Jennifer O’Keeffe is a graduate of Capilano University and an advocate for educational rights and social-justice. As a COPE candidate for city council, she demands transparency and accountability from public officials, and has no patience for representatives who fail to abide by democratic principles or even the rule of law itself.
She fought vigorously against program closures at Capilano University, meeting with Christy Clark and other elected officials during the 2013 provincial election, pursuing government intervention in efforts to preserve programs. Her diligence revealed numerous financial ‘irregularities’ in Capilano’s budget, and she collaborated with MLA David Eby in his investigations into the overpayment of administrative personnel at various post-secondary institutions.
She is a strong and vocal advocate for COPE’s plans for a Vancouver Housing Authority, a $15 minimum wage, affordable housing, the return of autonomy to Vancouver’s Community Centres, and for dialogue - not litigation - with Vancouver’s Resident Associations.
Like so many Vancouverites, she is fed up with the secrecy, lack of transparency or accountability of Vision Vancouver’s mayor and council: the unnecessary lawsuits, the dozens of Freedom of Information requests, the circumvention of democratic principles and process, the sham consultations with residents, the broken promises to the poor and homeless, the abandonment of Vancouver’s senior citizens, the destruction of neighbourhood gathering places such as the Ridge Theatre or Arbutus Lanes Bowling, the pandering to developers who fund Vision, the hypocrisy and degrading attitudes of the mayor and council toward the people of Vancouver whom they are supposed to serve and represent, the secret deals with corporations for multi-million dollar contracts that Vision attempts to hide from public scrutiny.
Such actions are completely and utterly unacceptable from our elected officials and run counter to democratic protocols. The people of Vancouver deserve to be informed of all expenditures and contracts - the terms, the bidders, etc. - we should not be forced to resort to Freedom of Information requests to learn what our elected officials are up to!
Nor should it be necessary for citizens to seek court decisions in order for our elected officials to adhere to the rule of law. Of equal importance, there must be transparency from our elected representatives; at present it appears clear that the mayor and members of council are dancing dangerously close to being in violation of the city’s own ‘Conflict of Interest’ policy - especially with regard to Vision’s unbridled greed for developer donations and the subsequent ‘rubber-stamping’ of projects for those developers who have funded Vision most generously.
Facebook: facebook.com/JenniferOKeeffeforVancouverCityCouncil
Twitter: twitter.com/@_OKeeffe_
Website: jenniferokeeffe.wordpress.com
