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BOUEY GETS 38,300 VOTES IN SCHOOL BOARD RACE
People's Voice Vancouver Bureau
(This article is from the December 1999 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)
JANE BOUEY, a frequent contributor to PV's RedFem Report column, placed tenth in the race for nine School Board trustee positions in Vancouver, just 200 votes short of victory. After holding on to ninth place most of the evening, the COPE candidate was edged out by the results of the final two polls. Her total of 38,300 votes marked a gain of 9,800 over her 1996 showing, when she finished eleventh.
"I'll keep fighting on the same issues over the next three years," Bouey said, who looks forward to the 2002 election with a strong sense of optimism. Despite her disappointment at falling short by such a small margin, she was pleased that her support rose by over one-third this year. Even more important, she says, the fact that COPE now has three strong trustees on the board will make it much easier to build a powerful coalition of parents, teachers, staff and students to block the cutbacks undermining Vancouver's schools.
Bouey's support was once again strongest in the city's east side, particularly the Commercial Drive area where she works at People's Coop Books, and in the nearby Cedar Cottage/Mount Pleasant neighbourhood. Her supporters included many public school teachers and staff, activists in the women's movement, and cultural workers. She was endorsed by the Vancouver and District Labour Council and by Xtra West, the city's influential gay and lesbian bi-weekly newspaper.
"I particularly want to thank all the People's Voice readers who were so generous with their time and their financial support," Bouey said on election night. "Many PV readers have played key roles in building the progressive civic movement in this city, and it's great to show that we are still a vital part of this important struggle."
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