Tenth to the Fraser

New Westminster school trustee Lori Watt calls giving a kidney to friend and acting coach Nathaniel Deveaux the "most unique" Christmas gift she has given in a recent Newsleader profile. No kidding!

It started with a phone call when Watt asked, “What blood type are you?”

“B positive,” he replied.

“I’m B positive too.”

That’s when she started thinking about it. After doing research on transplant surgery she told Deveaux she would donate her kidney.

A battery of medical tests showed they were a match and the surgery was scheduled.

“When we both got out of surgery we were each asking how each other was. The other day he walked over to my room in the hospital and thanked me profusely,” said Watt.

“I feel like we were brought together to work on [the play] The Museum Project. Then this happened. I just feel really blessed to be able to give back this way.”

Labels: Lori Watt, NW in the news, politics, school

The Surrey Leader reports that New Westminster's Brad Ross has provoked a testy bit of back-and-forth between provincial transportation minister Kevin Falcon and Delta city council. Ross commutes to Delta, facing a regular bottleneck at Highway 91 and 72 Ave.

New Westminster resident Brad Ross, who makes regular trips across the [Alex Fraser] bridge, wrote Falcon to ask if there were plans to build an overpass.

According to the minister’s written reply, the traffic lights are still there because Delta “strongly favoured an alternate and more costly configuration, and we were unable to reach agreement.”

Ross forwarded the response to Delta council last week.

There was supposed to be money for improvements to the intersection in 2003, courtesy of a federal-provincial Border Infrastructure Program.

The Falcon letter also said a full intersection was “not viable as part of the project, due to the close proximity of Burns Bog.”

Coun. Scott Hamilton scoffed at the comment.

“The minister is talking through his hat,” Hamilton said, noting the land is privately owned and not part of the bog conservancy.

“They (the program) just ran out of money.”

Labels: NW in the news, politics, traffic

Hubris has led to a great fall for Stephen Harper. Having won a mandate for another minority government, Harper acted as though he had won a majority and gave the three opposition parties the common enemy they needed for an attempt to wrest control from the Conservatives and propose an alternative coalition government.

And Canadians said ... WTF?!

As news of these developments percolated through the Twittersphere, blogosphere and news media, many of us discovered that we understood less than we realized about how our political system works (myself included). I am not alone in spending some time catching up on the nuances of parliamentary democracy lately.

It's not a coup, as some have called it. It's a rarely used but legitimate political option exercised when the Prime Minister really screws up. The last time something like this happened in Canada was over conscription in the First World War.

As you know if you've ever voted (or remember the fundamentals of your high school history), we don't vote directly for our country's leader. We vote for a local representative. The leader is the person who can rally the most support in the House of Commons. This is almost always the leader of the party who won the most seats. This time, the leader of the party with the most seats is also (arguably) the most reviled political leader in Canada. While he did squeak past with a win in the last election, he did not enjoy the support of a majority of Canadians, and he has now lost the confidence of a majority of our Parliament.

I spoke with Burnaby-New Westminster MP Peter Julian today to get his take on the situation, and what it means for New Westminster.

Julian said all this began when Harper failed to deliver on his promise to move quickly after the election to implement a plan to address the economic crisis. While he had pledged to take a moderate approach and work with all parties in the House of Commons, the budget update instead included a number of controversial plans that impacted social programs, public election financing and other issues.
"He basically lobbed a grenade onto the floor of the House of Commons. He took a hard right shift attacking basic principles like collective bargaining and pay equity for women," said Julian. "He used the economic crisis to put forward a very hard right shift, which is not at all what he committed to in the election campaign. He committed to being moderate."

The NDP, Liberals and Bloc response was not what the Conservatives expected. The economic crisis and the threat of another election wasn't enough to bully them into passing the budget. Instead, leaders of the three parties began planning to oust Harper. Our local MPs, Julian and New Westminster-Coquitlam's Dawn Black played key roles in clinching the plan. Black was the NDP caucus representative who helped negotiate the coalition agreement, while Julian worked the phones responding to media queries.

Labels: Peter Julian, politics

Twitter tells me today that 'we will have a new federal government in Canada within days.' The Liberals, NDP and Bloc have put aside their differences and have formally asked the Governor General to allow them to form the Government of Canada, led by Leader of the Opposition Stephane Dion at the next opportunity.

