FINAL WORDS
The big surprise in the school board election was COPE's Jane Bouey and Al Blakey losing their seats, despite running on a slate with Vision Vancouver-a party that elected all of its candidates. Allan Wong is the only COPE candidate to hold a seat for the party.
Bouey placed 12th in the battle for nine seats, collecting 52,026 votes. She's served two terms-2002 to 2005 and 2008 to 2011-and between those terms she kept active in public education. "It is difficult to really give an assessment [about the election's outcome] without detailed looks at polls, and thorough analysis," she told the Courier earlier this week. "I got nearly 4,000 votes more than last time, but that was not enough in this election. Clearly, the money spent by Vision and NPA dwarfed our election budget. COPE ran a terrific campaign. There is no doubt we will continue to advocate for all the issues we have supported all these years, but beyond that, we as an organization need time to make an assessment."
Bouey promised to stay involved in education issues. "I will remain especially concerned with inclusion and equity issues-standing up for families living in poverty, kids and adults with special needs and working to end racism and homophobia in our schools. [I'm] looking forward to seeing the work by the community to develop an aboriginal focus school come to fruition."
The last time COPE dominated the school board was in 2002 when seven of its candidates were elected, along with one NPA trustee and one Green trustee.
In 2008, COPE also ran a joint slate with Vision, but managed to elect three COPE trustees.
Blakey, who placed 13th this election with 51,963 votes, maintains his party has contributed a lot to the school board over the years.
"I am unhappy about the defeat of Jane and myself because I think we brought strong views in defence of public education, in advocacy for adequate education funding in general, and for the most vulnerable in particular-fighting for the right of all children to equality of educational outcomes, and in working for the right of all students to be free of discrimination and able to feel safe in our schools. Vision has similar concerns but I think our track record in these and other area indicates a strength of views second to none."
Blakey isn't sure what's in store for him next.
"My plans now are to have no plans for now, knowing that plans will come on their own."
[email protected] Twitter: @Naoibh
