The Mission Record Thursday, May 9, 2013 23

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The Mission Regional Chamber of Commerce encourages community members to exercise their vote. To learn more about the candidates at-tend the All Candidates meeting being held May 9 in the ballroom of the Mission Best Western. The Maple Ridge-Mis-sion riding forum will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. and the Abbotsford-Mission riding forum will be held from 8:15 to 10:15 p.m.

Each candidate run-ning in the two ridings servicing Mission pro-vided the following in-formation.

Don Stahl, BC Conservatives

Raised in Abbotsford, Don attended MEI (Men-nonite Educational Insti-tute) Secondary School. He received a diploma in environmental law enforcement from Van-couver Island University (formerly Malaspina Col-lege).

For the past 15 years, Don has worked as a B.C. Conservation Officer. Before that he worked as a fishery officer with the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and spent several seasons as a back-country Park Ranger with BC Parks.

Don has been political-ly active for many years, and on three occasions won election as Vice-President of the Chilli-wack-Fraser Canyon Electoral District Asso-

ciation for the Conserva-tive Party of Canada. He’s also a former Big Brother with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Fraser Valley.

In his spare time Don enjoys attending church, jogging, fishing and trav-elling.

Preet Rai, BC NDP

A chartered accoun-tant from India, Preet is employed as an audi-tor with the Ministry of Finance for the BC gov-

ernment. A resident of Abbotsford since 1995, Preet is married with three children. His wife Rapinder teaches kinder-garten while two of his children attend univer-sity and the youngest is in Grade 10.

Preet serves on many charitable organizations and has been a trustee with the Abbotsford School District since 2008.

Preet believes in giv-ing back to the commu-nity. He believes in hard

work and feels a strong commitment to be a pro-active voice for change and for hope in the fu-ture. Preet is proud of the policies and direction of the NDP. He feels that an NDP government will lis-ten and that we need a “change for the better”.

Simon Gibson, BC Liberals

Simon Gibson has lived in the Abbotsford-Mission riding for 12 years and in the area since 1976. He has exten-

sive Abbotsford council experience and is chair of the Abbotsford-Mis-sion Transit Committee and serves on the Fraser Valley Regional District

He is a financial con-servative and realizes that government – on all levels – needs to be effi-cient and sensitive to the needs of all people, espe-cially seniors and young families.

Simon teaches in the School of Business at UFV and also writes a weekly business column

which appears in 25 BC newspapers. He previ-ously worked for Trinity Western University, Sur-rey Metro Savings and Finning Tractor.

He has been married to Joy for 37 years and they have two daughters and two grandsons. Simon is a long distance runner and completed the Vic-toria and Seattle Mara-thons. In 2012 he also ran in the 55 km Run for Water Ultra Marathon.

Marcus Halliday, Excalibur Party

I am 18 years old and have worked as a Flight Sergeant and instructor with the Air Cadet pro-gram, volunteered with the Salvation Army and numerous other charita-ble organizations, owned a small business, been part of the Mission Ab-botsford Transit Com-mittee and now work as a manager at Walmart.

I will support small business as they are the backbone of a commu-nity.

I will bring Rail Transit connections for the Fra-ser Valley, and, using our unique small business, encourage tourism from the USA.

I will 'say no' to Waste Incineration, as the re-sulting pollution will damage our air and health, thus spreading disease and increasing

Meet the candidates for Abbotsford-Mission

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Candidates for the Abbotsord-Mission riding are (clockwise from top left): Don Stahl, Simon Gibson, Preet Rai, Marcus Halliday, Aird Favelle, Wendy Bales, and Roman Bojczuk. Learn about each candidate and cast your vote on May 14.

SEE VOTE PAGE 2

24 The Mission Record Thursday, May 9, 2013

the burden on our hospitals.I will bring dedication, motivation,

transparency and honesty to the Legisla-ture. I will stay connected and work with my community, not just at election time, but throughout my time as MLA.

Aird Favelle,Green Party of BC

Aird was born here, on Canada's West Coast, and has called it home for most of his life. He and Sheila, are passionate about the Fraser Valley, and family life here.

