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Goodnight all

September 21st, 2008 · 7 Comments

I’ll sign off here, even though there’s a crowd around kissing, hugging, commiserating and all the rest.

One thing to note: If Kenneth Clement stays on, he will be, as far as I know, the first aboriginal school-board candidate. Clement became a candidate because local aboriginal leaders decided they should get involved in politics. He was part of a slate with Sharon Gregson and Narinder Chhina. Interestingly, Gregson won by a landslide, even though she wasn’t part of the Vision education group.

More tomorrow.

Categories: Uncategorized

  • Ruth Herman

    There was once a COPE school board candidate who was aboriginal – Robert Kiyoshk – who ran in either 1996 or 1999.

  • Charles Menzies

    I am pretty certain that a First Nations candidate ran under the COPE banner about a decade ago or so.

  • Stevevbc

    Thanks for hanging in there Frances.

  • RossK

    Fabulous Frances….thanks.

    _____
    For anybody who gives a hoot in heckfire for naive impressions rather than hard numbers, etc., almost live blogging is now dribbling up at my place (me, I didn’t take the box electronica to the glitter dome because I got there late and thought I’d be home by 10, ha!).

    .

  • Eugene

    Sharon Gregson is a gun nut who does not deserve re-election. Vision members showed non-existent judgment on this one.

  • Charles Menzies

    I did some checking and it was Robert Kiyoshk who ran with COPE in 1999. In that year the Province reported that there were five civic candidates running for council, park, and schools.

    http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/newproposals/archives/048199.html

  • Dawn Steele

    David Eby not making it on the City Council slate is the only real disappointment – it would have been great to see him included over one of the more (for lack of a better word) establishment types.

    I supported the Vision Education slate & it’s disappointing that we couldn’t include more of the great candidates who ran. But I’m pleasantly surprised to see Clement included – his lack of direct school board experience will be more than balanced by the choice of Bacchus, Gregson and Lombardi as running mates. Our failure of Aboriginal students is, or should be, one of the biggest concerns in our public education system and I hope Clement will keep that front of mind for Vancouver at least, as well as helping us to understand the reasons why it’s not working.

    Parks also looks like a nicely-balanced slate. Great to see gender balance on both School & Parks slates & a bit more ethnic diversity (pity the strong Filipino turnout didn’t result in a breakthrough).

    Despite the rain, it was a fun day – trying hard not to be obnoxious while dodging the rain with the other last-pitch supporters and candidates in the gauntlet outside the door. That was a first for me & a pleasant surprise to see so many others out who are deeply committed to the democratic process – all crammed together competing for attention, but as far as I could see, doing that both respectfully and good-naturedly, despite the grueling hours, high stakes & sniping that went before.

    Overall, the Vision members came out in all their numbers & diversity & spoke wisely. Gregor has himself a great team – congrats & good luck to all!