Friday, July 4, 2008

Race is on: 24 candidates vie for 17 BCA nominations

By Dan Hilborn
Published July 13, 2005


Burnaby school trustee Kim Maan will not be seeking re-election when Burnaby residents cast their ballots for city council and school board this fall.

Maan's departure will create the only vacancy on the NDP-affiliated Burnaby Citizens' Association slate when the party that dominates civic politics holds its nominating meeting at the Operating Engineers' Hall on Sunday afternoon.

Lorraine Shore, president of the BCA, said there is a lot of interest in running for the political party that currently holds all but two of the 17 seats on the two elected bodies. A total of 24 people have lined up to fill the spots, including 12 for council and 11 for school board, she said. Mayor Derek Corrigan will be unopposed and will win his nomination again by acclamation.

"It's not as if we have to beat the bushes for candidates," Shore said Monday. "They are coming forward."

Maan, who was first elected in 1999, said she is stepping down from the post of trustee because the responsibilities of her job as vice-principal at Choice independent school in Richmond do not leave her enough time to devote to the school board.

"I don't feel I have the time that's needed for the trusteeship in terms of going to events and spending time in the schools," she said. "I don't feel I've been doing it justice."

However, Maan said she feels fortunate to have been able to fill the post for the past six years. "My saving grace was that I have a low-maintenance husband (former Burnaby Multicultural Society executive director Michael Maan) and no children," she said. "I don't know how somebody who has children can consider taking a political position because it takes so much of their time. You really need an understanding family."

Shore, meanwhile, said the nominating meeting is being held in the middle of summer - about two months earlier than in previous years - in order to give any new candidates enough time to go door- knocking and meet the public before the Nov. 19 election.

"I think most people are satisfied with the job that the mayor, council and school trustees have done in the past three years," she said. "I don't think there's any major issues that have come up or any big complaints. I think people are happy with the job they're doing."

The BCA has a total of 12 people lining up to vie for the eight seats around the city council table, including its seven incumbents - Pietro Calendino, Sav Dhaliwal, Doug Evans, Dan Johnston, Colleen Jordan, Celeste Redman and Nick Volkow.

The other council nominees are union representative Ardell Brophy, South Burnaby resident Al Hutton, former Burnaby health board chair and Vancouver deputy fire chief Paul McDonell, small businessman and arts aficionado David Myles and current parks board chair Leslie Roosa.

With no other mayoralty candidate stepping forward, Corrigan will win that nomination by acclamation.

The only non-BCA seat on council is currently held by former BCA member Lee Rankin, who split with his NDP colleagues six years ago in his unsuccessful attempt to run for mayor. Rankin has previously stated that he intends to run again on the TEAM Burnaby slate.

Also seeking re-election are the five sitting BCA school trustees - Ron Burton, Kathy Corrigan, Larry Hayes, Diana Mumford and Mondee Redman. The other school board nominees are Suresh Bhayana, Tony Coccia, Brian Joe, Baljinder Narang, Marj Owen and Gurcharan Talewalia.

The BCA nominating meeting will be held this Sunday afternoon, July 24, at the Operating Engineers Hall on Ledger Avenue, with registration beginning at noon.

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