Aird has been a bush pilot, done sales and construction work around the Mid-dle East, as well as financial, consulting and trade work in East Asia. He earned a Commercial Pilot’s License at age 22 and I still loves to fly.

Early in his 30 year career with in-formation technology he designed and wrote computer software programs for

inventory control and for manufacturing. In 1992, at age 40, Aird launched MSA Computer growing sales to over a $1 mil-lion per year with 18 staff on the payroll.

Aird is passionate about business de-velopment in the Fraser Valley. Busi-ness success is built upon a platform of free enterprise with a willingness to strengthen the environment, social jus-tice, inclusion and democracy. That’s why he’s green.

Wendy Bales, Independent

Wendy Bales is a native of Vancouver, she has lived in the Abbotsford Mission riding for 38 years. For much of her early years she worked in forestry and related industries.

Since 1985 Wendy has been self em-ployed working mom with a landscaping and tile-setting business, and as well has been working on growing a small organ-ic gardening business. Wendy has been twice elected in this riding as a Director for Area C in the FVRD; a position she’s

held since 2008. For the last 2 decades Wendy Bales

has been devoting more time getting in-volved in many community riding issues. “I've always thought that when trying to make a difference, it is best to start close to home.”

Roman Bojczuk, Independent

Roman moved to Mission City in 1946 and has seen alot of changes. A railway worker for 38 years; he has been involved in the political scene in Mission for many years.

Roman believes that “we have a ‘horse and buggy’ political system in the ‘space age’. He looks to bring people together to work for the common good, not the good of giant corporations. He believes integrity and commitment to democracy is now the greatest need and has the greatest lack.

His hobbies include karate, horses, tree farming, travelling (within Canada) and playing Santa for Future 4 Nations Preschool.

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Sean Melia PRESIDENT

Ann HarperVICE PRESIDENT

Pam AlexisDIRECTOR

Cal CrawfordDIRECTOR

Corey JongDIRECTOR

Christopher RobertsonDIRECTOR

Dave SawatzkyDIRECTOR

Elyssa LockhartPAST PRESIDENT

Tricia TownsendDIRECTOR

Carol HamiltonDIRECTOR

Trevor GirardTREASURER

Satti GrewalDIRECTOR

Vote for your MLA on May 14

VOTE! Wikipedia is a great tool. While I was thinking about what to ad-dress in my message it occurred to me there is no greater issue before us now than that of the coming election. The divide between the par-

ties is very easy to identify and calls on all of us thinking citizens to put aside the rhetoric and believe in our principals. Voting is a privilege that many around this world don’t have but desperately want. While we are blessed to have the ability to vote, quite often what I hear as we head into an election is the term “voter apathy”. It makes me wonder how we as individuals can not care enough to have a say in how our daily lives are impacted.

This is where Wikipedia comes in and the term “rational ignorance” caught my eye. “Rational ignorance occurs when the cost of educating oneself on an issue exceeds the potential benefit that the knowledge would provide.

Ignorance about an issue is said to be "rational" when the cost of educat-ing oneself about the issue sufficiently to make an informed decision can outweigh any potential benefit one could reasonably expect to gain from that decision, and so it would be irrational to waste time doing so. This has consequences for the quality of decisions made by large numbers of peo-ple, such as general elections, where the probability of any one vote chang-ing the outcome is very small.”

The previous sentence assumes that apathy and individual personal per-ceived benefit win because people don’t want to research and understand issues. I like to believe that thinking caring individuals will examine their set of beliefs not just “politicized issues of the day” and vote accordingly.

Please know that a vote not cast can be much more damaging than a vote cast. Exercise your right on May 14.

Allan MainLIAISON, C.F.N.F.

MayorTed Adlem

DOM LIAISON

President's message

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The Mission Record Thursday, May 9, 2013 25

Marc Dalton, BC Liberals

Before being elected to rep-resent Maple Ridge-Mission in 2009, Marc was a long-time teacher in Maple Ridge – Mis-sion. Marc has been a strong advocate, working extremely hard for his constituents and will continue to do so.

As B.C.'s first Parliamen-tary Secretary for Indepen-dent Schools, Marc has vis-ited dozens of independent schools and made recom-mendations to the Minister of Education and Premier. Marc believes in choice in educa-tion with both a strong public school system and a vibrant independent school system.

