As election day draws closer, many voters in Burnaby must be scratching their heads as they ponder their choices.
The Burnaby Citizens Association currently has all seats on city council and all seats on the school board. We think one-party rule, whichever party it is, is not a good thing. We think that it doesn't truly represent all voices, and certainly leads the ruling party to behave in an often entitled and arrogant manner. While it may be extremely efficient to run a city when everybody agrees with each other in policy matters, it simply is not truly representative of the city. And that is wrong.
Once upon a time in Burnaby there were different voices on city council and in the school board. But they are gone. There is no check and balance in Burnaby.
So, a voter looking for other political voices would almost certainly look to the Burnaby First Coalition. But the BFC, in an effort to muster a full slate to run against BCA, seems to have hoped that no one would look too closely at all of its candidates and the baggage they brought with them. Its plan to woo voters seems to have hinged on a single pledge to not raise taxes.
The 'gay serum' story didn't get legs because it was fanned by the internet and media. It got bandied about because BFC has folks in its coalition who were opposed to the school district's 2011 anti-homophobia policy and, probably still are. It's not a big leap to think that those folks and their volunteers are still beating that drum. But aside from that story, BFC has also shown a lack of thoughtful leadership on the pipeline in Burnaby. It's a big issue, and the BFC mayoralty candidate's comments downplaying it and saying his coalition has people for it and against it merely underlines the problem with coalitions. Voters just can't be sure what they are voting for.
We think voters are hungry for responsible, diverse political leadership in this city. But BFC, at this point, has to do more than hope for voters to support them on an "anybody but BCA" platform.
