Wednesday July 12, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated July 20, 2023]
Political analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Ravi Parmar will be sworn in as the MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca on Friday July 28.
He has been seen as holding two elected positions in the west shore: trustee on the Sooke School District 62 (SD62) board of education and MLA-elect for Langford-Juan de Fuca. Today July 12 he announced that he will resign on July 27 from the SD62 board, and made public his letter as address to the secretary-treasurer of SD62.
In his letter dated July 12 (addressed to Harold Cull), Parmar called his 10 years as a school trustee with SD62 “an incredible journey” in which he takes “immense pride in the positive changes we’ve achieved together in the education sector”.
Parmar said that the “experiences, connections and achievements we’ve made together will be cherished and remembered throughout my journey as an MLA”.
Perception in politics:
Technically speaking, Parmar is not holding the seat as MLA in Langford-Juan de Fuca until he is sworn in, but perception in politics is ‘everything’.
The perception of holding both seats has been the subject of some discussion in the west shore in recent weeks. Smart political management would have seen this addressed by the party to the media sooner than now.
Even officials high-up in administration have been expressing ‘concern’ about the delay in Parmar’s school trustee resignation. Those in the public who follow political news are also stymied at the public relations disconnect.
By-election was June 24:
The by-election in which Parmar was the BC NDP candidate was held on June 24, 2023. He won the Langford-Juan de Fuca by-provincial election with more than 50% of the vote.
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.
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 he said was unexpected.
Interim SD62 board chair Amanda Dowhy recently 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 would be in a holding pattern until Parmar resigns from the SD62 board.
SD62 by-election (Belmont Zone):
A by-election in the Belmont Zone of SD62 will be activated with a board motion by SD62, in the period following Parmar’s resignation.
The by-election will be open to voters in the Belmont Zone (Colwood, Highlands, Langford and Metchosin) who will have the opportunity to vote once the SD62 by-election date is called.
An SD62 board meeting has been scheduled for August (they usually don’t return to the board table until September), which 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.
Fall session:
The 2023 Fall Session of the BC Legislative Assembly starts October 3.
===== RELATED:
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)
Langford-Juan de Fuca: June 24 election day RESULTS (June 24, 2023)
BC NDP candidate Ravi Parmar votes on Day 1 (June 16, 2023)
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke has been covering news of the west shore region of Greater Victoria 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.