Welcome to the Burnaby Green newsletter!
Our first Green newsletter. This newsletter is designed to keep you informed about what’s going on with the Burnaby Green Party at a civic level. In addition, we will strive to keep you as informed as best we can with the activities of Councillor Joe Keithley and School Board Trustee Christy Cunningham.
We are pretty happy to get this inaugural newsletter off the ground and going. We hope you enjoy reading it. If you have items you think would be of benefit to other Burnaby Greens, please send them to the editor, Cathy Griffin. We also urge you to pass the link along to like minded individuals you know would be interested in reading about what we are doing in Burnaby.
The cut-off date to send any content to me is the 30th of each month. Send your information, ideas etc., to communication@burnabygreenparty.com I will review what is sent and then update future newsletters accordingly.
Not a Green supporter or member and don’t want this newsletter? Contact me below and I will remove you from the newsletter list. You can reach me at: communication@burnabygreenparty.com
2018 Candidates
The Executive Committee of the Burnaby Green Party would like to acknowledge all of the 2018 candidates who took six weeks and sometimes more time out of their lives in October/November 2018 to stand at street corners handing out leaflets, attend meetings to answer questions on the Green party platform and overall do their best to get elected. Thank you.
Joe Keithley – City Council
Rick McGowan – City Council
Carrie McLaren – City Council
Mehreen Chaudry – City Council
Joel Gibbs – City Council
Erika Schinzel – City Counci
Emily Zhang – School Board
Christy Cunningham – School Board
Donate.
First things first. The Burnaby Green party can’t do much without its members and supporters providing some financial support. On the top right hand side of this website is a link. It’s easy to gift $10., or $20., a month. It can be added directly to your credit card. You can only do this once? Great and thank you for doing so.
Let’s keep talking money. The Green Machine was incredibly cost effective and focussed in the 2018 election. We were in it to get our Green candidates on council and the school board and we did it. We were also very very close to getting one and almost two other Green councillors elected. Next time.
Yes, it was a huge amount of work, with six weeks of nothing but meetings for all the candidates, responding to questions, volunteers and their family members standing on street corners handing out leaflets, dropping information into mail slots all over Burnaby and standing at many Skytrain stations to meet the public. You can do everything when you have the right people on the right team. Yes, it helped we had a huge amount of volunteer effort and no office overhead to worry about. It was all cell phones and street corner meetings.
Now hear this, the BCA councillors spent $503,362. to get elected. Of this amount $446, 550 came from a variety of corporations. Mike Hurley, now Mayor Hurley spent approximately $250,000. Do the math.
If we are as focused and driven in 2022, think what we can do with a bit more in the bank and candidates willing to work hard to get elected. So, go to the link on the top right hand side and add $10. , or $20., or more onto your credit card each month. Painless and easy. It’s a couple of cups of coffee out, or one lunch out. By doing this you will be helping your Burnaby Green Party and potential candidates prepare for the 2022 civic elections.
Now the rub with donations. At the civic level BC Elections says we can’t give you a receipt. Sorry. You can donate up to $1224.60 this year, but the law says, the only tax receipts that can be made available are to people and or parties running to be an MP (federal) or MLA (provincial). So it’s a provincial issue no one at the civic (municipal) level can change. Vote Green provincially in the future and we might be able to get this to change. I will return to my ask and say, at a local level every little bit helps to make change. Perhaps you can only give $20., or $50., once? That’s great and thank you for doing so.
How our two elected Greens spend their time.
Green Councillor Joe Keithley sits on Burnaby Council, but also on the Environment and Social Planning Committee, where he is vice-chair, he is a member of both the Planning and Development committee and the Public Safety committee.
When do all those meetings take place? Go to the link below and check out the council calendar. Attend a meeting. Meetings are generally held at city hall and are open to the public, but rarely attended by many citizens. Our two Green members work hard for us. If you can try to go and listen to what they are up to. The wheels turn slowly but look at Burnaby, they have been turning while we weren’t watching.
Our Green member on the Burnaby School Board is Trustee Christy Cunningham. Christy also sits as a member of the Traffic Safety Committee. This committee advises on ways to improve safety on Burnaby roads for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.
The Burnaby Green Party also has two Green party members that sit as citizen representatives on two other city committees. Andrei Zawadzki sits on the Environment Committee and Joel Gibbs sits on the Planning and Development Committee.
Joel Gibbs is a prodigious tweeter. Follow him at @_JoelGibbs.
Follow Andrei and Joel on the Environment Committee. Go to the bottom of the page. You will see a calendar. https://www.burnaby.ca/Our-City-Hall/Mayor—Council/Agendas-Minutes-Reports.html The Environment and Social committee have been divided into two separate committee. Andrei is now on the Environment Committee. Joel is TBC. This information will be updated when I have it.
NEWS
Let’s think of those without a home and support The Coldest Night of the Year in Burnaby on February 22, 2020. The Burnaby Greens will be having a team of people and we want you! The team will be led by Green Executive member Teresa Rossiello and Green School Board Councillor Christy Cunningham. Cost is $25., to buy yourself a team slot. Proceeds from the event to Burnaby Community Services and End Homelessness in Burnaby. Walk 5K, receive food and drink. Meet the community. Contact teresa.rossiello@outlook.com to join.
AGM
Our AGM is coming in 2020. An email will be sent to all supporters and members as to when and where. We need you to grow the Burnaby Green Party. Also consider being a candidate. Women, people of color, young people, the Burnaby Green Party is calling you to make the change we want to see.
Repair Cafe
Fix your broken stuff. Coming to Burnaby in June 2020. What is a Repair Cafe? A community gather where your broken items can be fixed for FREE with the help of experienced volunteers. While we wait in Burnaby, a Repair Cafe is coming to Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House on Saturday March 21 10 am – 2 pm.
Volunteer? Yes, you.
This newsletter would not be complete without asking for you reader to support the Burnaby Green Party. Got ideas to raise money? Good at organizing? A wizard at marketing our ideas? Let us know. Email me at communications@burnabygreenparty.com