As an NDP stronghold, this could be New Westminster's best chance to get on the national political radar. The Georgia Straight has speculated that Burnaby-New West MP Peter Julian (profiled a few days ago on this blog) could have a good shot at a cabinet post in a coalition government, while a story on BCLocalnews.com suggests New Westminster-Coquitlam MP Dawn Black is the New West MP to watch.

In the leaked transcript of a supposedly confidential NDP caucus meeting (shamefully recorded and distributed to the press by the Prime Minister's Office), NDP leader Jack Layton mentions that Black is a key member of the team that negotiated the deal with the Liberals. According to the transcript posted on local blogger Anthony Damonse's site , Layton says he chose Black because she is "someone that I happen to know is also respected and trusted by key Liberals."

Here is Layton's suggested defense for caucus members who face critics of the coalition:

What about the legitimacy of the democratic process, yeah, what about it? [Harper] was given a minority, and he refused to work with the other parties, he had 38% of the vote and he’s trying to govern like he had 100% of the power, he’s the one who’s got democracy wrong, not us. So do not be defensive, to work among what we are doing is to give effect to the wishes of the majority of Canadians, have no doubt about that. The coalition for Canada, I love the idea, it could be a deal-breaker for the Bloc (laughter) so if we don’t go, we call it “The Coalition for Canada and Quebec,” (lots of laughter).

I’ll just say one other thing about the issue of the Bloc: nothing could be better for our country, than to have the fifty members who’ve been elected to separate Quebec to actually helping to make Canada a better place. I think we just approach it on that basis, and say we’re willing to make Canada happen, here’s other things that we’re going to be investing in and transforming together, they’re willing to work with us, we’ll accept that offer. 

Labels: Dawn Black, NDP, Peter Julian, politics

Eagerly awaiting the last official results of the 2008 New Westminster civic elections, we are pleased to relay that the judicial recount for the position of school trustee has been completed. In a message this afternoon from New Westminster Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Doris Fassbender, the results were announced:

Following a two day judicial recount at the BC Provincial Court, New Westminster Registry, Judge Her Honour Alexander declared the results for the office of School Trustee for the 2008 General Local Election for the City of New Westminster. Brent Atkinson received 3665 votes and Vivian Garcia received 3663 votes. Therefore, Brent Atkinson was declared School Trustee-elect.

Labels: election, politics, school

I just came back from my weekly lunchtime yoga at work, and as I sat down for a dose of 102tF, it got me thinking about the role that the spiritual life, and churches in particular, have played in our Royal City. Without any real historical training or knowledge (Will and Peter Julian will have to help you with that), I figure that when New West was settled and in the decades after, churches likely played an important role in developing a sense of community in our city.

The first church to open in New West was the one that Will (of 102tF) and I attended as children (and played many games of floor hockey in its church hall), Holy Trinity Cathedral on Carnarvon Street. Founded in 1859 by the Reverend John Sheepshanks, its first building was destroyed by fire in 1865. It's current stately building dates from the second structure built on that site which was lost in the great fire of 1898 - the surviving stone walls were found to be sound enough to support a rebuild, and so the current structure was built up from the ashes of the old (meaningful, no?). Though it is now an unsightly grey, crowded in on all sides by condo towers, it is a beautiful building on the inside and has unmissable stained glass windows. This parish was named the cathedral seat of the diocese in 1892, but the second in a series of "Capital Controversies" occurred in 1929 when Archbishop de Pencier named Vancouver's Christ Church Cathedral the seat of the diocese (though New Westminster remained the diocesan title and HTC remained a "Cathedral" in name and beauty). It's parish continues going strong today if parish activity can be measured by the sheer number of activity links on its website.

Knox Presbyterian Church set down its roots in the building it still occupies in Sapperton in 1891, as "The Wee Kirk on the corner" and has been an active member of the community ever since. Bringing it's denominational history of sound education in Sunday School (aided by the opening of its "Christian Education Centre" in 1956), Knox has been the heart of Sapperton since it was founded and it's distinct architecture make it one of New West's most recognizable buildings.

