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Snapshot of Deanmurdock.ca in Aug 2020: “Facilitation and engagement specialist”, leads to questions about the focus of Murdock’s consultation business, prior to his becoming the Mayor of Saanich.


By Sasha Izard
Oct 2, 2025

An Archive.org Waybackmachine snapshot of Deanmurdock.ca 2 years before he was elected Mayor of Saanich, offers significant food for thought:

Dean Murdock | Facilitation and engagement specialist

Murdock on his website wrote, “I am trained facilitator and engagement specialist with over two decades’ experience in consultation, facilitation, strategic communications and project management.”

Prior to becoming Mayor, Murdock had been a 3-time councillor. There was a hiatus of a term between his last council role, and that of Mayor. Were the times he served as a councillor (a decade) part of his “over two decades’ experience in consultation, facilitation, strategic communications and project management”?

When Murdock was first elected to Saanich Council in November of 2008, at 27 years of age, he was the youngest person to have been elected to the council by that point.

Article clipped from Saanich News – Newspapers.com™

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If one is to click “Let’s work together” at the top of his Aug 2022, homepage, one will come across the following that was on his website at the time:

Let’s work together | Dean Murdock

“Facilitation

Let’s look beyond the problem. I work with your organization, group or team to create a safe and collaborative environment for conversations that lead to solutions.”

Community Engagement

Your proposal is meeting resistance. Let’s shift gears and have a conversation about what works in the appropriate context. I work with you and community members to identify the path forward that moves your proposal from resistance to approval.

Consultation

Is your plan or program on the right track? It’s time for a temperature check with stakeholders. I work with you to create an avenue for feedback so your plan or program hits all the right notes.

Strategic Planning

Setting priorities and focusing your energy on success. You know where you want to go, let’s get everyone rowing in the same direction. I work with your organization, group or team to identify a vision, goals and actions that can be communicated internally and to your stakeholders.

Governance

Your decision-makers are mired in details way below their paygrade. Decisions and approvals are stuck in endless review cycles. I work with your organization, group or team to sort out how decisions are made and who makes them.

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Dean’s bio in his ‘About’ section on his website at the time included the following:

“I am a former municipal councillor and regional district director. I served three terms on Saanich Council (2008-2018), and decided not to seek re-election in the 2018 municipal election.

I am a champion for healthier, more engaged communities and am the Provincial Lead for Healthy Communities at the BC Ministry of Health. I recently wrapped my role as project manager for the BC government’s active transportation strategy, Move. Commute. Connect.  I led the stakeholder engagement and change management program for the Province’s Pharmanet modernization initiative, including consultation with physicians, clinicians and pharmacists.

I am also an instructor. I teach Political Science at Camosun College and lead project management training for the BC Public Service.”

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Close proximity to the Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary: The Rainbow/SevenOaks Development Proposal

Only months after the Oct 2022 election in which Murdock was elected as Mayor – in early 2023, the development company Abstract Developments, put forth a development proposal to Saanich Council, at the conjunction of Rainbow Street and Seven Oaks Road, not far uphill from the Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary, and likely within its watershed. The proposal included a couple dozen town homes, where previously there were only 3 single family home lots. Dozens of mature trees including many Garry Oaks would be slated for removal if the proposal went through.

There were 3 days of Public Hearing for the proposal, probably the last time such a length of a public hearing for such a proposal took place. The first day of the PH took place on Jan 24, 2023. The council chambers were filled, as well as the lobby.

The residents overwhelmingly rejected the proposal, although there were also a number of speakers albeit the minority, that supported the proposal, including UVic students. The cumulative presentations ran for so much time that council decided to reconvene the public hearing on Valentines Day…

If they expected the public wouldn’t show up, even on Valentines Day, they were wrong. The public showed up in droves in opposition, and again the cumulative presentations took a vast amount of time, although as the evening was drawing toward early morning, this time the speakers were finally all through.

One of the key complaints put forward by members of the public during the deliberations, was that an environmental impact assessment and hydrological study had not been carried out, with the potential impacts of the development proposal on the nearby Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary and ecology, unstudied.

The council decided to reconvene the public hearing again 2 weeks later on Feb 28, albeit with the public unable to speak at the 3rd round. The 3rd round would be between the council and the developers behind the application. The public could watch, but only muted in silence.

During this time, Mayor Murdock did not ask a single question about the project from the developers.

The issue concluded with a 4-4 split decision from the councillors. Mayor Murdock, seemingly without hesitation, casted the decisive tie-breaking vote on a motion for the project to proceed, thus providing it the green light forward.

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After the evening, the astonished public, had many questions. Among them was a question that had been brought up by some members of the public, as to whether or not Dean Murdock had previously done consultation work for the applicant company Abstract Developments. Some members of the public were convinced that he had.

The issue of his previous description of consultation and engagement services on the Aug 2020, archived version of his website, was also central to these questions.

On March 28, 2023 a month after the public hearing, a member of the Saanich public Mehdi Najari, wrote the following letter to Mayor Murdock.

Subject: Important question for Mayor Murdock

Mayor Murdock, Would you please provide answers to the following questions:

1-Did you work for Abstract Development in 2019 & 2020?

2-What was the nature of your work for Abstract & why you didn’t mention it during consideration of Abstract Development’s proposal to build 25 townhouses on Seven Oak St.?

Best Wishes.

mehdi najari


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2 days later, on March 30, 2023 – Murdock responded:

Mr. Najari,

Thank you for reaching out and giving me the opportunity to address your concerns regarding my previous work and potential conflicts of interest. I believe that transparency is essential in maintaining public trust, and I am committed to being open about my past professional experiences.

