And then there were three.
Four years after running its first slate of candidates for city council and school board – and getting one trustee elected – the New West Progressives have make a breakthrough on city council. Preliminary results from Saturday’s election showed that NWP candidates Paul Minhas and Daniel Fontaine had been elected to council and incumbent trustee Danielle Connelly was re-elected to school board.
The trio are pledging to make sure that people’s voices are heard on city council and school board.
“The fact that the three of us are here, and only five years ago New West Progressives weren't even around, I think, is a pretty big testimony and the fact that there's this movement afoot, and the voters want to hear that perspective,” said Fontaine, who helped found the New West Progressives.
While he had hoped to have had other NWP candidates elected to council, Fontaine said it’s a “pretty historic moment” to have two New West Progressives elected to council.
“For me, I'm very proud of being the first Indigenous person on city council,” said Fontaine, who is Metis. “That to me, personally, is something I'm very proud of.”
Minhas said “the people have spoken loud and clear” that they want to be heard at city hall.
“They need to be heard. We can definitely be a voice for the people. It's imperative that people get heard,” he said. “There needs to be more transparency, more accountability, and no more in-house conversations that nobody knows about.”
Fontaine said Ken Armstrong did “an amazing job” and had a great result as the party’s first-ever mayoral candidate. Armstrong placed second in the mayor’s race with 5,227 votes, coming behind Patrick Johnstone at 6,676 and beat Chuck Puchmayr at 3,912.
“We knocked on thousands of doors throughout the campaign, and people were telling us that they were not being heard, that their voices weren't being heard on council,” Fontaine said. “And I think we're a reflection of the fact that people want to have their voice heard, and we're going to make sure that we're going to play that role. I know I will. I know Paul's committed to doing that on council. And Danielle has been great, a strong voice on school board, to making sure that people's voices are heard.”
Like Mayor-Elect Johnstone, the New West Progressives successful council candidates are confident they can work as part of a team on city council. That’s something Connelly said she’s been able to do during her first term on school board.
"That's a really old argument about keeping a full slate of one party. I think that we're all in it for the right reasons – students and people in the city. And if you can't work together with those common goals in mind, then you have bigger problems,” she said. “But I think that we're all prepared to collaborate and work well for the interests of everybody in New West.”
Added Minhas: “We will definitely work together with the Community First team.”
One of the items in the New West Progressives platform was to create a joint council/school board long-term planning committee to ensure better collaboration between the two elected bodies.
Connelly hopes that’s something that comes to fruition, especially as the school district grapples with a space crunch in schools.
“I really hope so,” she said. “I know that meetings happen, but I would like to see a more formal relationship especially with the crisis situation we're in right now in with space.”