The first Gurdwara in New West was started in 1919 by Sikhs who worked the sawmills dotting the Fraser River. Bhai Bisan Singh, a dedicated Sikh, formed the Gurdwara Sahib Sukh Sagar in his home, gathering others for meetings and readings of the Holy scripture Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The New Westminster Khalsa Diwan Society (The local community of Sikh believers) formed when Singh purchased the lot next to his house in 1919 and donated it to the congregation (though formally incorporated in 1974). The present Gurdwara opened in Queensborough in 1975 and it's tall red flame light is one of the many sights welcoming people New Westminster as they drive over the Queensborough bridge Northbound.

New Westminster has also been the home to the cemetery of BC's oldest and largest Orthodox Jewish Synagogue, Congregation Schara Tzedeck, in Vancouver. I tried to pin down whether there was an active temple/synagogue in NW but haven't found anything yet, though the contributions of many prominent Jewish people shaped New Westminster: Muni Evers, New Westminster's longest-serving Mayor (see here and here); More recently, the Congregation Sha'rai Mizrah (Gate of the East)has served New Westminster/Burnaby/Coquitlam from a converted Kingdom Hall off of Lougheed Highway.

No discussion of religion in New Westminster could go without the introduction of Dr. Vasant Saklikar, who, after moving to Canada from India in 1959 and working in education systems across the country, became rector of Sixth Avenue United Church in 1976 and quickly became a community icon - his work on the School Board and as an advocate and activist made him a frequent sight in local papers. Saklikar raised his family in the West End and was named Citizen of the Year in 1998. The now-named Shiloh-Sixth Avenue United remains a politically and socially active parish to this day, where newbie New West council member Jamie MacEvoy is director of their Hospitality Project, bringing comfort and aid to New Westminster's vulnerable people.

Another United church has a prominent place (and role) in New Westminster's history - the venerable Queen's Ave United Church building sits just up the 6th Street hill from City Hall, and has hosted a faith community there since 1859 (not to mention the piano recitals and music day camps Will and I went to as kids!), tying HTC for first church in the new colony though the building wasn't built until 1860, as Queen's Avenue Methodist Church. When the Wesleyans, Presbyterians and Congregationalists merged in 1925, its name was changed to it's current. Another congregation which was tested by fire, QA lost it's first church building to New Westminster's Great Fire in 1898, and its second building was replaced by the current iconic stone block building across from the Armoury in 1959. I didn't know this until now, but QAUC also owns Grace Hall, a small building in the Queen's Park area which was once used for sunday school and is now home to community groups (such as the Brownie group I went to as a kid!). I have certainly always associated QAUC with music, and the congregation has a reputation in the community for great musical events and performances.

New West has played host to spiritual communities of all kinds, but there simply isn't room to do justice to them all. Many are small but in their own way left their imprint on the community - who can forget the Foursquare church and the Evangelical Free church (both on 10th, and technically in Burnaby) who maintain an active, and often clever, dialogue with the community via their church signs. We can't leave out the orthodox churches (of which there are 4), and several intentional religious communities in New West currently and historically, such as the Sisters of St. Anne, the Loyal Protestant Home (now Royal City Christian Centre) and the Russian Orthodox convent on 5th Avenue (anyone know the name of this one?). I'll leave these for a later post. In our "geeked out" discussions of New Westminster's politics and history, we can't leave out the rich history of many different faith traditions that have shaped and advanced New Westminster as the community it is today.

Labels: church, history, jaimie mcevoy, politics, spirituality, vasant saklikar

New Westminster packs 60,000 people into just 15 square kilometres. Despite the skyscrapers and traffic jams, this city of ours still behaves like a small town. The annual Remembrance Day ceremony at the armory is a hugely popular civic event. We have just one high school.  Our mayor is a jolly guy who drives an old Ford truck. And our MP, Peter Julian, is a friendly Salmonbellies fan who, like many of us, still carries a bit of a chip on his shoulder from 1868 when Victoria stole the title of B.C. capital from our town. His dad even wrote a book about it (entitled, "A Capital Controversy").

Julian called us up a few weeks ago after seeing our blog and asked if we'd like to sit down and have a chat. We invited him over to our home and spent two hours talking about New West issues over a glass of red wine and a plate of crackers. We didn't press him on political issues so much as try to get a sense of the man and his passion for this place. It was a cracking good conversation and more fun than a barrel of bonobos to a couple of folks like us who geek out on all things local.

