The list of who is running in next month’s Burnaby byelection came out on Friday and one name really stuck out.
It’s Mike Volkow, the son of Nick Volkow, an eight-term Burnaby councillor who died in 2020 at the age of 67 after a lengthy battle with cancer.
One of the seats open on council is because of Nick’s death and now his son is running to fill it.
Mike Volkow told the NOW on Sunday that it was a difficult decision to run for council, but that there were some eerie coincidences he saw, including him and his dad both being 37 when they decided to enter politics and both having three kids.
"Part of the reason why I'm running is to carry on what he started," Mike said.
He's a truck driver by trade - like his dad was - and lives in Vancouver near the Burnaby border in co-op housing that has been a blessing because of how unaffordable housing is these days.
"Part of the reason why I'm running is the housing issue. So someone like me doesn't get priced out of the market."
In 2016, Nick Volkow was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM, the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumour.
In a wide-ranging interview with the NOW in May 2019, the retired truck driver who said he had driven more than one million miles, detailed that he had surgery, radiation and chemotherapy to deal with tumour. The treatments made it, at times, impossible to drive and hard to attend council events, but Volkow get fighting.
Volkow had to face his battle with cancer without his wife, Shirley, who died of lung cancer in 2016. The pair had known each other since Grade 5.
“My kids have been dynamite, and my friends couldn’t be better,” he told the NOW. “That’s the importance of having made relationships through your life and good friends and all of that – that in your moment of need, you know they’ll be there for you.”
A total of 14 candidates have filed nomination papers for the 2021 Burnaby byelection – including a former city councillor and school trustee.
Nomination packages for the upcoming byelection were accepted at the City of Burnaby Election Office from May 11 to May 21 at 4 p.m.
The full list of candidates includes:
- Mehreen CHAUDRY
- Gulam FIRDOS
- Alison GU
- Mike HILLMAN
- Martin Edward KENDELL
- Flora LO
- Baljinder NARANG
- Claire PRESTON
- Lee RANKIN
- Teresa ROSSIELLO
- Deborah SKERRY
- Scott VAN DENHAM
- Heymann YIP
Narang is a former Burnaby school trustee and Rankin is a former city councillor who served for 22 years on council.
In the City of Burnaby 2021 byelection, voters will elect two city councilors.
The byelections were made necessary after the deaths of Volkow with the Burnaby Citizens Association, as well as independent Paul McDonell, who had previously quit the BCA. They died within a few weeks of one another.
Elected councillors will serve on City Council until the next scheduled general local election on Oct. 15, 2022. General Voting Day is June 26, along with advance voting dates on June 12, and June 14 to 19.
