Locals blow off voting in Port Moody Hunter Madsen won a byelection Sept. 30 in which 12 per cent of voters cast a ballot By DANIEL DADI-CANTARINO A newly elected Port Moody city councillor _ believes the low voter turnout in the byelection he won last month shows that many residents aren't interested in local government. Hunter Madsen, who ran as an independent candidate, won 1,277 votes in a race that saw only 12 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot Sept 30. Madsen replaces former councillor Rick Glumac, who won a seat with the NDP in the May provincial election. “I ran into some people when I was door knocking who said, “Your candidacy sounds good but no, I’m not voting,” Madsen told The Voice. ‘This Saturday (Oct. 14), Van- couverites will vote in a byelec- tion for a new city councillor and a new nine-person school board. Nine candidates HUNTER MADSEN are running for — cguNciLLoRIN counciland19 for — PoRT MooDY school board. Janice MacKenzie, Vancouver's chief election officer, believes the number of seats available will trans- late to a bigger voter turnout. “This [byelection] is a little bit different because we got the school board — an entire board that peo- ple can vote for — and because of how things played out, and how the board was dismissed, there’s greater interest," Mackenzie said. Trustees were fired last October by former Liberal Minister of Edu- cation Mike Bernier after the board refused to balance its budget. Al- legations of trustees bullying senior staff later surfaced in two reports ordered by the Ministry of Educa- tion and WorkSafe B.C. The byelection was called after Geoff Meggs resigned his council seat in July to become chief of staff to Premier John Horgan. Horgan's government then decided to tack on the school board race to the bal- lot. Madsen said he spent “thou- sands” on his campaign, whereas the ruling Vision Vancouver raised more than $3 million for the 2014 general election. “I do think that big money plays a role in local politics in Port Moody, but it’s a question of scale,” he said. SOURCE: ELECTION2014.CIVICINFO.BC.CA Vision Vancouver candidate Ken Clement, was the first aboriginal person elected in the City of Vancouver and is running for re-election. sugii77ED PHOTO Candidates in Vancouver byelection hope for fresh start By CASS LUCKE former Vision Vancou- ver school trustee cam- paigning to get back on the school board says if elected he will work to ensure there is a better relationship between trustees and the district's senior staff. Ken Clement, a former two-term trustee who failed to get elected in the 2014 civic election, is one of 19 candidates running in the Oct. 14 byelection for one of the nine spots available on school board. In the last term of the board, trustees were accused of bullying senior staff. Clement was not a member of the board but is familiar with the controversy that involved members of his party and others. “The best way to ensure the issues are dealt with is to work together cooperatively for students, parents, teach- ers and stake- holders in the district to make sure the needs of our district are being met by all parties so none of these accu- sations are put forward again,” Clement told The Voice. The accusations Clement is re- ferring to were detailed in a report conducted by Roslyn Goldner. She determined that bullying and harassment occurred and that a toxic work environment existed at the school board. In the fall of 2016, then-educa- “Tt's one thing to rationalize your behaviour at the beginning, but for them to not take responsibility for what has happened is shameful. ” — FRASER BALLANTYNE NPA CANDIDATE tion minister Mike Bernier fired the entire nine-member board for not balancing a budget. The board included three of Clement's current Vision col- leagues. NPA candidate Fraser Ballan- tyne was on the previous board, but, along with his colleagues, denies he was a part of the bullying. “It's one thing to rationalize your behaviour at the beginning, but for them to not take responsibility for what has happened is shameful,” Ballantyne said when asked about Vision Vancouver's redacted confi- dential version of Goldner’s report they released on March 7, 2016. ‘Ihe byelection was called after councillor Geoff Meggs resigned to take a job as Premier John Horgan’s chief of staff. Horgan's government later de- cided to include a school board race on the ballot. Hungry for change and cheddar, business owner lures voters in Denise Brennan will make you a free sandwich If you vote By JAKE WRAY Vancouver business owner hopes to boost participa- tion in the Oct. 14 city byelection by offering free sand- wiches to voters. Denise Brennan, owner of the Creative Coworkers work studio in Railtown, said she is hosting an election night party — which is open to the public and advertised on Facebook — and will make a grilled cheese sandwich for “any- one who voted." “IT don't necessarily think de- mocracy is a great thing, but it's what we've got, so not engaging in it changes nothing,” said Bren- nan, who ran in the 2005 provin- cial election as a candidate with ‘The Work Less Party of B.C. “For me, the important thing is not who you vote for. The important thing is that you participate, so I encourage people to go.” ‘The byelection was triggered July 4 when Vision Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs resigned his seat to become Premier John Horgan’s chief of staff. While the campaign for the byelection has been in- tense—nine candidates are vying for the open seat—voter turnout is generally low for municipal bye- lections. The previous byelection in 1992 only saw 10 per cent of voters participate. Jesse Adams, a 20-year-old Van- couver resident and a communica- tions student at Langara College, said he was aware of the byelection. But he said he doesn’t intend to vote because he has “absolutely no engagement whatsoever,” in mu- nicipal politics. “[Municipal politics are] not popular. You never hear about it at all,” he said. “Honestly, politics is a joke nowadays, especially in Cana- da. No one is involved.” The Voice interviewed four Lan- gara students who are Vancouver residents, none of whom said they will vote in the byelection. Most of the students said they can't vote because they are not Canadian citizens, including Kenda Ko- bayashi, who is from Japan. “What is [a byelection]2” he asked. Photo by ‘torbakhopper' via Flickr