Labels: history, NDP, Peter Julian, politics

Labels: blog, election, new westminster, newsmedia, politics

Now that the dust has settled and the result is no different than last election (Is it just me or does anyone else have deja vu from October?), perhaps there's no wonder that a proportion of New Westminster's citizens voted (in a completely non-binding way) to increase the electoral cycle from 3 years to 4 - perhaps this proportion of the population believes that since nothing will change, why go to the expense to have elections so frequently?

I'm sure that in the coming weeks, editors, electors and candidates will toss around theories for the lack of change of the council, the apparent dearth of an expected "Grimston Park Effect" and as to how to deal with a 50-year age gap between sole newbie, Jamie MacEvoy, and the rest of City Council, but I am pretty confident that it can all be boiled down and neatly answered with my pet theory about New West - I call it the "One Highschool Effect" or OHE for short.

I have long held that it is the peculiar makeup of New Westminster's school district that has kept the politics, neighbourhood relationships, development plans and even traditions bound to a small town mindset. One highschool of 2200 kids (when I was there) provided the sort of demographic funnel that kept almost everyone in the population within 4 or 5 degrees of separation - just enough to mean that you wouldn't stop everyone on the street for tea and cakes, but just right to mean that everybody's mom, dad, uncle, realtor, dogwalker, dry cleaner, Waffle House owner knew whose kid you were, and likely what elementary school you went to (and thus your neighbourhood and socio-economic status).

In a town where most families have children who grow up, leave, and then come back to raise their kids, often with three or four generations of one family having attended the same high school, memories are long and tradition is revered. In a town where it must seem like most "newfangled" developments seem to fail - the once shiny and bustling Quay Market now dreary and empty; hundreds of shiny new condos built on the old Penn lands all leaky, and an apparent inability to keep any sort of floating vessel at the Quay for long, and the loss of Royal City Centre as a viable retail space - perhaps there is some suspicion of new ideas, and the people who bring them? Perhaps this small-town feeling that has preserved New West's historical charm, has kept residents wary of change - especially where their government is concerned.

Certainly it seems that the longest serving members of Council are those who are also older - whatever happened to Jerry Dobrovolny, who was the youngest - and cutest! - thing to hit council when I was a teenager. He was the first one to use large-format campaign signs, the first to put his face on his signs and the first one to use colour. The net effect was to send the message that perhaps Jerry, a late-thirties family man and city engineer in Vancouver, was perhaps the only candidate running for council in 1995 who knew how to use a computer. When did he leave?

One quick look at New Westminster's Mayors shows how this city likes to hold onto its leaders. Muni Evers' service spanned three decades, from 1968-1982; beloved Mayor Betty Toporowski served almost 10 years (despite the "racy" painting incident!), and with a third term looming ahead of him, mayor Wayne Wright is likely to top up to 9 years himself. There hasn't been a single-term Mayor since J.L. Sangster in 1949-1950! (Take that, Sam Sullivan...)

It seems obvious that New West values its history and perhaps is wary of change. This is bound to change given the rapidly changing demographics of both the city and the provincial population in general, however I can't help but wonder whether there isn't still a silent majority block of voters whose wishes are felt every three years when they again vote in a comfortably familiar set of Mayor, Council and School Board.

Perhaps if the lack of change in governance across the board is part of a larger community effort to thwart change through historical preservation, the mayor and council may need to watch out or they might find themselves on display in Irving House one of these days.

Labels: election, governance, history, Irving House, mayor, politics, small town

Despite a well-organized campaign by the Voice party to convince voters New Westminster needs profound change, the resounding public response has been a polite, "No thank you." Unofficial election results show only one new face on council: 12th Street booster, longtime Douglas College Student Union leader, Save St. Mary's Hospital organizer and antipoverty activist Jaimie McEvoy, who appears to have stolen the seat of our longest-serving councillor, Calvin Donnelly . Donnelly has been a city councillor for 18 years, since first elected in 1981 (according to the city website's official bio ... I assume he has not been in office the whole time or else it would be 27 years, no?).

