A punk rock legend will face off against a Burnaby political legend in this fall’s municipal election.
The Burnaby Green Party announced Joe Keithley would be its candidate for mayor. The founder of the punk rock group D.O.A. will attempt to derail Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan’s bid to win a sixth consecutive term as mayor.
“It really boils down to Corrigan and (the Burnaby Citizens Association) are elitist. They just seem to work for themselves and their cronies, their inner circle so to speak. It’s time for a change. They’re out of touch,” said Keithley, 61.
Corrigan, 66, has been on Burnaby city council since 1987 and was first elected mayor in 2002. The BCA has held all the seats on council since 2008 and a majority on council since 1987.
“It’s like a one-party state. It’s like going to China or Russia. You just get the same old thing over and over again. I thought I would be the person that would be able to energize some people and oppose Derek,” said Keithley. “I know this is a David versus Goliath scenario. I understand that. But being a recognizable person I would have a chance to coalesce people around the Burnaby Green Party.
“People will recognize as we go along, we do have the moral high ground. Derek and the BCA do not.”
The Burnaby Greens have pledged to run a full slate of council and board of education candidates in the Oct. 20 election. The party has already announced previous candidates in various elections, Rick McGowan, Valentine Wu and Carrie McLean, will be part of the slate.
Keithley ran for the Green Party in the 1996, 2001 and 2017 provincial elections. Last year, he finished third in Burnaby-Lougheed, receiving 13.77 per cent of the vote.
“I know the city really well, I thought I could be the person to energize enough people that we could have a chance to change the leadership in the city,” said Keithley.
McGowan said the party chose Keithley because he’s a leader with good organizational skills who is used to dealing with the media.
“The face of the campaign will help to get councillors get elected as well. The leader is the most important face in the party and we think Joe is the best face to put forward,” said McGowan.
The Green Party has been vocal in its opposition to the city allowing developers to demolish affordable rental buildings and erect luxury condominium towers in the Metrotown area. Keithley said what’s happening there could spread to the Edmonds area or other parts of the city.
“It’s not just the people in the Maywood and Metrotown area that don’t like what’s happening there,” said Keithley. “There’s lots of low-rise there that would be next in the crosshairs of the BCA. Rather than just heartlessly kicking these people out, let’s try and help them. That’s part of being a Canadian, if you ask me, is to help your fellow citizen.”
He added the BCA is doing growth for growth’s sake, and not what the Green Party calls “smart growth.”
“We’re cognizant of the fact cities are going to go up rather than just spread out. That’s an inevitable thing as we get more population growth here. But the planning for the people that are there with existing facilities like more firefighters, more fire stations, that isn’t happening,” said Keithley, who also advocated developers be obliged to replace any demolished rental units.
“Right now the BCA is using 20 per cent of the density bonus (fees paid by developers). We would propose using 50 per cent to help with affordable housing. That area is going too slow, and they’ve really reacted to it as an afterthought. There are some places that are starting to be built, after the damage has been done.”
Keithley questioned some of the BCA’s priorities. He said the city doesn’t need to spend up to $70 million on two ice surfaces next to Byrne Creek secondary when Burnaby already has more than enough ice surfaces between public and private facilities.
“I’m a big hockey fan, too. I play a lot of hockey but that’s one thing we could change the priorities on,” said Keithley. “There’s a lot of ice already, and I don’t think that’s a a priority.
“The big priority people use in amenities are swimming pools and libraries. Those are the most-used things.”
Keithley said the Green Party would promote the city’s green space, do more to make it a walkable, livable city and expand the bike path system.
“Part of our thing is to get people to work closer to home. A sustainable, livable city. That is big part of how we appeal to people,” said Keithley.
Keithley first caught the activism and political bug in his teens while attending Burnaby North high school in the early 1970s.
That was when Greenpeace was formed to oppose the United States government’s nuclear testing off Alaska at Amchitka in the Bearing Sea. The teenager was so passionate about the issue he participated in a Greenpeace march to the U.S. consulate in downtown Vancouver.
“It was kind of the first political awakening for me. I got involved in a lot of things along the way,” said Keithley. “When I was a young guy, a punk rocker in D.O.A., I organized the first Rock Against Racism show in Canada in 1979. I did a lot to help organize a big anti-nuclear demonstration in 1979 as well. Environmental protests, like in ’86 stopping logging in the Stein Valley, long before it became popular to resist this stuff.”
Keithley, 61, estimated the band has done between 200 and 300 benefit shows for all types of causes.
On a local level, he collected 1,500 signatures in 1996 for a petition opposing the cutting down of 20 hecatres of second-growth forest in his Wesburn neighbourhood, at the time, to expand the Discovery Park high-tech industrial park.
Keithley said when he door knocked in the Burnaby-Lougheed riding during the 2017 provincial election a lot of residents recognized DOA as a group that had done a lot of activism and understood what it stood for.
Before going to Burnaby North he attended Lochdale elementary, Kensington junior high and Burnaby North senior high. Growing up, he played in the Burnaby Minor Hockey Association and Norburn lacrosse. He’s also coached those sports along with baseball and soccer.
He’s been married to Laura, a Moscrop grad, for 31 years. While they used to live in Wesburn – where they raised Jake, 31, Georgia, 28, and Clayton 21 – they now reside near Robert Burnaby Park. All five, parents and children, were born at Burnaby Hospital.
