Langford councillor 'harassed' by 'disgruntled' citizen, mayor says

Langford’s mayor has taken the unusual step of asking his predecessor to denounce some “inappropriate and troubling behaviour which erodes the foundation of the community,” after a person was seen peering into the home of an unidentified city council member.

“We had an individual basically staring through an elected official's window and seemed to be filming the inside of their house,” Scott Goodmanson said yesterday in a news conference held inside the council chambers.

“Anytime that any elected official is being targeted on their own property, that is a call for alarm,” the mayor said.

“It is just absolutely inappropriate, and we cannot let this behavior continue.”

Goodmanson was short on details, but said the incident happened “recently” in the evening, and that one council member was “harassed” but he would not say whom.

He said the suspected person is known to the council but that no one had been banned from city hall.

'Disgruntled' person hasn't accepted election results, mayor says

In a release, the city said the incident involved “a disgruntled member of the public who has spent the last year being angry and unaccepting of the results of a democratic election.”

When confronted, the release said, the person began harassing the councillor about personal matters unrelated to council business.

West Shore RCMP did not immediately respond to an email from Capital Daily but spokesperson Cpl. Nancy Saggar told CHEK, “West Shore RCMP has investigated this incident and determined, although the behaviour displayed by the citizen was concerning, no criminal act had been committed.”

Political change in 2022

Goodmanson and the council were elected in Oct. 2022, sweeping aside longtime mayor Stew Young and his council in what Goodmanson referred to as a “very clear call for change.”

Unfortunately, he said, “a small minority of residents [has] been unable to accept this and [has] indulged in behaviour that creates an atmosphere of fear, mistrust, anger, and hostility,” the mayor said in a release, without offering other examples of that behaviour.

“It is time for current and former leaders in our community, including former mayor Stewart Young, to strongly denounce this inappropriate and troubling behaviour which erodes the foundation of the community.”

A text messages to Young was not returned in time for publication of this story.

Mayor says politicians should never have to be fearful

When asked about the incident’s impact on his fellow six councillors, Goodmanson, who was flanked by several councillors while he spoke, said it had created a detrimental effect on the council and staff. “Council members should feel safe in their home and not have to worry looking out their door—[to ask themself] is someone out there to get them?” he said.

Other factors, the mayor says

He also said social media and even public commentary on the airwaves have contributed to the discord.

“For us, yes, social media, and members of the larger mainstream media have probably played a large role in what's happening in Langford today.

When asked whether pundits could do anything differently, the mayor said it wasn’t up to him to tell individual members of the public what they can and cannot do.

“In terms of people who are employed by other agencies, I would assume that their employers will either regularly discuss what has been stated or not. And any commentary from those bodies or lack of would be a message of either condoning those actions or not.”

In a broader context, the mayor said the idea that such incidents would prompt people to shy away from running for public office “is beyond a disappointment.”