It's the same story on school board, despite the vocal outcry over plans to situate a new school in Grimston Park, six of the seven school trustees are incumbents - and the seventh is former city councillor Casey Cook . There is a slight touch of drama here: Wright-endorsed newcomer Vivian Garcia was so narrowly edged out by incumbent Brent Atkinson (sorry, can't find a link for his bio) that there will be a recount to confirm the tally.

And the final confirmation that New Westminster voters are pretty happy with the way things are? The response to the referendum question on whether council terms should be extended from three years to four was YES . That one's a bit of a puzzler though - civic elections throughout the province occur every three years on the third Saturday in November . The referendum question is explicitly non-binding. Are we really going to put ourselves out of sync with every other municipality in the province and move to a four-year election cycle? I don't know about you, but the first I heard that this question was on the table was when I had my Sharpie in hand at the polling station. It's a surprise to me that we're even considering the question.

The story of the night for me is just how poor a job the news media did of reporting election results from municipalities other than Vancouver and Surrey. Of all the TV stations, CBC included, only Shaw Cable (!) had special election coverage. Other stations just had superficial updates during commercial breaks. Online, the story wasn't much better. The only site that did it well was the official City of Vancouver site, which reported faster results than any of the media sites (and, of course, didn't cover New West!).

New West results were not online at all (except as reported by us, repeating Shaw Cable's coverage). Because Shaw wasn't online, and their numbers went by so fast, we actually snapped photos of our TV screen in order to capture local information for this blog. We were monitoring the Vancouver Sun, CBC, the Georgia Straight, 24 Hours, the Record and the Newsleader and it pains me to say that we were the first to report New West results online. The Record wasn't too far behind in reporting the first results after all poll results had come in. The Newsleader had nothing until the results were complete. The big media organizations had nothing at all for New West.

The very best coverage was on Twitter. Big Media's overstretched staffers couldn't beat the efforts of dozens of passionate political junkies scouring the Internet for information on the election and sharing the dribs and drabs of info as it came in. CBC's best move came in asking the Twitter community to tag election-related Tweets with the code #civicelection2008, which allowed for easy, consolidated tracking of most of the related commentary.

To me, all this is more evidence that the rest of the Lower Mainland considers New Westminster insignificant, and that is something I hope to change somewhat through my efforts online. I'd love to see more people blogging and Tweeting and Facebooking the New Westminster perspective and trumpeting our city's successes so that the rest of the Lower Mainland might see that New West is more than what they view through the windshield trundling along Stewardson.

For those of you who didn't choose to vote, you lose all right to complain for the next three (maybe four!) years. If you felt your taxes were too high, crime too bad, arts undersupported, parks lacking or schools crowded, you had your chance to effect change. Suck it up, buttercups.

The final election results will be posted on the City of New Westminster's website on Nov. 19 after 4 p.m.

Labels: calvin donnelly, election, jaimie mcevoy, newsmedia, politics

All polls reporting: so far, results show Wayne Wright still has the 'Wright' stuff (har de har har). Blair Armitage appears to be out of luck.

Council results so far:

• Jonathan Cote
• Lorrie Williams
• Betty McIntosh
• Bill Harper
• Bob Osterman
• Jaimie McEvoy

• Casey Cook
• Lorrie Watt
• Lisa Graham
• Jim Goring
• Michael Ewen
• James Janzen
• Brent Atkinson

Labels: election, politics

If you're looking for information on civic election results as they roll in, here are a few sites to check (I am watching and will post New West information as I see it as well):

• City of New West official results on the website.
• Lots of chatter on Twitter. Do some keyword searches ("civic" seems to work well, and you can also try "new westminster"), or follow me @10thtothefraser (I will retweet any New West-related info as I see it). 
• The New Westminster Record is posting updates online . As of 8:20pm, Wayne Wright had the lead , but only two polls were reporting.
• CBC is promising live updates online (nothing there as of 8:55pm for New West). CBC is also asking people to tag their Tweets about the election with #civicvote2008.
• The Vancouver Sun has is liveblogging election results from around the Lower Mainland. No way to filter the info by municipality, and no way to get automatically pinged when there's something new. Refresh, refresh, refresh. They have also set up a live video feed ... but seem to be having some technical difficulties. No audio, last I checked.
• The Georgia Straight is also posting results via blog , but they have less volume of coverage than the Sun. Straight results are also appearing in the Straight Twitter feed .

