By-election

Been a couple of weeks since I pulled out of the by-election, sorry for the delay in posting this. As I said in one of the stories below it had absolutely nothing to do with not receiving labour council endorsement. When making the decision to support Darcy Olsen I chose her because she seems to have the most well rounded experience needed to be effective on council. What with all the crap from Mark Robinson, links to stories below, I could in no way endorse Ted Greves as despite an e-mail from him saying Mark was not a part of his campaign there is still lingering doubt in my mind.

Feb 19 2011
Byelection:field of candidates seeking powerful 9th council seat less crowded on final day

Feb 19 2011
Fuller withdraws from race and supports Olsen

My decision was based on commitments I have made to expand the 7-10 Club to 7 day a week service as well as work to secure funding for the Unitarian Fellowship Shelter for the next couple of years. If elected, it was to me looking like it was a distinct possibility, I would have had to remove myself as Chair of the 7-10 Club and the likelihood of the 7 day a week service not happening would have been almost certain. If I am unable to meet these commitments how could I justify being elected to council and the commitment to a public, in that capacity, I had already failed.

The next general election will come soon enough and by then I will have accomplished the above goals. I will most certainly be running in the General Election.


Feb 18 2011
Influential unions tell members to support Olsen in byelection

Feb 18 2011
candidate is publicizing private correspondence

Feb 17 2011
Byelection candidates asked to get out of race to create strong labour support

Election Endorsements

Was invited to a selection process by the Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labour Council for who they will endorse in the Nanaimo Byelection. Looked for a website but was only able to find a facebook page, FACEBOOK Nanaimo, Duncan & District Labour Council . Will write more on this soon and let folk know the outcome. Bottom line is that while it would be nice to get their and other groups support I firmly believe that ultimately the member will, while taking the groups recomendation into consideration, make their own decision on whom to vote for.

Bestwicks Legal Opinion & LED Signs

My opinion on both of these is quite simple

Bestwick's legal opinion not released As taxpayers we are footing the bill, or a portion there-of, for Bestwick's legal opinion and so should be entitled to see exactly what that opinion was. It would be interesting to know which councilors voted not to release the information.

The original reqest for a variance by Boston Pizza to put up an LED sign should have been flatly denied or referred to a later date. Every councilor knew that City Staff were revizing the sign bylaw to include LED signage guidlines and as such should have waited until this was done before hearing anything to do with this type of sign.

I attended every council meeting to do with this issue and let me tell you it was probably one of the most painful issues I have ever had the pleasure of sitting through.

The Leopard & the Mouse

This amusing little piece below inserted in a post Speaking about the Upcoming Municipal Elections by Ron Bolin on the blog http://nanaimocityhall.com/ which I sometimes post to.

It poses an interesting analogy and is amusing to boot..
http://nanaimocityhall.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/the-leopard-and-the-mouse.pdf

And away we go. By-election 2011

Here are the first few stories from the Daily News regarding the upcoming by-election. I love the D/N for the comments you can make, and ease in doing so, on certain of their stories. In the event you check these out read the comments, some are simply hilarious.

Korpan considers running for open council slot, others announce candidacy
Derek Spalding, Daily News
Published: Thursday, January 13, 2011
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=7049db35-9ab8-413d-a242-18eddff27422
Mark MacDonald: Council needs forward-thinkers
Mark MacDonald, Special to The Daily News
Published: Friday, January 14, 2011
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=48d9c83a-0c8e-48f4-a445-6d0fb2ccf70a
Nanaimo's chamber of commerce fights poor voter turnout
Derek Spalding, Daily News
Published: Thursday, January 13, 2011
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=ae3fb15d-bd01-4c53-b5ed-61fb5e2ef152
Pair of candidates ready to fill seat on Nanaimo council
Byelection set for March 26; McKay and Fillmore among those vying for empty position
Derek Spalding, The Daily News
Published: Wednesday, January 12, 2011
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=cbc19541-0d03-42e3-a860-4cf3fab6dcca
Diane Brennan: McNabb meant so much to community
Diane Brennan, Special to The Daily News
Published: Friday, January 07, 2011
http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=945f68a3-6a28-4142-94ce-8b1a235ff20d
Nanaimo must hold byelection to replace McNabb
Derek Spalding, Daily News
Published: Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Nanaimo must hold byelection to replace McNabb

Election & Core Services Review

Both of these issues are on the agenda at council tonight Council Agenda January 10, 2011. Pgs 31 & 32 election and pgs 33 - 39.

If council gives the go ahead for an election it could be as soon as March 26th. I am pretty much ready in the event an election is called, have my signs from my last trys and have a commitment from someone to do some small newspaper ads. It will be interesting to see who runs. Will update, soon, the results of the discussion from tonights meeting.

The core review should also provide for some interesting discussion. My guess is that there are a lot of City Staff that would prefer this not to happen, might not portray their work in a good light.

Will provide a link to the video of the meeting tonight as soon as it gets posted.

2011 early by-election?

I was really saddened to hear that Larry McNabb passed away on the 24th. My wife Gayle was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late March of 2003 and passed away after a 5 month fight on August 26th. Our 10th anniversary would have been the following day, I still think of her every day. My sincere and deepest condolences go out to Larry's family, he will be remembered by the many people he touched in life.

Larry was in a way part of what got me involved in the political climate of the city. When I first started attending council meetings he would come out prior to the start and bum a smoke off me and we would chat. I may not have agreed with every decission he made but I had a huge amount of respect for him and unlike others, though he did call me a liar at one meeting, he never lied to me.

So now that he is gone the news comes that we will likely have a by-election in the spring of 2011, Nanaimo must hold byelection to replace McNabb . I had to chuckle because I made a comment, see the comments to the story, that I had heard a rumour I might be running. This comment is followed by three others supporting me if I do.

The liklihood is about 99.9% that I will run and then of course have to run again in November. It is a good thing I have a lot of signs left from my last three shots, will really cut down cost I can little afford. Guess I will have to go through my other posted stuff re the last election. I believe most of what I posted then is pertinent today so my platform, updated, has changed but little.

Seems many of the issues affecting the community have a tendancy to drag on. With me what you see is what you get; HONESTY, INTEGRITY & above all NO BULLSHIT!

Anyway would appreciate any feedback that comes my way