by Henry MacDougall
(click images to enlarge)

Welcome to November at King George!

This issue of The Dragon’s Pen will go over what happened in October, including Halloween events, a student vote, and a meeting with candidates to represent the West End in the B.C. Legislature. We’ll also highlight some important dates in the November school calendar, as well as a follow-up on Flexible Instruction Time from the last issue.

IMPORTANT DATES IN NOVEMBER

Photo Retakes … Photo retakes will be happening on Wednesday, November 6th for any student who missed the first photo day or didn’t get a great photo.

S1 Block Rotation … Semester 1 block rotations will be happening on Tuesday, November 12. This means that your first and second period classes will switch places, as well as your third and fourth.

Midterm Report Cards … Semester 1 midterm report cards will be published on MyEd on Friday, November 22nd!

MEETING THE CANDIDATES

The West End Community Centre hosted two All Candidates Meetings on Tuesday October 8, a private one for students in social studies classes, and a public one later in the day that was open to the community.

I sat in for the earlier meeting to take notes. Here’s what happened during the meeting.

Before any students had shown up, independent Carl Turnbull entered with a Halloween-sized box of candy, offered some to students who helped to organize, and suggested that the candy be handed out to students at the start of the meeting. This sadly never happened.

Overall, candidates offered lots of different opinions and points. For students it was an opportunity to be part of the democratic process, even if we can’t vote yet.

Green Party candidate Eoin O’Dwyer speaking during the All Candidates Meeting on October 8th. Credit to Mr. Wilband for photo.

INTRODUCTIONS

Once the students and the rest of the candidates had arrived, the meeting began. Each candidate introduced themselves, some sharing their backstory, and some including a list of topics that they care about as a politician.

Spencer Chandra Herbert, the NDP candidate who has represented the West End in legislature since 2008 (and won this year’s election as well), opened by mentioning how he has stuck up for housing affordability, and mentioned that he cared about topics like healthcare, the concept of a green economy, as well as developments on King George. He closed his introduction by touching on the importance of younger voices in government.

Jon Ellacott, the Conservative candidate, introduced himself with a story about how he came to be a politician, with an essay he wrote in the mid-2010s earning him a spot as a West End candidate in 2020. He also mentioned his connections to the West End, and his previous position as a construction manager.

Eoin O’Dwyer, the Green Party candidate, introduced himself by mentioning topics that he cared about, like easy access to mental health help, the climate crisis, as well as his enthusiasm for green jobs. He also mentioned how he wanted more homes to be built, and that he wanted to lower the voting age to 16.

Carl Turnbull, an independent candidate, bus driver, and stand-up comedian, was the last to introduce himself. Carl took a different approach, mentioning that he was a fan of people such as Donald Trump and Joe Rogan. Carl also spoke about how he wanted to lower the cost of living and labelled himself as a “Conservative independent”.

TOPIC I: UNAFFORDABLE HOUSING AND SOLUTIONS

With the introductions out of the way, the meeting moved on to its first topic, unaffordable housing. With Vancouver having some of the highest housing costs in all of Canada, how will we ensure an affordable housing market?

Spencer Chandra Herbert recalled past work he had done to protect renters, such as stopping renovictions; the act of a landlord kicking out renters, under the pretense of doing renovations, with the intention of significantly increasing the rent. He took a hopeful stance for the future, stating that there were more new housing developments in B.C. than in all of the rest of Canada combined. He also spoke about grants for renters, as well as a push to build homes that support people in different economic situations.

Jon Ellacott of the Conservatives took the same stance as Spencer on housing, only adding that he would “Get it done faster.” Ellacott also added that he wanted more rentals to be built, and fewer luxury condos.

Eoin O’Dwyer brought up many of the same points but added a goal of building 26,000 units every year to lower the overall price of housing. O’Dwyer also mentioned how he wanted to push for more rent control, limiting the amount that landlords can raise rent every year.

Carl Turnbull took a very different perspective on the issue of unaffordable housing, bringing up sympathy for landlords, stating that they are people too who need to pay their bills. Turnbull suggested that the government open crown land to private developers, to allow for lots of housing developments, which he said would lead to lower prices.

TOPIC II: EDUCATION

The second topic was related to education. More specifically, overcrowding in schools, teacher turnover, and a lack of funding. Candidates responded with how they would solve these issues. As candidates were making speeches to students who deal with these problems every day, it was interesting to see how they phrased their responses, as this is obviously something of importance to young people.

Spencer Chandra Herbert’s response was very straightforward, stating that he wanted to invest more money into schools, as well as lessen overcrowding by pushing for upgrades on existing neighbourhood schools. He also wanted to invest in new school supplies like textbooks and computers.

Jon Ellacott explained his belief that spending more money is not necessary. Instead, Ellacott suggested the government should streamline the spending process, become more watchful of how money is spent, and “scrutinize where money is going.” He stated that he still wanted to “incur more capital expenditure” which, in the language of a high schooler, means getting more fixed assets for the school, which could include things like gym equipment, desks, computers, textbooks, etc.

