City planner wins nod over Rankin

By Dan Hilborn
Published Feb. 28, 2004


New Westminster city planner Mary Pynenburg will carry the Liberal party banner in the newly created riding of Burnaby-New Westminster when the next federal election is called, widely expected later this spring.

Pynenburg won the nomination by a comfortable 549-431 margin over Burnaby Coun. Lee Rankin in a Tuesday night nomination meeting held at Our Lady of Mercy school on the border between the two communities.

"I feel great," Pynenburg said after the meeting. "I'm really happy with how things turned out and I'm very happy with the team we had. I'd like to say thank you to all the people of Burnaby and New Westminster who supported me, and I'd also like to say that I wish Mr. Rankin well on Burnaby council.

"We want to work together and build a team that will make this riding one that we can win for Liberals."

But, while Rankin conceded that there was little doubt the result will stand, he said the party and its new candidate should be concerned about what kind of impact the unfolding sponsorship scandal could have on the Liberals' re-election chances.

"I think the fortunes of the party have taken a turn for the worse," Rankin said Thursday morning. "The rosy expectations and hopes of the party have been damaged by the very negative perceptions of that."

And in a thinly veiled attack on Pynenburg, Rankin said the ongoing scandal points to the need to clearly separate the work of elected politicians and unelected civil servants.

"While I believe the prime minister is sincere in his commitment to get to the heart of the scandal, it clearly shows what is called for is to ensure that politicians have a very clear sense of what's right and what's wrong," Rankin said. "From what I understand, what may have occurred in Quebec at the federal level shows the dangers of having a politicized civil service and the importance that people have a clear understanding of the proper boundaries of ethical conduct."

Pynenburg had come under some criticism recently when it was revealed that she had solicited campaign support from professionals who were dealing with projects in New Westminster - before she took a leave to run for the nomination.

Rankin said the next federal government must spell out procedures and guidelines to "ensure the affairs of Canadians are conducted with integrity and honesty."

Rankin also said that Martin should delay the election call until the ongoing judicial inquiry into the sponsorship scandal is able to report back to Parliament.

"I think there's no obvious reason to call an early election," said the 18-year veteran Burnaby city councillor and former NDP member who won a Liberal party nomination against Pynenburg prior to the year 2000 election.

But Pynenburg said Martin is responding appropriately to the unfolding scandal. "I think the prime minister has recognized there's a problem and has quickly taken steps to fix it," she said. "He's gotten some sense of who might be responsible and he's really taken some very strong steps in terms of the leaders of Crown corporations.

"I think he's sending a very strong message that he recognizes the situation and he's dealing with it."

Pynenburg said she would prefer a spring election.

"I think the government has set an ambitious agenda and I'm quite pleased a portion of that is an urban agenda. That speaks well for my background and it would be a great benefit to citizens. So when you have an ambitious agenda, I think it's fair to seek a mandate and to seek it early."

Pynenburg also said she will sit down with the city administrator in New Westminster to determine whether she will return to her job as the director of planning in the city in the interim, or stay off on vacation until the election is formally called.

The Tuesday night decision may be the final chapter in a three- year-old battle between these two competing camps in the federal Liberal party - established party members from the New Westminster side of the riding who supported Pynenburg, and new members who supported Rankin after he split from the NDP in the late 1990s.