News release

Assembly picks eight in Surrey

Two engineers, a teacher, a nurse, a youth counsellor, a chiropractor, a software developer, and a musician-artist-writer.

They are the newest members of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, all selected by random draw at a meeting in Surrey Tuesday night.

They are:

Konkin, 39, married and mother of three, is a software developer (web applications, Microsoft.net platform). She's into cycling and hiking. Walker, 53, is the musician-artist-writer. He's married, and enjoys teaching and acting as well as painting, drawing, cartooning and music.

Brulhart is a 58-year-old emergency department nurse at Delta Hospital. She has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. Herath, 62, is a professional engineer, father of three, and author of a book on Sri Lanka's ethnic tensions.

Singh is 26, and an on-call child and youth counsellor for the Surrey School District. Single, she's a full-time B.A. student in her last year at University College of the Fraser Valley. Hennessey is 55, and a mechanical engineer in the natural gas industry. He;s married with three grown children.

Carter is a 54-year-old teacher who's involved in music and drama (teaching, performing and directing). She also has a home business roasting organic coffee. Rai is a chiropractor (the second in the Assembly) with a clinic in Vancouver. He's 26, and married.

They bring the membership count to 130 of the final 158. Eight more will be selected at a public meeting in Richmond tonight (Wednesday).

By Nov. 25, the Assembly will have 158 members from all over B.C. – one man and one woman from each of the 79 provincial electoral districts. 

The Assembly will spend much of 2004 examining electoral systems in use 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 the Assembly members recommend a change, it will be the subject of a referendum for all voters in the 2005 provincial election. Any change approved by the voters would take effect with the 2009 B.C. election.