First and foremost, I would like to clarify that I have never been employed by Abstract or any developer. While I did briefly undertake some consulting work during the time I was not on council, the consulting work was for advice on how to conduct meaningful community engagement and was not related to any specific development application.

I have no interest in, or relationship with, any developer.

Out of an abundance of caution, I have spoken with a lawyer and confirmed that there is no pecuniary interest.

It is disappointing that some individuals are trying to spread misinformation about my professional background.

I would like to emphasize that the key concern should be ensuring that our community’s best interests are served.

As Mayor, I am dedicated to making decisions that benefit all residents and maintain our community’s well-being.

I believe it is essential for public officials to act ethically and avoid conflicts of interest. My colleagues and I have an obligation to maintain the integrity of the decision-making process. If there were any real conflicts, I would recuse myself from relevant decisions.

I hope this addresses your concerns, and I appreciate your commitment to ensuring that our public officials act with integrity.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Dean Murdock
Mayor
District of Saanich

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Murdock’s response contained notable ambiguities:

“First and foremost, I would like to clarify that I have never been employed by Abstract or any developer.” – Mayor Murdock

If he did consulting work for Abstract or any other developer, that would not indicate that he had been employed by Abstract or by any other developer.

“While I did briefly undertake some consulting work during the time I was not on council, the consulting work was for advice on how to conduct meaningful community engagement and was not related to any specific development application.” – Mayor Murdock

Once again the ambiguity in the statements is stark: Murdock did not deny that he had previously provided consultation work to developers, but he noted that the consulting work that he did was not related to a specific development application. It could very well have been in regard to development applications in general.

“Out of an abundance of caution, I have spoken with a lawyer and confirmed that there is no pecuniary interest.” – Mayor Murdock

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On April 3, 2023 Mehdi Najari replied to the Mayor:

Mayor Dean Murdock, 

Thank you so much for your response to my letter of March 28, 2023. I appreciate the confirmation of your commitment to transparency and respect for citizens’ right to ask for more accountability & openness by emphasizing: “I believe that transparency is essential in maintaining public trust, and I am committed to being open about my past professional experiences.” This is the reason I and many other people voted for you in the last election.

I don’t believe anybody is trying to spread misinformations about your professional background. I am asking questions as a result of your conduct during the public hearing and deliberation about one of Abstract’s development proposals on Sevenoaks Road.  We had 2 days of public hearing and many people from the neighbourhood participated and asked important questions such as:

1) What will be the environmental impact of the development on the health and integrity of the Swan Lake nature sanctuary?

2) By changing the zoning bylaw, what would be the cumulative effects of future developments like Abstract’s proposals on the biology, sustainability of Swan Lake and the surrounding sensitive natural areas? 

3) Why was there a lack of any study of effects of the proposed extreme density on the future viability of Swan Lake by a scientific authority?

4)Why did the council not support a moderate increase in density from 3 single homes lots to a 9 to 12 townhouses complex, which would increase the density by a factor of 3 to 4 times, rather than the over 800% percent density increase that developers demanded.

5) Why didn’t the council ask for at least 2 townhouses to be equipped to accommodate people with physical disabilities? 

6) What would be cumulative effects of similar density development in the same neighbourhood and its effect on its livability and integrity?

You and councilor Zac de Vries did not ask any question at all!!! As if the two nights of public expression of concern did not matter to even entice you to ask a few questions on behalf of your citizens and provide answers to them. If you believe the above questions are already answered, please provide those answers with your response to this letter. Your comments at the beginning of the deliberation of Abstract’s development proposal indicated that the council vote in support of this proposal is fait accompli and you were asking people to accept the result with respect. The decision to give everything that the developer demanded against community concerns neither was in “our community’s best interest” nor would the decision “benefit all residents and maintain our community’s well-being”. We have a housing affordability crisis and building more market housing increases the land value and adds to the affordability crisis. Market created the affordability crisis and the market cannot provide a solution to it. We need governments to build social housing.

In your letter of March 30, 2023 you wrote: “First and foremost, I would like to clarify that I have never been employed by Abstract or any developer. While I did briefly undertake some consulting work during the time I was not on council, the consulting work was for advice on how to conduct meaningful community engagement and was not related to any specific development application.”

Would you please provide answers to the following questions:

1) Which development companies did you have consulting contracts with during your time as a private consultant & what was the value of those contracts?

2)Would you please provide more information in regard to the nature of your work as a consultant for development companies and the duration of that work?

3) Did you do consulting work for Abstract directly or indirectly? What was the value of the contracted work with Abstract? 

4) Did you do consulting work for Mr. Adam Cooper or UDI? If so, what was the value of those contracts?

Thank you for keeping the lines of communication between citizens and elected officials open and accessible.

Best Wishes. 

Mehdi Najari

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Despite Mayor Murdock’s stated commitment in his previous email to transparency and openness on the issue of his past work experiences, he did not respond to the email.

“I believe that transparency is essential in maintaining public trust, and I am committed to being open about my past professional experiences.” – Mayor Murdock

When asked for specifics, instead of ambiguities, the proverbial crickets went chirping from the Mayor’s office.

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See also:

FOI Request to BC Transit yields information about the UDI event: “Pathways to Progress: Uniting Land Use and Transit Strategies for Sustainable Growth” which took place the same day that Saanich adopted its new Official Community Plan and rendered its Local Area Plans legally non-binding. – CRD Watch Homepage

More Freedom of Information data surfaces, this time from Saanich, regarding the May 7, 2024 UDI event at the Union Club: “Pathways to Progress: Uniting Land Use and Transit Strategies for Sustainable Growth” – CRD Watch Homepage

Abstract’s hypocrisy on parade: “Out of prudence, we are carefully phasing our projects, to avoid over-supplying the market.” – CRD Watch Homepage