The Burnaby Citizens Association finally had its monopoly on city council broken Saturday night – but not by much.
The BCA elected seven members of its slate – the seven incumbents.
But according to the City of Burnaby website, with all polls reporting, the Burnaby Green Party’s Joe Keithley - the lead singer of punk bank DOA - looks to have captured the eighth and final spot by a narrow margin – 15,745 votes to 15,530 votes for BCA candidate Baljinder K. Narang.
When the NOW reached Burnaby’s first-ever Green council member, Keithley was cracking open a beer to celebrate.
“I’m feeling good and I’m really happy,” he said. “I think people realized the Greens have a collaborative approach. It’s part of being a Green. You’ve got to work with whoever you can and try and change things.”
Keithley credited his party’s dogged advocacy on housing affordability and their willingness to commit to a moratorium on demovictions in Burnaby. He said that moratorium – which new mayor Mike Hurley is in favour of – will be his top priority.
“I think the BCA councillors have got to get around to what Mike has laid out,” he said. “We’ve got to work with whoever’s there.”These are the results according to the City of Burnaby’s website:
Dan Johnston, BCA – 19,930
Pietro Calendino, BCA – 19,707
Sav Dhaliwal, BCA – 19,625
Colleen Jordan, BCA – 18.787
James Wang, BCA – 17,839
Paul McDonell, BCA – 16,760
Nick Volkow, BCA – 16,008
Joe Keithley, Greens – 15,745
Baljinder K. Narang, BCA – 15,530
Joel Gibbs, Greens – 14,815
Rick McGowan, Greens – 13,700
Lee Rankin, Independent – 13,310
Mehreen Chaudrey, Greens – 12,600
Heather Leung, Burnaby First Coalition – 12,510
Janice Beecroft, Indepdendent – 11,553
Francesca Zumpano, Burnaby First Coalition – 11,508
Linda Hancott, Burnaby First Coalition – 11,338
Charter Lau, Burnaby First Coalition – 10,702
Erika Schinzel, Greens – 10,580
Carrie McLaren, Greens – 10,019
John Templeton, Burnaby First Coalition – 9,855
Claire Preston, Independent – 9,805
Alain Deng, Burnaby First Coalition – 9,362
