Monday September 11, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated 2:53 pm]
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
Yesterday afternoon, newly elected Langford-Juan de Fuca MLA Ravi Parmar welcomed community members for the grand opening of his community office.
An MLA’s constituency office is where the elected representative and staff work to support and aid constituents.
The community office is the same space as used for the John Horgan constituency officed, located in a small strip mall at 122-2806 Jacklin Road at the corner of Goldstream Avenue in the heart of Langford.
The two-hour event on Sunday September 10 included a barbeque, music, and games for friends and community members of all ages.
Attendees included Mitzi Dean, MLA (Esquimalt-Metchosin), Lana Popham, MLA (Saanich South), District of Sooke Councillor Kevin Pearson, SD62 Trustee Trudy Spiller, and former Horgan constituency office staffer Hans Frederiksen.
Parmar’s staffers include Hudson Copley-Spencer and Chloe Ouellet.
Office open weekdays:
Now open and operational, the community office is now open Monday to Friday, 10 am to 4 pm.
“Our community office will be an important place for my team and I to be able to meet with, listen to, and support our community members,” said Parmar in a news release today.
“I was so excited to welcome everyone to my new office by hosting our first open house and BBQ, so people can get the know the people and the office that will be serving them.”
Constituency footprint:
The Langford-Juan de Fuca constituency presently includes Langford, Highlands, Sooke and the Juan de Fuca areas of East Sooke and west of Sooke out to Port Renfrew.
Boundaries of the riding will change for the next election (currently scheduled for October 19, 2024), to include only Langford and Highlands with a mostly urban thrust in the fast-growing Langford.
Notably, that leaves Sooke joining up with Shawnigan, Malahat, and Metchosin — making it quite a bit more of a rural riding.
Boundaries changing:
But until the next election, Sooke is still part of Langford-Juan de Fuca, which partly answers why Parmar has spent a lot of high-profile time in Sooke this past summer.
It also explains why BC Green Party leader was at Metchosin Community Day yesterday — as the riding which includes Shawnigan Lake where she lives will — for the next provincial election in October 2024 — include Sooke and Metchosin. | Boundary changes will split up Langford from Sooke
Elected, sworn-in, new seat:
After a month-long campaign, Ravi Parmar was elected as the MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca in a by-election on June 24 after the resignation of former Premier and longtime Langford-Juan de Fuca MLA John Horgan.
Parmar resigned from his seat as a trustee of the Sooke School District (SD62) on July 27 and was sworn in on July 28 during a ceremony at the BC Legislative Assembly; Horgan was in the seats close by, taking photos.
Giving new scope to the idea of being a career politician, Parmar is currently the youngest MLA in the legislature. He will take his seat as MLA when the BC Legislative Assembly begins their fall session on Tuesday October 3.
===== RELATED (Articles by Island Social Trends):
Two new MLAs sworn in at BC Legislature (July 28, 2023)
Ravi Parmar to be sworn in as MLA on July 28 (July 12, 2023)
Parmar presently holds two seats in the west shore (July 2, 2023)
Parmar picks up the Horgan torch in Langford-Juan de Fuca (June 24, 2023)
Three provincial electoral areas for west shore (April 18, 2023)
Decoupling of Langford and Sooke in proposed new BC electoral boundaries (November 22, 2022)
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Cert PR is the founder, editor and publisher of Island Social Trends which posts news daily at IslandSocialTrends.ca.
Mary P Brooke pursues her journalism goal of writing the news through a socioeconomic lens, continues in the footsteps of her previous news publications: MapleLine Magazine (print quarterly 2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (print weekly 2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (print/PDF weekly and online, 2014-2020).
Ms Brooke has been covering political news and school district news (SD62) in particular, since 2014.
Mary Brooke now also focuses on news related to food security and urban food resilience, about which she gives presentations on key food-related issues.
Mary P Brooke was nominated in 2023 for the Jack Webster Foundation’s Shelly Fralic award which is given to a woman journalist who serves her community through journalism.