MIXED MESSAGES IN PLEBISCITE
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FRIDAY
MARCH 20 2015 www.burnabynewsleader.com
A Burnaby farm took another step toward sustainability by buying a Vancouver meat shop. Page A3
Kinder Morgan to meet with co-op residents Source of markings on retaining wall a mystery Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
Angela Pilarinos looks forward to her weekly rehearsals with the Burnaby Newcomers Choir which gives voice to new Canadians. See story Page A3.
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER
MLA Richard Lee target of recall effort Campaign preparations underway Wanda Chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
Almost two years after the last provincial election, preparations are underway to try and recall Burnaby North MLA Richard Lee. The BC Liberal, who won his fourth consecutive term in May 2013 by 688 votes, is being targeted because “we have found that he has not been available much for the community, he hasn’t done a whole
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lot,” said one of the campaign’s organizers, Jennifer Heighton. Organizers have been doorknocking and consulting within the riding about voters’ feelings about their MLA. “What we’ve found is a lot of people that we’ve talked to either don’t know who he is, even though he’s been MLA for that riding for 14 years—that’s how much of an impression he’s made—or they feel he’s not doing a lot for them,” Heighton said. “They don’t see him as working in their interests. That is
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why we feel Richard T. Lee is a good candidate for recall.” The group, BC Citizens for Recall, has a list of a dozen BC Liberal MLAs it plans to target. Lee and Marc Dalton (Maple RidgeMission) are the first to be subject to the recall campaigns. Heighton, a Coquitlam resident, is an elementary teacher in the Burnaby school district. She said she was spurred on to get involved during the teachers’ dispute last year. “The teachers’ strike proved to me how far the government was
willing to go to not listen to their citizens. You’ve got 500,000 kids out of school and all those families are concerned about their kids’ education and they’re still willing to let the strike continue just to make a point.” As for Lee, she said he doesn’t listen to the concerns of constituents, citing examples of protest rallies outside his office when he wasn’t available to talk with protesters despite being informed of the event ahead of time. Please see CAMPAIGN, A4
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Who spray painted orange markings outside a North Burnaby housing co-op recently remains a mystery after Kinder Morgan reiterated it wasn’t them. As reported in the NewsLeader, Lil Cameron, president of the Halston Hills co-op, expressed concern after seeing a crew from an unmarked vehicle on March 5 spraying orange blotches on the ivy covering the complex’s retaining wall on Government Street. She was worried the markings meant the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion might have a direct impact on their housing complex. The existing pipeline runs across the street from the co-op on Government. A City of Burnaby crew working nearby told her the spray painting crews worked for Kinder Morgan. Please see KINDER MORGAN, A11