News release

Valley residents join Assembly

Chilliwack – British Columbia’s Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform brought its membership to 74 with the selection of eight new members Monday night.

They are:

Their names were drawn at random at a public meeting in Chilliwack.   An additional 84 members will be selected at meetings in the Lower Mainland, Victoria and the Sunshine Coast over the next three weeks.  Selection began October 14th in Fort St. John, where the first four Assembly members were drawn. 

Huseby, 48, is a human resources supervisor for Monterey Mushrooms. She is married with two daughters and is a motorcycling enthusiast. Zall, 43, has owned a forest products distribution firm for 20 years. He enjoys sports of all types.

Callaghan is 50 and married with two grown children. He is a teacher and student counselor at Langley Christian Middle-High School. Dhaliwal also has adult children and is a former teacher. She currently owns and runs an automotive service business with her husband.

Carmichael, 36, is a kindergarten teacher at Yarrow Elementary. She is married and enjoys watching her two children participate in sports. Kilsby, 46, has been a letter carrier with Canada Post for 27 years and a local United Way campaign coordinator for 10 years. He has three children.

Thiessen, 26, is an office worker for Friesen Floor and Window Fashions. He enjoys soccer and reading and has studied at UBC and the University College of the Fraser Valley. Taylor, 50, is a tax consultant. She is active with the Beta Sigma Phi sorority, involved in programs for seniors and raising funds for the Cancer Society and women’s shelters.

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 next provincial election.  Any change approved by the voters would take effect with the 2009 B.C. election.