Friday morning saw the NPA’s first public rollout of its byelection candidates who spoke to housing, affordability and the arts, while also offering a few subtle and not-so-subtle jabs at their Vision Vancouver counterparts.
The party’s full list of candidates, which was released Thursday morning, includes school board incumbents Fraser Ballantyne and Christopher Richardson, alongside political neophyte Jorge Julian Prieto.
Robert McDowell and Lisa Dominato round out the NPA’s five school board nominees.
Prieto is a Lord Byng and Oxford grad who currently teaches at a language school in Vancouver, while McDowell, a 2014 council candidate, has worked in mediation, project management and served in diplomatic roles in Vietnam and China.
Dominato has more than a decade of experience working in senior political and government positions and her most recent post was manager of student wellness and safety with the ministry of education.
Council candidate Hector Bremner is vice-president of public affairs for the Pace Group, a communications and media relations firm based in Gastown.
The following excerpts are taken from Friday’s question-and-answer session.
On the biggest challenge the Vancouver School Board faces that needs immediate addressing:
“The morale at Vancouver school board right now is the lowest I’ve ever seen it in the four decades that I’ve worked in it. I think that’s a major concern. We have to get behind our staff and support their initiatives moving forward and that’s going to affect students in a very positive way.”
— Fraser Ballantyne, school board candidate
“We need to restore confidence in the system. We actually have a great system, great schools, great educators, but I think the narrative has been really negative. Because of the conflict we’ve seen over the last number of years, we need to work with parents and work with educators to restore that confidence in the system.”
— Lisa Dominato, school board candidate
On what needs to be done for schools and classroom settings:
“I also think we need to really focus on upgrading and building some of our downtown schools. One of my projects is making sure the Olympic Village school does happen … and making sure that the catchment areas are appropriate for those populations.”
— Robert McDowell, school board candidate
“I’m also very interested in languages — making sure that our diversity is represented, including Mandarin and Punjabi and other languages outside of French and English.”
— Jorge Julian Prieto, school board candidate
On working with Vision Vancouver trustees in a collaborative manner:
“The narrative has to be positive. If all you’re hearing is the chirping, for somebody who isn’t intimately involved in the system – a parent who may not be involved in their PAC – [they] may become concerned about the outcomes. I think the reality is that the outcomes of the children have been good. I think they can be better.”
— Christopher Richardson, school board candidate
“I think we can all work well together. I think that the concerns around the way [Vision trustees] carried themselves in getting their points across was pretty aggressive. When it comes to bullying and harassment we have to stand up to that. Part of the critique of these reports that came out was that not enough of the trustees came forward to talk about that bullying and stand up towards it.”
— Fraser Ballantyne, school board candidate
On making housing more affordable and increasing the rental stock:
“We need to start to build in a gentle density throughout larger swaths of the city. We need get away from the piecemeal zoning. Stop fighting [and] spending millions in taxpayer dollars fighting over individual buildings. Give some people some confidence and some [assurance] as to what’s allowed in their city. We need to break up the log jam that happens here at the city. It takes two years to get a building permit. That’s unacceptable. We can do better than this.”
— Hector Bremner, city council candidate
On preserving the city’s arts scene, specifically artist studios, live music venues and other similar infrastructure:
“We’re not going to foster communities of art-friendly communities unless we have a diverse economic spectrum. If people are being priced out of this city, you lose your arts. You’re seeing the restaurant associations and the food and beverage industry crying out to the media probably every 90 days right now with another press release about another restaurant closing, and other establishment of 40 years closing and it’s all because of affordability. We’re losing establishments that [have] good paying jobs, family jobs and they’re being hollowed out because if workers cannot afford to live in our city, businesses cannot afford to be in our city.”
— Hector Bremner, city council candidate
On the inevitable mudslinging that happens in a campaign cycle:
“We’re not prepared to do that. We’re not going to lower ourselves and put down our opponents or other people who are running for office, because really it does take a lot for all of us and others to put their names forward and step up to do the job. We’re not going to get involved in that back-and-forth. We’re going to do the jobs to the very best we can for the very best for our kids.”
— Fraser Ballantyne, school board candidate
“Vancouver’s best years were when the NPA was setting policy. Those were the greenest years, those were the most equitable years, those were the most prosperous years, those were the most affordable years, those were the years of growth. Let’s get back to it.”
— Hector Bremner, city council candidate
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