One of city's political groups on death bed

Backrooms column by Dan Hilborn
Published Sept. 24, 2005


It appears that one of the oldest political parties in Burnaby is getting ready to fold its tent.

The Burnaby Voters Non-Partisan Association, the group that evolved out of the once-dominant Burnaby Voters Association that held a grip on city council and school board throughout the 1980s, will probably not run any candidates in the upcoming Nov. 19 civic election.

"At the moment, the association is still a registered association but they're not planning that activity (running candidates) at this point in time," BVNPA president Andrew Chatwood said last Tuesday morning. "That's not writing it off completely, but they don't want to get into the position of running against people just for the sake of running."

While the death certificate has yet to be issued, the final nail in the BVNPA's coffin was probably delivered on Sept. 17 when former party president and longtime civic politician Gary Begin agreed belatedly to accepted a Team Burnaby offer to run for school board.

Begin, who has 15 years of service on the school board and another eight years on city council under the old BVA and BVNPA banners, tried unsuccessfully to capture a Team nomination for city council last week and, after he lost, spent several days mulling over the offer to run for school board.

While Begin refuses to answer whether he's "happy" in his new Team Burnaby home - "I'm not going down that road," he told the Burnaby NOW - other former BVA members have contacted this newspaper to express their disappointment with the way the longtime politico has been treated.

In recent years, the BVNPA has been one of the main platforms for the sometimes rancorous infighting that has been a hallmark on the centre-right side of Burnaby's civic landscape, allowing the NDP- affiliated Burnaby Citizens Association to win large majorities on both school board and city council since the early 1990s.

Helping to fuel much of the infighting on the right side of the ledger have been long-held animosities between members of the federal Conservative, Reform, Canadian Alliance and Liberal parties and some provincial Green Party members.

Begin's inability to win a council nomination could be an indicator that the local Conservative community has a stronger base on Team Burnaby than the federal Liberals.

If the BVNPA does opt to stay out of the race, and there is still a possibility that they might run a partial list of candidates, it could make for the closest municipal election in a decade. Currently, the NDP-affiliated BCA holds eight of nine seats at city council and six of the seven seats on the school board.

Begin's surprising inability to capture a Team Burnaby council nomination mirrors the equally surprising defeat of five-time Coun. Celeste Redman at the BCA's own nominating meeting, held in late July.

With Redman and perennial top vote-getter Doug Evans officially out of the race (Evans decided to retire after 15 years of service), Burnaby city council is guaranteed to have at least two new members of council by the time its inaugural meeting is held in early December.

RANKIN REGAINS LEAD

He came, he saw, he conquered and now he gets to gloat a little bit.

Burnaby Coun. Lee Rankin posted a personal best time in the Heights on the Run 10-kilometre race last weekend to win his $100 charity challenge against Burnaby NOW news editor Julie MacLellan.

The race was supposed to be a rematch of the competition they started at last spring's Sun Run, but the younger Burnaby NOW staffer called Rankin a few days before to let him know she wouldn't be racing and thereby forfeited the Heights run to the 51-year veteran politico.

"She probably heard rumours about my sleek, well-conditioned body, training around Burnaby Lake," said the 51-year-old city councillor, who was ecstatic after trimming two minutes off his Sun Run time on the decidedly more difficult Heights run.

Meanwhile, the 30-something Burnaby NOW news editor said she only has herself to blame for her nonappearance. "The summer slipped by too fast, I allowed my training to lapse and I double-booked myself for Saturday," MacLellan said.

As winner of the race, Rankin chose the Burnaby Firefighters Charitable Association to receive MacLellan's $100 donation. But, as a former co-owner of a newspaper - he ran the Burnaby News on Kingsway in the late 1970s - Rankin wondered out loud if MacLellan could even afford the cost of her self-admitted "humiliation" and the city councillor offered to pay the donation out of his own pocket.

Unwilling to go down a path of collecting payments from politicians, MacLellan wisely announced that she was turning down Rankin's generous offer and will be "happily writing out that cheque" herself.

With their racing record now evened up at one win apiece, pundits are anxiously awaiting word on whether the pair will continue their rivalry at next year's Sun Run. The newly emboldened city councillor says he's game!

CHINESE LANGUAGE FORUM

Almost 100 people showed up at former B.C. NDP candidate Gabriel Yiu's Chinese language forum on the teacher's strike at Bonsor rec centre last weekend.

The invited guests included B.C. Teachers Federation president Jinny Sims, Burnaby North MLA Richard Lee, Edmonds MLA Raj Chouhan, MP Peter Julian, school trustees from Richmond, Vancouver and Burnaby, plus Ben Tseng, the president of the Burnaby Chinese Parents' Association.

Lee later said he was disappointed by the format of the meeting, which he claimed offered parents little chance to speak, and then allowed Sims more time than himself.

Yiu countered by saying parents received a lot of information they might not have received elsewhere, and then noted that Sims required the services of a translator, which gave the appearance of having more speaking time.

Another point of contention was on the changes in average primary grade class sizes across B.C. in the past few years. While those classes have seen an increase of 0.6 students since the 2000/01 year, the number is still lower than the 23.5 student per class average in 1995/96, Lee said. "I didn't get a chance to talk about that," he said.

And on the issue of the teacher's right to strike, Lee said: "I believe that negotiations should not affect the students' studies."

For his part, Yiu places the blame for a looming teachers' strike on the B.C. Liberals. "My own opinion after listening to both side is that the Liberal government is actually responsible. I have a business with about 15 employees. If I was to tell them that they won't have any wage increase for the next four years, I would have a problem keeping all those people."

Yiu said he will likely continue to hold public meetings, much like he did when he worked as a media commentator in Hong Kong, and possible future topics include provincial exams and the Fraser institute report card on Schools.

In the meantime, Yiu has turned down offers to run for Vancouver city council on the COPE ticket, and for the NDP in the expected spring federal election.

When asked if he still had provincial aspirations, Yiu replied: "Who can tell what will happen in four years?" It sounds like Willingdon area NDP members shouldn't throw out those old Gabriel Yiu signs just yet.

SPEAKING UP FOR SOFTWOOD

When the House of Commons resumes sitting this week, Burnaby-New Westminster MP Peter Julian intends to hold the government's feet to the fire on four main topics - softwood lumber, a Seniors' Charter, gas prices and the misuse of taxpayer's money.

For starters, Julian wants the government to immediately halt talks with the U.S. government over plans for "deep integration" of our two nations' economies until the Americans abide by their earlier commitments on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

"The Bush administration has ripped up the dispute resolution mechanism of NAFTA which was the advantage Canadians were supposed to have," said Julian, who notes that the change in process could force Canada to continue exporting "most of our energy resources" to the US, even if there was a national emergency or supply shortage.

"The key here is an appalling mixed message," Julian said. "On one hand our prime minister is pontificating that he's standing up to the Bush administration, and on the other hand they have not done one concrete thing to indicate their displeasure."

On gas prices, Julian pledged to fight for accountability and measures to protect the vulnerable, including possible changes to the act regulating the federal competition bureau.

Julian would also like to entrench the rights to a secure income, secure housing and access to health care for all Canadian seniors.

And finally, Julian will continue to press for greater powers in the Auditor General's office to help prevent the misuse of taxpayer's money such as when Pierre Pettigrew brought his chauffeur along on a government trips, or when Joe Volpe submitted bills for two different dinners that took place at the same time.