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Get to know your local candidates in today’s issue of the NewsLeader and get out and vote may 14!
Burnaby property taxes going up 2.47% A drop from 2.9 in provisional budget Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
MaRIO BaRTEL/NEWSLEaDER
Seven-month old Wilny Liu checks out some of the spring flowers for sale at the first Burnaby Farmers Market of the season, Saturday at city hall. The market runs every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. until oct. 26.
Liberal Gu a no-show at debate Instead attends event to encourage Chinese to vote instead Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
New Democrat incumbent Kathy Corrigan was there. So was her BC Green Party challenger Rick McGowan. But at the Burnaby-Deer Lake allcandidates meeting held at Moscrop secondary Tuesday morning, Dr. Shian Gu of the BC Liberals was nowhere to be found.
Corrigan was not impressed, saying the event organizers told her Gu had instead decided to attend a photo-op in Richmond. “I think we’re trying to get young people engaged in the political process, and one of the ways to do that is to come and talk to them about the issues that matter to them,” she said after the event. “The fact that he didn’t show up I think, frankly, is disrespectful of the students and the process and of the effort that the organizers made,” Corrigan said. “I think it
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shows where the priorities are and to me, students and the future of our country are huge priorities and I was really honoured to have been part of this today.” McGowan said he was “disappointed” but didn’t know what Gu’s reasons were. “It looks like the Liberals are taking a page out of the federal Conservative campaigning booklet,” he remarked, referring to past no-shows by federal Conservative candidates at such debates. Gu said in an emailed statement
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that he originally planned to attend the Moscrop event but changed his plans at the last minute to participate in an event to encourage Chinese voters to vote. “I was very much looking forward to speaking to Grade 12 students, the voters of the future, about the importance of voting and getting involved in politics, but at this point in the campaign, where every hour counts, sometimes we have to make hard choices about how we as candidates allocate our time,” Gu said. Please see ChINESE, a3
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Celebrating 51 years of serving Burnaby. In the same location since 1962
Burnaby property taxes are going up by 2.47 per cent, less than the 2.9 per cent originally proposed in the provisional budget. Coun. Dan Johnston, chair of the city’s finance committee, said in an interview that staff reviewed all city departments and were able to find savings to further trim back the tax increase. The hike equates to an additional $42 in taxes on the average residential home assessed at $679,068, going up to $1,522 this year from $1480 in 2013, said the city’s director of finance, Denise Jorgenson, by email. The increase is largely to pay for wage increases in collective agreements for RCMP, firefighters and other civic workers as well as inflationary costs. At Monday’s council meeting, when the budget was approved, Coun. Colleen Jordan noted that municipalities are prohibited from running deficits. Please see gaRBagE, a3