Thursday June 1, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Click here for: BY-ELECTION NEWS ARCHIVE
As a result of the current Langford-Juan de Fuca by-election there could end up being a by-election for Sooke School District 62 (SD62) Belmont Zone.
Specifically, if BC NDP candidate Ravi Parmar wins the MLA seat in Langford-Juan de Fuca, that will kick-off a by-election in Sooke School District 62 (SD62) Belmont Zone. That’s for voters in Langford, Highlands, Metchosin and Colwood.
Three other high-profile candidates are running in the Langford-Juan de Fuca by-election to win the MLA seat: Camille Currie (BC Green), Mike Harris (BC Conservative), and Elena Lawson (BC United).
Parmar still sits on the SD62 board:
Parmar is currently a trustee on the SD62 board of education. He was most recently re-elected in October 2022 even though he knew he would be running for MLA a few months later.
The 29-year-old Parmar has been board chair for many years and still participates in board meetings (including voting to pass the most recent SD62 budget for 2023-2024), though he has stepped aside as chair during his MLA campaign period.
Arguably, in now nearly 10 years Parmar has probably done most of what he can at the school board level. He is still young and not a parent. His connections can now be used by the BC NDP even more deeply within government.
Taking care of the party’s own:
This is a good example of how a political party takes care of one of it’s favoured players. Parmar has been Horgan’s pick since before 2014 when Parmar first arrived at the SD62 board table. Shortly afterward, when others stepped aside so Parmar could be chair, he thanked Horgan for the opportunity Island Social Trends (then West Shore Voice News) was in the room, and heard Parmar then correct himself and say something like ‘thank you for the opportunity to serve the community’.
Parmar currently works as a senior ministry official with the provincial government. In the way of modern politics, it’s unlikely much will happen to not see his win come to fruition.
It was noted last year that at least one recent hire at SD62 in the past year-and-a-half comes from an inside track at the education ministry. The SD62 budget for many years has been prepared by SD62 Secretary-Treasurer Harold Cull who has been actively involved at Parmar’s campaign events in recent weeks.
[Island Social Trends has attended nearly every SD62 board and committee meeting since 2014 (including remotely during the pandemic). See SD62 News Archive]
Premier David Eby did a walkabout with Parmar in downtown Langford on May 25, just ahead of the campaign kickoff. Many of the local party faithful were there.
Parmar has also been supported by much of the west shore business sector under former Langford Mayor Stew Young’s influence for these past many years, particularly as it came to SD62-related politics. Parmar attended two meetings with developers and builders in recent weeks of this current campaign, where BC Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon was a guest speaker.
School board by-election timeline:
According to Elections BC and the Ministry of Education and Child Care, a school trustee by-election would need to be called within six months of any school trustee leaving a school board of education.
That applies when there is more than six months remaining for the board to operate without all trustee seats filled. The next full school trustee election will not be until 2026.
Won’t need Sooke in 2024:
Several electoral boundaries will be changing for the October 2024 provincial election including Langford-Juan de Fuca becoming Langford-Highlands.
That means that the current by-election MLA candidates only need the Sooke end of the riding for this 2023 by-election (Sooke will become merged into Juan de Fuca-Malahat including Metchosin, for the 2024 election).
===== RELATED:
- Island Social Trends BY-ELECTIONS NEWS SECTION
- Two BC by-elections called for June 24 (May 27, 2023)
- Three provincial electoral areas for west shore (April 18, 2023)
- Replacing Horgan & Mark: two key BC by-elections this year (February 24, 2023)
- Decoupling of Langford and Sooke in proposed new BC electoral boundaries (Nov 22, 2022)
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends (and the previous publications MapleLine Magazine 2008-2010, Sooke Voice News 2011-2013, and West Shore Voice News 2014-2020) delivers socioeconomic news insights about life on the west shore of south Vancouver Island. All news is posted at IslandSocialTrends.ca . Editor Mary P Brooke. Published by Brookeline Publishing House Inc. | Never miss a story: PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION SIGNUP