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Y o u r c o m m u n i t y n e w s pa p e r • F o u n d e d i n 1 8 9 1 • w w w. t h e p r o g r e s s . c o m • T u e s d ay, S e p t e m b e r 4 , 2 0 1 2
Hedging bets on early French immersion Katie Bartel The Progress
Chilliwack parent Jessica Becker hasn’t yet lost hope in the school district adopting an early French immersion program by the time her daughter enters the school I’m just system, but she is looktrying to ing at other come up school districts – just with in case. a Plan B L a s t w e e k , B e c k e r , ~ Jessica one of the Becker original advocates for EFI in Chilliwack, posted a comment on the Parents for Early French Immersion in Chilliwack Facebook page asking if other parents would be interested in carpooling to Abbotsford if Chilliwack doesn’t have EFI in the next couple of years. One person sent her a message and another liked the post. “I’m just trying to come up with a Plan B,” Becker told The Progress. “I want to be prepared.” Several parents have been advocating for an early French immersion program in the Chilliwack school district for more than a year now. They attended board meetings,
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After 30 years in politics, Chilliwack MLA John Les announced Thursday that he will not be seeking re-election in May, 2013. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Les leaves ‘fish bowl’ life of politics Robert Freeman The Progress
Chilliwack MLA John Les is quitting politics next year, ending a 30-year career as mayor, councillor, regional district director and provincial MLA. “For a whole bunch of reasons, it just felt like this was a good time for me to turn the page,” Les, 60, told reporters at a Thursday news conference. He rejected the idea that his decision was based on MLA Kevin Falcon’s earlier announcement that would not seek re-election. And he dismissed the idea that a tiff at the top with BC Liberal Leader Christy Clark sparked his
decision. “I think Christy Clark is a great leader,” he said. “I really, honestly enjoyed working with her over the past one and a half years.” Les said he worried that some would see his decision as deserting a sinking BC Liberal ship. But he said Premier Clark will put together a new cabinet and a fresh team with a new election campaign strategy after he and other old guard MLAs make way for new MLAs like Moira Stilwell and Margaret MacDiarmid the “leaders of the future.” Les also said he’s confident the BC Liberals can win back the Chilliwack-Hope riding that fell into the NDP camp during the
April byelection, and hold onto the Chilliwack riding that he has been representing since 2001. “We will send a solid, free-enterprise contingent from Chilliwack back to Victoria after the next election,” he said. “There’s no doubt the 2013 election will be a difficult one,” he said, but public opinion polls change, and there is still time for NDP Leader Adrian Dix and his MLAs to do “various face-plants” like extolling the virtues of life in Communist Cuba and lose voter confidence. Les said his decision also had nothing to do with a recent Supreme Court Justice’s comments last week about the “pro-
development” culture at City Hall when he was mayor. The Justice said that culture was “not in the public interest” during the sentencing of a former city planner for improperly approving a housing development at Rosebank Place in which Les was a partner. Les said he had not read the Justice’s comments, but maintained he is “proud” of the growth and development of infrastructure that took place in Chilliwack during his time as mayor. In a statement released before meeting reporters, Les apologized for “any shortcomings on my part” as mayor and MLA, and asked the community for forgiveness. Continued: Les/ p16
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Continued: French/ p4
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