News release

Assembly membership reaches 90

New Westminster – British Columbia’s Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform brought its membership to 90 with the selection of eight new members Wednesday night.

They are:

Their names were drawn at random at a public meeting in New Westminster.   

An additional 68 members will be selected at meetings in the Lower Mainland, Victoria and the Sunshine Coast over the next 20 days.  Selection began October 14th in Fort St. John, where the names of the first four Assembly members were drawn. 

Dorey, 55, is a preschool program coordinator. She is married and the mother of two girls, 17 and 19. Westfall, 60, is retired after 31 years teaching science and mathematics with the Vancouver School Board. He too is married with two children and enjoys golf and woodworking.

Indyk is a municipal employee. He is 36, married with a five-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter. Davidson, 53, is a renal technical supervisor. She and her husband have one university-aged child.

Cochran is a 43-year-old human resources business partner with BC Hydro. She is married and an avid swimmer. Flemons, 50, is a teacher who enjoys coaching soccer and community service. He is married with two children.

Harder is a 20-year-old student at Simon Fraser University, majoring in history and labour studies. MacGregor, 38, is a retail clerk with two children. She enjoys reading, painting, cooking and crafts.

The Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform is an independent, non-partisan group of British Columbians randomly selected from communities around the province to review the way we elect our provincial political representatives.  This process is unique in Canadian history; never has such a representative group of citizens played such a vital role in shaping the electoral process. 

By November 25th, the Assembly will have 158 members from all over B.C. – one man and one woman from each of the 79 provincial electoral districts.  Beginning in January, the Assembly will spend much of 2004 examining electoral systems used around the world and will decide if they should propose a change to B.C.’s current system of translating votes into seats in the Legislature.

If Assembly members recommend a change, B.C. voters will decide in a referendum on May 17, 2005, the date of the next provincial election.  Any change approved by the voters would take effect with the 2009 B.C. election.