Council and School Board Trends

Council:

Since 1990, the Burnaby Citizens have held at least five of the eight councilor seats in Burnaby. Odds are this trend will continue after Saturday. In 1990, the BCA held six seats while the Burnaby Voters’ Doreen Lawson and Egon Nikolai held the other two seats.

In 1993, the BCA again had six seats while the same two opposition councilors were re-elected.

In 1996, the BCA picked up another seat while the BVA’s Lawson represented the lone voice in opposition. Without a second opposition councilor, the BVA was unable to even move and second its motions that the BCA did not like. The Burnaby Non-Partisan Association, a new party in 1996, won no seats.

In 1999, the two factions had merged and put on their best campaign in recent years. The Burnaby Voters—Non-Partisan Association won three seats to the BCA’s five seats. Barbara Der and current candidates Gary Begin of TEAM Burnaby and independent Nancy Harris were elected at a time when the provincial NDP had been in power for eight years.

The chasm reopened in 2002, with the BV-NPA being shut out against a BCA council that had seven councilors joining Derek Corrigan. Only TEAM Burnaby’s Lee Rankin bucked the trend, being returned to council after a three year absence.

A unified opposition has usually guaranteed two, if not three, non-BCA councilors. This looks likely this year as well. Which TEAMster joins Lee Rankin on council is anyone’s guess.

School Board:

For the last decade and a half, the anti-BCA forces have fared just as poorly at the school board level. A limited BVA opposition emerged to oppose the BCA majority in 1990. In 1993, the BCA shut the BVA out completely and took all seven school trustee spots. Barbara Fisher of the BVA was elected to oppose six BCA trustees in 1996. In 1999, running for the merged BV-NPA, Fisher was joined by Barbara Spitz against five BCA trustees. In 2002, only Deborah Christie of TEAM Burnaby was elected against six of the BCA’s finest. Unified or divided, the centre-right struggles at the school board level in Burnaby. Zero, one, or two are the likely number of TEAMsters elected to school board on Saturday.