A David Eby Vancouver-Point Grey supporters townhall. Highlighted, Vancouver-False Creek NDP candidate, Brenda Bailey. Top left, Gala Milne, David Eby’s campaign manager.
On Sunday afternoon, September 27th at 4pm, Vancouver-Point Grey MLA — and, until the current provincial election was called by BC NDP leader, John Horgan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General for the province of British Columbia — David Eby, held a well-organized and well-attended Zoom campaign townhall of longtime supporters, campaign workers and campaign staff, hosted by the very bright, accomplished and talented New Democratic Party tyro candidate for Vancouver-Hastings, Niki Sharma.
Also present and accounted for: Meghan Sali (top row), host of The Dash with David Eby podcast (also available as an Apple podcast, and through the Google Play store); Vancouver-Langara NDP candidate, Tesicca Truong — acclaimed housing, community, and climate change policy strategist — to the left of Ms. Bailey; Stefan Avlijas, master of all he surveys, and BCGEU digital campaign specialist (this is not his first rodeo with the avuncular, personable and accomplished, Mr. Eby), middle fourth row down; as well as the love of David Eby’s life and mother to his two wonderful children (migosh, they’re growing so quickly — note should be made that David is an incredibly great dad), Dr. Calley Lynch; dogged co-campaign fundraiser and former director of communications with the BCNU, the highly-regarded Shirley Ross (her hubby, the very fine gentleman and oenophile, Bill Tieleman, is to be found on another screen); and bottom row, in the middle, some ne’er-do-well, we’d all be better off ignoring, old fart that he is; and so, so many more who will move the sun, the Earth, the stars to ensure David Eby’s re-election, come Thursday, November 12th, cuz the hand-counting of mail-in ballots — of which there will likely be one million — will not start until 13 days after election day, Saturday, October 24th.
As of midnight Sunday night, Elections BC reports that 406,000 British Columbians had asked to have mail-in ballots posted to them. Unlike Donald Trump’s America, we in Canada respect our sacred institutions of government, our post office and non-partisan agency, Elections BC, charged with the conduct of elections in our province, so mail-in ballots — which will achieve record numbers in the provincial election of 2020 — is a feature of our current election British Columbians are assured is fair, proper and necessary, and in the midst of an unprecedented 21st century pandemic, an absolute necessity. VanRamblings will be walking over our mail-in ballot (which we received last Friday) to an advance poll nearby us, the morning of Thursday, October 15th, because we want our vote counted on E-Day.
Advance polls, as above, will open two weeks from this Thursday, on October 15th, and run thru til Wednesday, October 21st, and will operate each day from 8 a.m. through until 8 p.m., staffed by your neighbours. Go to the Where to Vote page on the Elections BC website for more information, to have any B.C. election questions you may have answered.
For the years she sat as Chairperson of the Vancouver Park Board and as a Board Commissioner, VanRamblings had the privilege of observing the work of Niki Sharma, who we came to know as a democrat of the first order, engaging and yet no nonsense, focused always on the work of those who elected her to office (as well as those who did not cast a vote for her), extraordinarily bright and articulate, accomplished, loyal to her peers and her party, open and available to talk with anyone, any time, hard working, dedicated & a devoted public servant possessed of unparalleled integrity.
Niki Sharma is one of those once in a lifetime political figures, a change maker who works for each and every one of us, towards the creation of a better, a fairer, a more inclusive and a more just city, province and world.
And now, Niki Sharma is the B.C. New Democratic Party candidate for Vancouver Hastings. Lucky BC NDP, lucky residents of the provincial riding of Vancouver Hastings, and lucky us — every citizen of British Columbia.
Early on, when Ms. Sharma was seeking the Vancouver Hastings NDP nomination, we had naysayers call us to regale us with tales of the old shibboleth, that Vancouver’s Chinese population will not vote for an Indo-Canadian candidate. And not just that, but that the 2017 British Columbia election in the riding of Vancouver Hastings was oh-so-close, and recently retired provincial Minister for Social Development and Poverty Reduction, Shane Simpson, had just barely squeaked into office in the 2017 election.
Um. Really? The correct information as to the outcome of the 2017 B.C. provincial election, in the riding of Vancouver Hastings, is easily attainable:
The above said, the British Columbia New Democratic Party, and Vancouver Hastings NDP candidate Niki Sharma, her riding executive, and her many, many supporters are not taking anything for granted.
As is the case in every election, candidates must fight for every vote, and fight to gain the confidence of the electorate who reside in the riding where she or he is seeking to become the British Columbia Member of the Legislature representing the interests of the good citizens of the riding, where s/he has come forward as a candidate for the party supporting her / his provincial riding candidacy.
All of which is to say, if you have the time and the energy, if you can spare a few dollars, supporting Niki Sharma’s, David Eby’s, Brenda Bailey’s and / or Tesicca Truong’s candidacies, there is no finer activity to which you might dedicate yourself than playing a role in ensuring the election to office of any one of these outstanding BC NDP candidates. As for VanRamblings, we are donating one per cent of our annual gross income to supporting BC NDP candidates in the current British Columbia election — you should, too.
And, finally for today, this: as was the case in New Brunswick in their provincial election earlier this month, and as will be the case in Saskatchewan, in their scheduled election next month, candidates for office in the various political parties will be, and are, pooling their resources, and working closely as teams of (most generally) three candidates for office.
VanRamblings has learned that in 2020, Vancouver-Point Grey NDP candidate David Eby, Vancouver Hastings NDP candidate Niki Sharma, and Vancouver Fairview NDP candidate George Heyman will work closely together, in some cases combining election operations staff and office resources, less for budgetary considerations and more as a practicable initiative responding to the exigencies and demands of our current pandemic — which, by the way, is not going away anytime soon, so that now, this very moment in our pandemic, is the best time to conduct a provincial election, to ensure that the citizens of our province have at the seat of power in Victoria, a government that best represents their interests, will best respond to their and our collective health needs, and are best able to rebuild an economy that serves all of us, and not just the wealthy few.
