Chilliwack – It was a tight election campaign and that was reflected in the final vote. Going back and forth with Richard Procee, Dr. Carin Bondar , is now a Chilliwack School Board trustee. Bondar won the February 13 By-Election to replace now Chilliwack MLA Dan Coulter.
She was the target from some right wing critics , who were upset with her science based campaign as well as science and music educational parody videos. Those videos were praised by many international educators, yet loathed by some local critics who called it “soft porn”.
Bondar won the preliminary vote by some 700 ballots. She goes into a school board notorious for being polarized and now facing a numbers crunch with an upcoming budget.
In total, over 10,700 voted were cast and over one-tenth were mail ins.
This smashed city records for a by-election which was 2015 and 1,095. That stat provided to FVN from Jacqueline Morgan, Chief Electoral Officer for the City of Chilliwack.
In speaking with FVN ( a chillTV interview will come this Thursday)Dr. Bondar was gracious in accepting the win, did not take a parting shot ot the critics and stated she knows there is a lot of work ahead of her, especially with a budget that needs to be hammered out.
Richard Procee for Chilliwack School Trustee noted to Facebook – A big thank-you to all of Chilliwack for the tremendous voter turnout. I would like to thank Carin Bondar, Adam Suleman and Brian VanGarderen for putting your name forward.Our democratic process is enhanced and strengthened by your courage to stand and place yourself under the scrutiny of public opinion.Congratulations to Carin and I trust you will serve our community well.Finally, thank-you to my team and supporters. My thanks cannot be conveyed by the written word. I am silenced by your dedication and hard work as it is above the call of duty.For this I am humbled.Thank-you
Brian VanGarderen said: Congratulations Carin Bondar! I have enjoyed my journey throughout this by-election and look forward to running again knowing that people support my ideas and beliefs in Education! I will continue to contribute to our wonderful community of Chilliwack. I look forward to meeting many of you in person and making a difference in our city!
Adam Suleman for Chilliwack School Trustee : Thank you to everyone for your support! I am truly humbled by everyone in the community that supported me in the by-election. I am grateful to Carin Bondar, Richard Procee, and Brian VanGarderen for courageously putting their names forward to support the students in our school district. I would also like to congratulate Dr. Carin Bondar for winning the by-election. I look forward to running again in twenty months from now and until then, I look forward to supporting the teaching and learning at Simon Fraser University.
