The gloves are off; Richmond has a new political party in the works.
Former BC Liberal Party MLA and ex-city councillor Rob Howard, in front of a group of about 50 people at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel, publicly launched the Richmond Community Coalition.
While the group of community leaders and residents did not table a policy platform, Howard said it will be a non-partisan effort with the ultimate priority of engaging more people politically.
"Our grassroots coalition's goal is to create more opportunities for Richmond citizens to get involved in municipal government - and get more people voting in the November municipal election," said Howard in a news release, published in both English and Mandarin.
Attending the event were many well-known community members and volunteers, as well as BC Liberal MLA John Yap. Also on hand were founding directors, including: Sylvia Gwozd, former school board trustee; Michael
Chiu, founding member of the Richmond Sunset Rotary Club; Wayne Duzita, a director with Richmond Tourism and the Richmond Olympic Oval; and Matt Pitcairn, manager of communications and policy at the Richmond Chamber of Commerce.
At the podium, announcing the party with Howard, were Richmond resident Julie Halfnights and federal Conservative Party member and candidate Kenny Chiu, a current school board trustee. No candidates have been named as of yet and Howard said the selection process will take place over the summer.
The main message was civic engagement.
"We felt there was a lack of community input, a lack of opportunity for community input in the Richmond landscape. We're here to fill that gap," said Howard.
When asked how he would do that, Howard suggested more town hall meetings.
Offering no policies or a political platform, the real estate professional, who is currently working on developing two seniors homes in Richmond, said the coalition is a non-partisan one that would embrace all political stripes so long as they're committed to engagement and transparency.
"Our constitution is so broad it talks about looking for good people who share the idea of the value of civic engagement," said Howard.
When asked if he could provide examples of how the current council has not been engaging Howard said: "I think we'd prefer to talk about possibilities versus complaining. We're here to address the issue of low voter turnout... address the issue of civic engagement," he said.
(Ironically, Richmond Centre, the riding Howard represented for the BC Liberals, had the second lowest voter turnout in the province in 2009 and the lowest in 2013, when Teresa Wat replaced Howard.) Halfnights noted young people need to have better support to understand issues. She then announced a July 15 town hall meeting.
Chiu said politicians must tap into Richmond's multicultural community while preserving core Richmond values.
"We are a growing world city that needs to not only embrace but build upon our tremendous international trade opportunities and cultural connections while protecting our open spaces, heritage and island way of life," said Chiu.
Howard said it was important the non-English speaking community be engaged, as it represents more than 60 per cent of the city's population.
Current Coun. Ken Johnston attended the meeting, saying he was there as an "observer." Johnston recently left the Richmond First slate voluntarily. He said he would consider what the coalition has to offer, however, running as an independent candidate in the upcoming municipal election, is also a possibility.
Richmond First councillor Derek Dang said he welcomes more political discourse in Richmond, a city that saw just 23 per cent voter turnout for the last municipal election and generally fares poorly in provincial and federal elections as well.
"I believe there's always a group of people who want public office and this time they're getting together and that's good for the community to give them choice," said Dang.
The long-time councillor (since 1996) said he feels the current council does a good job of reaching out to people, citing many evening meetings with liaison and advisory groups that councillors take part in, not to mention community events.
"I think we go out of our way to get as much input as we can, in a number of ways," said Dang.
He said there's a limit to what a councillor typically publicizes about his or her activities at city hall.
"We want to be part of the community, but we don't want to go around saying we do this or we do that," said Dang.
Howard said fundraising has begun, and he expects to name candidates by the fall.
Aside from low voter turnout, Richmond has also seen a shrinking list of candidates over time. In 2002, 26 people ran for council, whereas in 2011, just 17 people ran.