Marc has advocated for many non-profits and helped establish or continue funding for organizations like North Fraser Therapeutic Riding Association, Youth Diver-sion, Ridge-Meadows Recy-cling. He worked diligently

on public safety, infrastruc-ture improvements and eco-nomic development. He was a strong voice for expanding Mission Memorial Hospital and retaining the emergency room. In July, this will be a re-ality with the opening of two multi-million dollar health care facilities on site.

Mike Bocking, BC NDP

Mike Bocking is an expe-rience journalist, engaged member of his community, union leader and previous NDP candidate.

After studies in political sci-ence and economics at UBC, Mike worked as a journalist at the Vancouver Sun, report-ing on city hall, business and labour.

In 1988, he was elected president of the union that represents newspaper work-ers and helped grow that or-ganization to represent more

than 2,000 members at doz-ens of newspapers through-out B,C.

Mike also has long expe-rience in financial matters, having served more than a decade as the co-chair of a newspaper industry pension plan with more than $320 million in assets. He also served as a labour represen-tative on the BC Labour Rela-tions Board.

He has served on the board of directors of Mission Com-munity Services and in 2009 worked with others opposed to the closure of the emer-gency ward at Mission Me-morial Hospital.

Alex Pope, Green Party of BC

Alex Pope was born in Van-couver and grew up in North Vancouver. He has a BSc in Computer Science from UBC and works as a computer pro-grammer/analyst related to

financial services.Alex married his wife Barb

in 1996 and they have three children and have resided in Maple Ridge for 11 years.

Alex joined the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Bicy-cle Advisory Committee as a member in 2008 and has served as Chair of the com-mittee since January 2010. He has also been involved with the local committee for HUB (formerly the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition) since its inception.

Alex served as treasurer at St Andrews’ United Church for six months until the amalgamation with Ham-mond United Church in July 2012 and continues to serve as treasurer at the newly-created Golden Ears United Church.

He has also a member of the Maple Ridge Pitt Mead-ows Chamber of Commerce for two years.

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May 9Provincial All Candidates

MeetingPlace: Best Western

Ballroom, 32281 Lougheed Hwy.

Time: 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

May 16Chamber Luncheon

Topic: Corrections Canada in Mission

Place: Rockwell's Chapel room

Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

June 8Business Excellence

Awards. Celebrating 120 years strong.

Place: Silverdale Hall Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

June 20Chili Cook Off

Register your team with the Chamber.

Come hang out with Stan at the Visitor Centre this

summerE-mail Chani Webster

at volunteer@missionchamber.bc.ca

Scan this QR code with your

smart phone to see

details on our website

Get to know the candidates for

the Maple Ridge-Mission riding

Candidates for the Maple Ridge-Mission riding are (left to right) BC Liberal Marc Dalton, BC NDP Mike Bocking, and Green Party of BC Alex Pope.

26 The Mission Record Thursday, May 9, 2013

w w w . m i s s i o n c h a m b e r. b c . c a

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Past President Elyssa Lockhart was Awarded Citizen of the Year on April 27 by his Honour Mayor Ted Adlem. It was in recognition of her continued work as an advocate of the Fraser River as a sustainable transportation route.

Elyssa joins the ranks of many Mission community builders such as, Dr. H. Mart Kenney and Norma Kenney, Albert McMahon, Vic Wallace, Erwin Braich and many others who have been awarded this prestigious award.

This award recognizes the contri-butions of one individual for their overall volunteerism and commit-ment to improving the quality of life for the citizens of Mission.

In her acceptance speech, Ely-ssa Lockhart noted the value the

Fraser River has to Mission as a sustainable transportation route. Elyssa lobbied through the Mission Chamber of Commerce to have her voice heard.

During her presidency last year she successfully had two Fraser River policies passed by the BC Chamber of Commerce to advocate for a sustainable plan involving all stakeholders. From this, initial pilot projects are being undertaken by the Ministry of Environment with the support of stakeholders to open up constricted areas of the Fraser.

Elyssa recognized the support the Chamber of Commerce has given her in work and that their advocacy role contributed to her success.

For more information on the Mission Regional Chamber of Commerce,

go to www.missionchamber.bc.ca.

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