News release

Lower Mainland residents join Assembly

Langley – British Columbia’s Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform added eight new members Monday night.

They are:

Janet Loewen (Langley) and Ian Hay (Aldergrove) from the provincial electoral district of Fort Langley - Aldergrove;

Ian Fleming and Sylvia Williams, both from the community and constituency of Langley;

Cheryl Blaschuk and Aaron Schallie, both from Cloverdale and the riding of Surrey - Cloverdale; and

Colin Redekop and Susan Johnson, both from Surrey and the electoral district of Surrey - Tynehead.

Their names were drawn at random at a public meeting in Langley.  An additional 36 members will be selected at five meetings in Lower Mainland communities over the next eight day.  Selection began October 14th in Fort St. John, where the names of the first four Assembly members were drawn. 

Loewen, 32, is married and the mother of two pre-school boys. She is a home daycare provider who enjoys reading, tennis and gardening. Hay, 31, is a corporate tax consultant, single and an alumnus of both Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia. His interests include Canadian fiction, music and independent film.

Fleming, 36, is the manager of the Sony store in Langley. He is married with two boys and enjoys electronics, photography and sailing. Williams is a 63-year-old retired adult education instructor. She also is married with two sons. Her hobbies are watercolor painting, gardening and reading.

Blaschuk, 40 and married, is a certified computer programmer/analyst, currently working as a claims adjustor for ICBC. Formerly from Manitoba, she moved to B.C. 10 years ago. Schallie is a 24-year-old freelance public relations and corporate events consultant, having studied at both Douglas and Kwantlen Colleges. His interests include sailing, snowboarding and the outdoors.

Redekop, 32, is a mechanical engineer with Ballard Power Systems and a graduate of the University of Victoria. He and his wife just celebrated the birth of their first child one week ago. Johnson is a 53-year-old retired drywaller. She is married and enjoys her pets, woodworking and gardening.

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.