Sunday July 2, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated July 12, 2023]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
UPDATE JULY 12, 2023: Ravi Parmar resigned July 12, 2023 from the SD62 Board of Directors. He will be sworn in as MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca on Friday July 28, 2023.
Recently elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Langford-Juan de Fuca, Ravi Parmar hasn’t skipped a beat in terms of being out and about in the constituency.
He was busy circulating at Canada Day yesterday (in Sooke serving cupcakes), at the Sooke Region Museum annual summer salmon barbecue last weekend, and at several other official things (including an SD62 school board event and public board meeting) in the past week.
Langford-Juan de Fuca underwent a by-election last month, seeing BC NDP candidate Ravi Parmar elected on June 24 with over 50 percent of the votes.
The vast geographical area of Langford-Juan de Fuca includes Langford, Highlands, Sooke and Juan de Fuca (East Sooke, and west of Sooke out to Port Renfrew). The boundaries have been redrawn as Langford-Highlands for the October 2024 provincial election (dropping Sooke and Juan de Fuca).
Much of Parmar’s exposure to the local and regional community over the past 10 years has been through his role as an NDP-favoured trustee on the Sooke School District 62 (SD62) board of education.
Still holding two seats:
Despite his high-profile election to win the MLA seat in Langford-Juan de Fuca — backed by former premier John Horgan locally comined with the entire NDP ground-game team and current Premier David Eby, as well as locally by the Stew Young force in Langford — that launch to a higher level of service currently seems not enough.
Not only is Parmar still an active SD62 trustee at board meetings (most recently sharpening his word-sword upon a motion by one of the new trustees at the June 27 meeting), he’s made it clear he’s not ready to resign.
Resigning at this particular time would leave Parmar somewhat floating in the wind as his official swearing-in is reportedly not scheduled until later in this month of July. But also, as a 10-year school trustee (most of those years as board chair) he was at the top of the heap. As a brand new MLA he’s at a new starting point. While an MLA has a powerful presence in his or her community, being new to the role might feel a bit odd for someone who has been the favoured fellow in this region for a long while. It seems odd that he’s not stepped adroitly into the new role, particularly as the SD62 community is now caught in limbo.
As we all know, being the favourite of the corporate masters and political elite means much of the rest of the active local business and political community follows. That’s natural, being likely in the best interest of businesses, NDP party faithful, and others who stand to gain by association. But being MLA for everyone in the community is less politically insulated than being a board chair where a cohesive public position is something of a buffer to criticism.
Deeply managed:
It could be said that Parmar is discovering just how deeply he’s been managed since his days in high school in Langford, to the position he has today. He said at his campaign acceptance event that he’s still 28-years-old. It’s impressive to have come this far in such high circles. Horgan and Young seem pleased with their masterpiece.
No one doubts Parmar’s sincerity of commitment and the intent to do well for the community. It’s not really about a young numerical age (full disclosure, this editor long-ago led an influential federal government education project at age 24) but rather the fact of having been ushered on a protected path that could easily find him floundering in terms of a contained life experience (including adult employment entirely within the BC government).
For the community Parmar now represents, that will be the Achilles heel in his service to community. No matter how well-intended, party supported and groomed for the role, moments will come when the buck will stop entirely with him and the result for the community might stand on a fragile ground of life experience. Parmar’s heart is in the right place for sure, and hopefully that helps.
Waiting for the shift:
Ravi Parmar was asked for a quote for this article. If we receive one, it will be inserted into this article. [Update July 7: At an outdoor all-weather sport field announcement by SD62/Langford on July 6, Parmar opened his remarks with this simple clarification: “I’m in an awkward phase right now where I’m still an elected school trustee, but have such an honour to serve as your next MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca.”]
Meanwhile, one of the senior administrators of the SD62 school district told Island Social Trends last week that Parmar seems to be having a hard time letting go (as everyone could see at the latest SD62 board meeting). That’s understandable, but indicative of what — to be fair — might be an emotional pushback against the unwavering and obligation-bound chariot that has carried him to this point.
At the June 27 SD62 board meeting, Parmar’s ‘point of privilege’ remarks about his election as MLA (and less so about leaving SD62) saw him as overcome with emotion, which even he said was unexpected.
Obviously and understandably this is a time of big life shift for Parmar. But it seems there hasn’t been time for the NDP-and-Langford-town crown prince to process what he’s been through. At the June 27 meeting his body language and choice to drill down on a board motion did not purport someone who’s ready to move on, rather someone who doesn’t fully understand the reasons of why he should let go (even if he’s not internally ready). Taking appropriate and timely action at this time is figuratively where the rubber hits the road in terms of truly putting the community first.
Interim SD62 board chair Amanda Dowhy has told Island Social Trends that while there’s nothing saying a person can’t simultaneously be an MLA and a school trustee, that essentially the school board and district are in a holding pattern until Parmar resigns from the SD62 board.
A by-election in the Belmont Zone of SD62 will be activated with a board motion by SD62, after Parmar’s resignation is received. That will impact voters in the Belmont Zone (voters in Colwood, Highlands, Langford and Metchosin).
That a summer SD62 board meeting has been scheduled for August (they usually don’t return to the board table until September), is a clear indication that SD62 would like to get rolling with a full slate of trustees before too much of the 2023-2024 academic year gets underway. But they await a timeline still to be set by Parmar.
In the public interest:
People get elected to serve the public, and more specifically the citizens in their constituency. How well is the Langford and west shore region currently being served under the impact of this political limbo?
We will venture to say — and will stand to be corrected — that the high-level political advice to Parmar is to stay put in one firmly active position (i.e. school trustee) until the other position (i.e. MLA) is officially pinned to his name. That is technically sound but serves the political elite more than it fully serves the community.
Additionally, given the boundary shift for the next provincial election it seems odd that Parmar is intensively upping his profile in the Sooke side of the current riding. Which political masters is he serving there?
Meanwhile, if one lives by the adage that ‘all news is good news’, Parmar is certainly keeping his name in lights as the summer unfolds.
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke has been covering news of the west shore region since 2008. Her publication series has covered news of the day through broader socioeconomic and political insights in the region: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), West Shore Voice News (2014-2020), and Island Social Trends (since 2020).
Since 2014, Ms Brooke has attended nearly every SD62 board and committee meeting. With that depth she has served the community with a deeper understanding of the school district. In October 2022 she was a trustee candidate in the Belmont Zone of SD62 (Langford, Highlands, Colwood and Metchosin) in an effort to parlay her insights about SD62 to the broader community.
The Island Social Trends print edition (previously West Shore Voice News) launches later in July 2023, after a 3-year hiatus during the pandemic years. The print-bound copies of MapleLine Magazine, Sooke Voice News and West Shore Voice News are already part of the permanent collections at the Sooke Region Museum.
This year, Mary P Brooke has been nominated for the Jack Webster Foundation Shelley Fralic Award to recognize a professional woman journalist whose journalism makes a contribution to the community.