Burnaby seats up for grabs

Backrooms column by Dan Hilborn
Published April 16, 2005


Will McMartin, a commentator for The Tyee online newspaper, was loathe to make a firm prediction for any of the city's electoral districts in the first instalment of his Battleground B.C. website (at www.thetyee.ca). His site claims a total of 24 ridings around B.C. are still too close to call, including all four in Burnaby.

And while there are still very many 'up for grabs' seats available in B.C., it doesn't mean the NDP and Liberals are close in terms of their actual support.

According to McMartin, the Liberals are still comfortably poised to win the election, with 23 ridings 'solidly' in their camp and another 14 'likely' to vote for the governing party. If those numbers hold true, the Liberals need to only add five of the 'up for grabs' seats to win.

The NDP has a much longer row to hoe, with only five 'solid' ridings and another 13 in the 'likely' column. To win the election, the NDP will have to win 21 of those 25 too-close-to-call seats.

GREENS IN RACE

The Green Party has nominated two of its four candidates in Burnaby for the upcoming election - Richard Brandt in Burnaby North and Susan Deveau for Burnaby-Edmonds.

Brandt, an adult basic education instructor at Capilano College, said growing up in a poor single-parent family played a big role in his decision to run in the May 17 provincial election.

"I attended 10 different elementary schools when I was growing up, starting with Gilmore school," said Brandt, who now lives in the riding with his wife and two preschool sons. "I know a lot of people in the Burnaby area who rely on food banks and they can't really make ends meet.

"I think it's important we have more social justice and help out the people who are struggling on low incomes."

Not surprisingly, one of Brandt's key concerns is for a reinstatement of the tuition freeze for post-secondary educational institutions.

"Those fees have skyrocketed since the Liberals came in, and it's almost unrealistic for low-income students to attend," he said. "Class size is also a huge issue for the local school district, and there needs to be more funding for schools."

Meanwhile, Deveau is an East Coast native who moved to B.C. in 1988 and has lived in the Edmonds area for seven years.

According to a press release from the party, she is an active volunteer, helping at the hospital and the Burnaby Volunteer Centre, and worked for 10 years at the Marine Pub. She currently runs her own wellness business called TakeTimeToday.

"Without our health we have nothing," she said in the statement.

JORDAN HANGS UP HER PEN, PURSE

Burnaby city councillor Colleen Jordan retired her pen and purse last weekend when she stepped down from her post as secretary-treasurer to CUPE B.C., formally ending a 30-year union career.

But the longtime union activist isn't about to retire quietly.

Jordan was recently elected chair of the small Community Savings Credit Union in New Westminster and expects to run for council again when the civic election is held this fall.

Jordan got her start in the union movement when she was hired as an audiovisual clerk with the Burnaby school board in the mid- 1970s. ("I've seen every National Geographic movie ever made," she said jokingly.)

But she admitted one of the main concerns that brought her into the union movement years ago is still a concern for workers today.

"The main one that got me going was pay equity for women, and it is still an issue," Jordan said. "As of last year, women still made only 70 cents on the dollar compared to men, even when they work similar jobs."

Jordan said B.C. school districts have led the charge towards pay equity over the past 20 years but there's still a long road to travel before there is fairness for all workers.

Jordan served for 14 years as secretary-treasurer of CUPE B.C. and faced re-election every two years.

"It was a huge responsibility and tough slogging, so it's time to pass the torch to someone else," she said.

Jordan and her partner recently moved into a new home with a large garden, and she looks forward to having a lawn that is not affected by the recent invasion of chafer beetles.