The Burnaby Citizens Association is poised to further entrench itself as a political dynasty, but an insurgent Green Party hopes to drive a wedge into that dynasty’s foundation and make room for political upheaval.
Mayor Derek Corrigan and the city’s seven sitting councillors — Pietro Calendino, Sav Dhaliwal, Dan Johnston, Colleen Jordan, Paul McDonnell, Nick Volkow and James Wang – all plan to run for re-election this fall, with BCA school trustee Baljinder Narang running to fill the vacant seat left by now-MLA Anne Kang.
The BCA has held a firm grip on power in Burnaby since 1987, and holds a current monopoly with the city’s councillors, seven trustees and mayor all members of the NDP-allied party. The BCA has enjoyed electoral success in recent years thanks to its careful stewardship of city finances, according to Simon Fraser Univeristy political scientist Paddy Smith. They have built up a billion-dollar reserve fund to finance capital projects, rather than rely on outside institutions.
In 2009, Maclean’s Magazine named Burnaby the best-run municipality in the country, and BCA politicians have been reaping the benefits since.
Incumbency was the key factor at the ballot box in 2011 and 2014, he said, but that could change in 2018. Housing will be the top issue, Smith predicts.
“It’s going to be a great motivator,” he said.
Many traditional BCA supporters have become disillusioned with the party as it has overseen a rash of demovictions in Metrotown, Smith said. As the city’s older lowrise walk-up apartment buildings are demolished to make way for new towers, more and more people are hoping for a regime change, he said.
And Green council candidate Rick McGowan hopes they look to his party for housing solutions.
“We want to make sure people understand the housing situation is not an inevitability,” he said.
McGowan, a teacher, and Carrie McLaren, an accountant, are the two declared Green council candidates, with punk rock star Joe Keithley looking to unseat Corrigan as mayor. (Valentine Wu was previously announced as a Green council candidate but has since pulled his name.)
McGowan said his party plans to put housing at the centre of its platform. He said they’re working on the details now to ensure it’s a “bulletproof” series of policies that will convince voters to turn their votes Green.
The Greens hope to run a full slate of eight councillors, but McGowan said that will depend on whether they find the right people.
At a minimum, they plan to run four council candidates and Keithley for mayor. If all five win, they will have a majority on council and make a “change in direction on council,” McGowan said.
“Most of the debate I see in council is theatre, rather than a true debate or critiques of the policies,” McGowan said.
McGowan isn’t the first to argue the lack of dissenting voices on council is bad for democracy.
Smith said the idea has merit.
“Generally ... most assemblies would be better served if there was a mix of voices,” he said.
“But it also assumes that there isn’t a mix of voices within the governing party.”
Coun. Colleen Jordan said there is, indeed, diversity of opinion among her fellow BCA members.
“We have differences amongst ourselves, but I think people also have confidence in the experience that we have and that we’ve run a pretty good city for the last length of time,” she said.
“So having an opposition doesn’t necessarily make things better.”
Jordan said she does not take the BCA’s strong position for granted.
“You never know when you get up in the morning what’s going to be happening today, so who knows,” she said.
“That’s what elections are all about.”
Candidates who ran for the Burnaby First party in the 2014 election did not respond to requests for comment from the NOW. The party has not made any announcements about its intentions this year.
Former fire captain Rudy Pospisil is running for council as an independent.
