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Burnaby’s ‘mother bear’ had a busy year

NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR: DEREK CORRIGAN
Derek Corrigan
Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan is running for his seat again, and he's confident he can win.

It’s no surprise that Burnaby’s top newsmaker for 2014 was Mayor Derek Corrigan.

Love him or loathe him, the five-time mayor of British Columbia’s third-largest city made his way to the NOW’s front page more than a dozen times this year in the lead-up to the Burnaby Citizens Association’s threepeat at the November municipal election.

Throughout 2014, Corrigan made headlines for countless reasons: Opposing the Kinder Morgan pipeline, opposing the Metro Vancouver mayors’ council’s $7.5-billion transportation improvement plan, and for opposing public washrooms at the to-be-renovated Metrotown SkyTrain station.

In fact, he opposed a lot of other things, too: Port Metro Vancouver’s Fraser Surrey Docks coal expansion; New Westminster’s draft transportation plan; the Fair Elections Act, otherwise known as the Conservative government’s Bill C-23; a gondola linking SFU to the Production Way-University SkyTrain station; San Francisco-based ridesharing service Uber.

But don’t go thinking the 27-year council member is a card-carrying NIMBYist. Corrigan supported a lot of things in 2014, like highrises, including the 53-storey Brentwood towers and two of the five Station Square skyscrapers.

However, by far, Corrigan was in the news most often because of comments he made over the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. It’s only fitting the controversial project is also our top news story of the year.

“We’ve decided as a city to stand up and fight, and fight we will,” he told 200-some residents at a town hall meeting in March, vehemently against the twinning from the get go.

In his own words, Corrigan waged war against Kinder Morgan, vowing to stand in front of a bulldozer to prevent work on Burnaby Mountain while calling for the energy giant to pick up the tab on policing costs.

“It’s an inordinate expense, and if the (B.C.) Supreme Court would have enforced our bylaws, or if the NEB had respected our bylaws, there would be no protesters on the mountain right now, and we wouldn’t have these police resources being spent,” he told the NOWlast month.

That wouldn’t be the first City of Burnaby bill footed by someone else.

Corrigan’s name popped up in the NOW’s scoop on current and former city officials spending nearly $42,000 of taxpayer money on golf in 2013. The mayor was in the top three big spenders, racking up $5,717.65 between the Riverway and Burnaby Mountain courses.Prior to that, he caused a media firestorm when his distracted driving ticket from last July was thrust into the spotlight, around the same time his wife – Burnaby-Deer Lake MLA Kathy Corrigan and then-Opposition public safety critic – was lobbying the provincial government to do more to prevent distracted driving. (Corrigan is disputing the ticket and his court date is set for March 18.)

But scandals aside, Corrigan maintained a strong level of support from Burnaby residents, garnering 68.85 per cent of the mayoral vote and ensuring the BCA its third straight sweep at the polls.

He is the face of Burnaby for another four years, which means four more opportunities to be the city’s biggest newsmaker – for better or for worse.