Burnaby businessman Tom Tao is TEAM Burnaby's pick for mayor, heading the party's slate for the November municipal election, TEAM announced Monday.
Tao has never been elected to public office but has run in a number of civic and provincial campaigns.
Tao first ran as an independent for council in 2002 (getting 2,773 votes, or 1.1 per cent of votes for council), as an independent mayoral candidate in the 2005 election (getting 1,120 votes, or 3.33 per cent of votes for mayor), and again as an independent candidate for council in 2008 (getting 2,235 votes, or one percent of votes for council).
He also ran as an independent candidate in the Burnaby-Willingdon riding in the 2005 provincial election, getting 141 votes, or 0.74 per cent of the votes in his riding.
This will be Tao's first time running with a party.
A graduate of the University of California Berkeley, Tao has lived with his family in Burnaby since 1998 and first got involved in politics after a break-in at his apartment building in the Metrotown area.
He was born in China and went to school in Taiwan.
Tao is joining former Burnaby councillors Garth Evans and Lee Rankin on the TEAM Burnaby slate, along with retired RCMP officer Ray Power, local real estate agent Jeffrey Chiu, businessman Jim Favaro, real estate agent Lotus Chung, community and sports volunteer June Jeffries and urban planner Graham Murchie.
Murchie has stepped down as TEAM Burnaby president to run for council.
The party has announced it will release its council and school board platform next week.
"(It) includes a strong commitment to open, transparent government and greater public accountability in decisionmaking affecting residents and students," a press release from TEAM Burnaby stated.
All 16 TEAM council and school board candidates are Burnaby residents, according to the release.
Civic elections are being held in British Columbia on Saturday, Nov. 19.
In Burnaby, voters will elect one mayor, eight city councillors and seven school trustees.
