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School Board Choice - the Right Wing.
UNA/UEL/UBC area residents who qualify can vote for Vancouver School Board trustees, Oct. 15, 2022.
All qualified electors living west of Blanca (UEL/UNA/UBC area) can vote in the municipal elections for Vancouver School Board trustees. Voting takes place on October 15, 2022. You can vote either at the University Hill Secondary School or the AMS' Nest in the center of campus. There are 30 candidates running for 9 positions, representing 8 political parties and a smattering of independents.
This is the last of two stories being published this week on the political choices available for local area voters. Wednesday’s story featured the choices on the left: Vote Socialist, COPE, and One City, and; the centerists: Vision and Green. Today’s story discusses the choices on the right: ABC Vancouver, TEAM, and NPA.
ABC Vancouver
ABC began the campaign with five candidates, but dropped one of them mid-September. ABC contains many disaffected former NPA supporters and candidates. Their campaign has focussed a lot on the safe city theme with a promise of 100 new police offices as soon as they are elected.
ABC is a breakaway NPA civic party. ABC was formed as NPA lurched further to the right as they elected members to their board who had, according to City Councillor Rebecca Bligh, affiliations to anti-SOGI groups. Other city councillors also split from the NPA. Colleen Hardwick formed her own rival right wing grouping, TEAM.
None of ABC’s school board candidates (except Richardson who has been taken off the party list) have experience with the intricacies of school board governance (though some might say that is an asset).
Chien describes himself as the CEO of “TUEX Education, an app-based tutor that ensures high-quality, affordable tutors are available to all students.” Previously he had a career in banking.
Faridkot works at an undisclosed job in the Richmond school district - it seems to be in IT or administrative support.
Jung is described as working “in Environmental Consulting, where she supports environmental management in land development and contaminated sites.” Jung’s LinkedIn page describes her as “business development and marketing manager.”
Zhang is an accountant who manages “his family office with a portfolio of stocks.”
Richardson, a former NPA trustee, was dropped by ABC after a reporter brought some unflattering news to their attention.
The ABC schools platform put honours classes as their first promise followed by reinstating uniformed police officers in schools.
TEAM
TEAM is another NPA spin off led by anti-development councillor Colleen Hardwick and former NDP lobbyist Bill Tieleman. TEAM’s slogan is a liveable city and their candidates have been prominent in community-based opposition to the expansion of multi-family homes and supported living facilities (such as the Arbutus project) in Vancouver. Their sole candidate for school board is Dr Matiul Alam, a retired ‘educationalist.’
Alam shares TEAM’s ‘pro’ neighbourhood approach in his video critique of the closing of Queen Elizabeth Annex, a small french immersion feeder located near St Georges private school. The school is an area of relatively large, single detached family homes that has seen a significant decrease in elementary school-age children over the years. It previously was a dual track, enligsh/french school. Prior to being closed it had become a single track french immersion feeder to the near by Ecoloe Jules Quesnel.
Non Partisan Association (NPA)
The NPA has a long history in Vancouver tending toward the center-right. However over the last few years, as its fortune has fallen, the party and its candidates have drifted rightward taking the NPA to the far right of Vancouver’s main civic parties. A member of their executive board was a media figure for the alt-right Rebel Media. The same board member was called out for telling people to harass the homeless. NPA candidates have also faced criticisms for their sometimes explicit, other times oblique, attacks on policies respectful of the human rights of members of LGBTQ2S+ communities.
CBC reporter, Justin McElroy, notes that “to date, their [NPA] campaign is almost wholly dedicated to crime and safety.” One might reasonably ask “safety for whom?” given some of the comments from past NPA candidates about school SOGI programs and their board member’s comments on homeless people.
A Campus Resident will be publishing a story on school ‘safety’ next week in which each party’s concept of safety is considered alongside their concrete plans to achieve it. In the meantime, here is the NPA roster.
The NPA are running five candidates this time around. None of whom were, or are current, trustees.
Aggarwal worked as a corrections officer and now owns and operates his own law firm focussed on divorce. According to his campaign page his “top priorities would be returning the Honours Program, and the Police Liaison Program.”
Fedora describes his specialities on his LinkedIn page as: “land development, government relations, project management, customer service, data and trend analysis, report writing, contract writing, contract negotiations, entrepreneur, strategic thinking, practical implementation, and problem solving.” He has a degree from the conservative Christian college, Trinity Western and lists involvement in his church on his campaign bio. Fedora is also involved in Young Life, an evangelical Christian youth group that has been criticized publicly for banning LGBTQ leaders (but ‘accepting’ gender-diverse youth) and teaching that such ‘lifestyles’(sic) are not godly.
Goodine runs an online support business according to her LinkIn page: “Providing remote #virtualbusinesssupport, marketing, and content writing services to entrepreneurs. Because having the freedom to focus on the growth of your business is a priceless return.” Her campaign bio describes her thus: “Nadine moved to Vancouver from Montreal in 2000 and fell in love with the city and the West Coast. Prior to her three boys moving on to their Secondary School education, Nadine had been active on the school PAC at Southlands Elementary as co-chair.”
Kljajic worked for the City of Vancouver for about a dozen years and then, since 2015, has been the manager of Richmond Kiwanis Senior Citizens Housing Society.
Vaughan has a history of entrepreneurial activities according to her campaign bio (her spouse is an adjunct prof at UBC Sauder). A few years ago her family was in the news for raising money to buy a lift for one of their children who is wheelchair bound. She also promises to “be that mother bear, protecting and advocating for this next generation!”
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