Sports highlights Full coverage of Nanaimo
Clippers BCHL hockey team, V.I. Raiders football team and high school volleyball weekend games. PAGE 25
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2014
VOL. 26, NO. 40
Pat Bugera has co-founded the group Women in Politics, which is looking to attract more women into public service. She hopes to see more women at council tables after November’s municipal election. CHRIS BUSH/THE NEWS BULLETIN
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Grant money earmarked to help rebuild southend secondary school BY KARL YU THE NEWS BULLETIN
Group seeks more women in politics
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SUPPORT NETWORK created to help female candidates win elections. BY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM THE NEWS BULLETIN
A new Nanaimo group is offering to throw support behind political candidates vying for seats in the upcoming civic election. The catch? You have to have an xx chromosome. The non-partisan Women in Politics launched this year to turn up talk about gender representation in government and encourage more women to run for all levels of political office. It’s offering a continued network of support whether candidates win or lose, equipping women to campaign and connecting them to experienced
female politicians. Slightly more than half of Nanaimo’s population is women, which is currently represented by two female leaders at the council table. It’s a similar story at the provincial and federal levels where Equal Voice, a national organization encouraging more female participation in politics, reports women are represented at levels of 25 per cent or less – statistics the national chairwoman calls not good enough. According to those involved in the local and national push for more female politicians, often women need to be asked to get involved, which is one of the barriers to participation, but citizens benefit when they do. They say women bring different leadership styles, perspectives and issues that may resonate with female voters.
“It just makes sense even if you don’t buy that women see things differently or women bring different things to the table. You have to recognize we are 50 per cent of the population and we should be occupying 50 per cent of the institutional seats,” said Coun. Diane Brennan, who has connected with women candidates through the new network. The group is the brainchild of Ashwak Sirri, owner of the Grand Hotel, and Pat Bugera, public relations specialist, who wanted to explore the issue of women in politics, especially with the upcoming civic election. A panel on the issue, held earlier this year, drew more than 100 people and dozens turned out to hear experiences of female politicians and get tips on creating campaigns. It struck a nerve, said Bugera. See ‘REPRESENTATION’ /4
The Nanaimo school district board unanimously approved a measure that will see $2.5 million in local capital money set aside for a new Nanaimo District Secondary School. Phil Turin, school district secretary-treasurer, recommended the motion as the new high school is a priority that falls in line with the school district’s 10-year facilities plan. The school district has met with the Ministry of Education in the past year, and while the government has stated there isn’t any money currently available for new schools, Turin said the school district will have to provide part of the funding when it does become available. “The ministry, at some point in the future, when things get good, there will be money for renovations and rebuilds and those kind of things and districts [that] have money that they’ve saved over the years, through disposition of assets etc., will be in good position to acquire funding,” said Turin. He said that in the past, school districts could go to the ministry, present their plan and state what they hoped to achieve. Now the ministry wants school districts to show it how much money they have, he said. “That’s what I’m telling the trustees ... if you want to go ahead and do the rebuild for the Nanaimo secondary school, we have met with the ministry and I recommend that you start putting this money into a separate account and that’s where it sits and that’s your money planning for the new secondary school,” Turin said. The majority of money in the local capital fund comes from sale of unused properties. The balance increased to about $2.66 million following the sale of the former Princess Royal Elementary School in September. Local capital funds can only be used for building projects, according to the school district. reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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