Labels: election, newsmedia, politics

Labels: election, endorsements, politics

Labels: election, endorsements, grimston, Kirpaul Kaur, politics, school

Labels: election, mayor, politics, wayne wright

Labels: grimston, politics, school

Shaw TV's two-minute clips of our civic election hopefuls are now up on YouTube, but they're not all in one place.

WhickerNW appears to have uploaded clips of all the Voice candidates - school board included - while Trainman3 has focused on the independents.

Our mayoral hopefuls have also each uploaded a promotional vid to the site.

Here's incumbent mayor Wayne Wright, running on his record:

Labels: politics

Many newspapers and websites have chosen through history to forgo complete objectivity and endorse a candidate or candidates in an election. Often, the choice made is an illustration of that publication but it is often the intent of the endorsing journal to present a choice that, in their view, would be preferred by their readers. Such is the value of knowing ones audience. The New York Times, for example, first endorsed a presidential candidate with Republican Abraham Lincoln, who would later lead America in a war to emancipate the slaves of the Confederacy, and has most recently endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, also a unique product of the story of Africans in America.

Labels: election, politics, Tenth To The Fraser

Earlier on Tenth to the Fraser, I reviewed an All Candidates Meeting at the Queensborough Community Center. I really appreciated the event, difficult as it was in organizing an evening where 17 different candidates for Mayor and Council all tried to introduce their next three year plan to the citizens of New Westminster.

I tried to give readers of this blog a brief window into the candidates positions, and present my impressions about them as candidates. We will be covering tomorrow evening's All Candidates Meeting (Oct 28th, 2008 at the Queensborough Community Center again) as well and I hope the evening is just as illuminating.

One of the counsellors whose performance I reviewed was ill at ease with how he was perceived and had heard from others in the community also. Matthew Laird, independent candidate for council, contacted me earlier today to discuss the event. To review, here is my briefly stated impression on his message at the meeting:

Matthew Laird (council, ind) I was surprised by this candidate. I have spent some time on his website and he has some very interesting ideas and suggestions, many of witch I find compelling. In his remarks, he certainly has a good list of practical, achievable improvements (increased composting and others) but he seemed to have his emotion or frustration with city council run away with him. He made his points aggressively and with a fast speaking style and was hostile to the record of the last councils. My wonder was how he would be able to work with the next council and team if he was elected. He certainly has vision but a more friendly and less confrontational pitch style might come in handy.

He explained to me that he had not been feeling himself that evening and that for a variety of reasons, the presentation in Queensborough was not his usual style. In a related blog post, Mr. Laird elaborated:

At last Tuesday's Queensborough debate I made an error, my opening remarks were far too negative in tone. I'm embarrassed to have conducted myself in this manner, directly contradicting how I said I would run my campaign.

I take full responsibility to the excessive attacks on the current council, while they're certainly not perfect, my remarks crossed a line. I would like to apologize to my fellow candidates.

When Matthew Laird says he is for a different kind of politics, he really believes it. Whether acknowledging the criticism from others and presented here on this website will help his campaign or not, it does show a certain level of conviction, if not micromanagement, to directly address the issue and apologise.

As I had mentioned in my initial review, I do find many of this candidates issues compelling. Perhaps at tomorrow night's debate, I will see the side of Mr. Laird he intends for me to see. Until then, check back here for updates.....for Election 2008!

Labels: election, matthew laird, politics

New Westminster council candidate Betty McIntosh said she'd like to see the new South Fraser Perimeter Road completed to siphon off some of the traffic that now runs through New Westminster, which, as the geographical centre of the region, has a disproportionate number of vehicles travelling through it

"New Westminster is a compact, well-planned city with a large volume of transit users. We can work, live and play within our city boundaries," she said.

Lorrie Williams, also running in New Westminster, said the city could "easily become just the crossroad to other places" and it needs well-planned commuter and truck routes and cooperation with other municipalities to share the burden.

Labels: betty mcintosh, blair armitage, bob osterman, city, election, jaimie mcevoy, lorrie williams, lynda fletcher-gordon, matthew laird, politics, terrance owen, traffic, transit, vancouver sun, wayne wright