDCO).

Webber is a longtime emcee for Okanagan organization fundraisers and events.

His 2025 remuneration was $58,783 with $310 in expenses — the lowest expenses of any councillor except Hodge ($137).

His 2022 campaign finance filing (Elections BC FRPC) showed income of $2,500.00, expenses of $2,333.32, and a surplus of $166.68 — self-funded, consistent with his stated approach. (Elections BC FRPC, 2022)

2026 Campaign

Webber announced his re-election bid on June 16, 2026, at the Kelowna municipal office — the first incumbent councillor to announce.

He is running a self-funded campaign with no donations, positioning himself as an "independent voice free from political affiliations, campaign donations and special-interest influence."

His signature campaign line: "Council decisions should be based on what's best for Kelowna residents, not on who contributed to a campaign."

His primary campaign priority is public safety. He stated: "Residents continue to tell me that crime, social disorder and homelessness are among their biggest concerns." (KelownaNow, June 18 2026 — https://www.kelownanow.com/watercooler/news/news/Kelowna/Rick_Webber_wantsto_be_re_elected_to_Kelowna_city_council) During his 2022 campaign, he cited personal experience, noting: "in the past year, I have been attacked or accosted twice."

Webber does not have a dedicated campaign website. His campaign operates via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RickWebberKelowna. (Kelowna Capital News, June 16 2026)

In an undated ForChange Kelowna candidate questionnaire, Webber elaborated. On safety, he said official statistics show significant declines in several crime categories but that social disorder remains visible, and he pledged to keep strengthening policing and bylaw resources while pressing senior governments on justice, mental-health and addiction changes. On infrastructure, he cited four-laning portions of Glenmore Road among major investments underway and said the City should invest before population growth overwhelms its infrastructure. On housing, he said the rental vacancy rate is now above six per cent (his figure) but affordability remains a challenge, and he supported providing City land and reducing development cost charges to create more affordable housing, particularly for middle-income workers. These figures are as stated by Webber and have not been independently verified in this profile.

At the second Castanet election forum (Revelry Kelowna, September 24, 2026), Webber declined to grade the current council, calling it like "a student grading themselves." He said a staff study is underway on Kelowna's policing model and that the next council must decide between keeping the RCMP and a municipal force that could be "more directable" by residents and council. On the Kelowna Springs golf-course land swap, he described the decision as a "Canadian compromise" — reached after a partial land swap — and said rejecting it risked leaving the land idle until a future council zoned it industrial. On safety, he said "we have failed" so far and suggested "10 or 15" repeat offenders may account for roughly 1,500 crimes (his figures). He also said he would support new downtown apartment towers if they become economical again.

Record in Office

First-term initiatives

Webber advanced measures requiring extra supports for tenants displaced by redevelopment and introduced a motion to review construction-noise hours in January–February 2024; weekday hours were ultimately left at 7 a.m.–9 p.m.

Notable votes

Method note: Kelowna's eScribe minutes record only named dissents, not full roll-calls. The votes above are sourced from press-reported named roll-calls and do not constitute a complete voting record for the 2022–2026 term.

Endorsements

ForChange Kelowna recommends Rick Webber as one of eight candidates for Kelowna city council in the 2026 election. ForChange Kelowna is a Kelowna volunteer group that reviewed candidates' questionnaire responses, held structured interviews and attended forums; it lists its eight recommendations alphabetically rather than by ranking. The group describes itself as independent and not affiliated with any political party, slate or business organization, and is registered with Elections BC as a third-party advertising sponsor (principal official Francis Braam).

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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