The New Westminster Progressive Electors Coalition Society is off and running on the campaign trail but could get some more company along the way.
At a nomination meeting on May 29, the group endorsed six candidates who will be running for city council and school board in the Oct. 20 municipal election. Three New Westminster residents will be running for council under the New West Progressives banner (Daniel Fontaine, Paul McNamara and Bryn Ward), while three residents will be seeking a seat on school board (Danielle Connelly, Lisa Falbo and Cyrus Sy).
“We are extremely proud of the people we have been able to attract to run under the NWP banner this fall,” secretary-treasurer B.C. Lee said in a press release. “Our slate is made up of a majority of residents who have never been formally involved in politics at any level before. They come from a variety of backgrounds and neighbourhoods and are committed to improving our city and school system.”
Founded in November 2017, the New West Progressives hope to shake things up at city council and school board, where the majority of elected officials were endorsed by the New Westminster and District Labour Council. All current members of city council and five of seven school trustees were endorsed by the labour council.
“Our team of candidates plan to introduce some new ideas and a balanced approach to both city council and the school board,” NWP president David Halkett said. “Our search for a suitable mayoral candidate and additional school and council candidates will continue, and we plan to announce more details on that later this summer.”
The New West Progressives candidates are working together to develop a comprehensive election platform that will be unveiled this summer.
According to Fontaine, New West Progressives candidates will begin door knocking in the next week or so. Other candidates, including a mayoral candidate, may be added to the slate, but the group wanted to get moving on the campaign trail.
Fontaine, one of the founders of the New West Progressives, said the candidates were given a few minutes to speak at the nomination meeting about some of the things they’d like to work on if elected. The group is continuing to discuss and refine items its platform.
On the school board front, the candidates expressed a desire to improve engagement between the school district and parents and to find better ways to use technology to engage with parents and students.
Candidates vying for city council have expressed an interest in working with city staff on a number of initiatives, such as improving the city’s “patio culture” to enhance local street life. The group will also strive to reduce the amount of time it takes for people to get building permits.
Fontaine said it currently takes an average of nine months to get a building permit approved in New Westminster.
“It’s way better than places like Vancouver, but we think we can do a lot better,” he said. “We have committed, within the first term in office, to bringing New Westminster into the top five (in Metro Vancouver) in terms of processing times. That is something we will work with staff to facilitate.”
While serving on the mayor’s task force on public engagement, Fontaine said he suggested the city work to introduce the 311 program in New Westminster and will continue to push for that. Currently offered in the City of Vancouver, he said the program improves access to city hall by providing a single number for folks to call to access all departments at city hall.
“With 311 you don’t have to remember any single phone number for city hall. You just call 311. They allow for multilingual services, so if you are ESL and you perhaps have difficulty speaking English, you can just call and they will provide that service for you in the language you are speaking,” he said. “It essentially opens up city hall 24-7. Although there are some apps that do that, this allows for extended hours for people to call in. When something has happened and you call in, you are given an actual ticket number, so you know from a customer service perspective what’s happening with that. You can phone back and check what the status is. It’s an incredibly popular service in the City of Vancouver.”