Eoin O’Dwyer presented a slightly different position from Chandra Herbert’s, putting more focus on quality cafeteria food programs, mental health support for students, and better school facilities. O’Dwyer also advocated for education being a higher priority, as students are the future.

Carl Turnbull started off by stating that private schools take less money to operate, while offering a better education. From his perspective, private companies will always do everything better and more efficiently, as they aim to make a profit from their work. He compared privately operated companies to government, finally saying that “private does everything better.” On top of all that, he also added that students should learn more about finances in school, like taxes.

TOPIC III: THE ENVIRONMENT

The third and final topic was related to environmental and climate change issues. Candidates were asked how they would help B.C. do its part in meeting Canada’s Paris Agreement commitment to lower carbon emissions by 40-45% by 2030 (compared to 2005 levels).

Spencer Chandra Herbert began by stating that he is a believer in climate change, as well as science. He mentioned that he would push for more movement away from fossil fuels, toward renewable energy. He mentioned his support for changes that move toward a greener world, while still balancing affordable living.

Jon Ellacott also began by stating that he is a climate change believer, but suggested some different solutions. He believes that innovation is the solution to climate issues, and that new technology will be the answer.

Eoin O’Dwyer took a more aggressive approach to this topic, calling out Chandra Herbert and accusing him of not believing in the climate change issue, as shown by his government’s past inaction on the topic. He then gave his thoughts on Ellacott’s views on climate change, stating that innovation is not the answer, as solar energy is already the most efficient energy solution. He explained that solar energy would be a great way to create jobs. Finally, he mentioned that he aimed to invest more into protective measures for extreme weather events, and also to ban advertisements on fossil fuel products.

Carl Turnbull started his statement by explaining that he does not believe in climate change. He mentioned that extreme weather events such as flooding in Abbotsford are not something to be worried about, as “Abbotsford used to be a lake anyways.” He ended his statement by explaining his perspective on climate change, the gist being that it is a hoax used by the government to tax you more, so that you will own nothing and not lead a happy life.

QUESTION PERIOD

**candidates address students during an all candidates meeting.**
*(Patrick Wilband photo)*

After the designated topics, the meeting moved on to a period of candidate-specific questions from students. During the question period, a student asked Jon Ellacott a question regarding teaching SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) in schools.

To this, Carl Turnbull abruptly stood up and announced that it was his time to leave. Before walking out, however, he took handfuls of Halloween-sized chocolate bars from his pockets and threw them into the crowd of students, which resulted in some mayhem. Was the candy melted? I don’t know.

**the results of the student vote on provincial candidates.**

THE STUDENTS VOTE

On Thursday, October 17, students were invited to participate in the student vote. Students could vote for any of the four candidates in a mock election.

The results of this student vote were very surprising to me, as independent Carl Turnbull received 51 votes in the student election, which is roughly equal to 10 per cent of total votes cast. In the subsequent provincial election he received just 0.7 percent of all votes. This is not only surprising because of his radical views, but also because only about 200 students attended the All Candidates Meeting. His appearance in front of the KG students must have made quite an impression. Maybe it was the candy.

HALLO-WEEK

The KG student council organized five Halloween and fall-themed events for the final week of October. These included a pumpkin-painting event, a movie night, free candy from third block teachers, a Halloween costume contest, and even a pumpkin pie-eating contest!

It’s great to see more events organized by our student council this year!

NOTES ON LAST MONTH

Last month, I touched on some of the challenges that Flexible Instruction Time (FIT) brings to the experience of a student at KG. One of the points mentioned was that teachers are allowed to take one FIT off per week. However, I’d like to apologize for neglecting to include the purpose of these times, and some of the details about the program.

First of all, the allowed time-off during FIT is meant for teachers to use as prep time, which is time to prepare course material and mark assignments. Some fine print that I wasn’t aware is that the amount of FIT that can be taken off depends on the teacher’s schedule, meaning that a teacher with a full schedule (four classes in a day) will be able to take more time off than a teacher who teaches fewer classes. Again, apologies for not including this information in the last issue.

To me, the FIT program signals a greater problem, namely, overcrowding in schools. KG is obviously not built to support the whopping 650 students it has now, as can be seen in the sea of students in hallways between classes, as well as the lengthy delays in marking projects and tests. Obviously, teachers are not at fault for this overcrowding.

Problems like overcrowding and seismically unsafe school conditions could be solved (although with a price tag) by the school board and provincial government. However, the minds of the future do not seem to be a priority at the moment, or at least until these problems grow worse. So instead, it seems “halfway” solutions such as Flexible Instruction Time must be created.

**the Purpose of the “Mystery Object” has been revealed.**

“MYSTERY OBJECT” UPDATE

On a lighter note, the “Mystery Object” near the school field has been confirmed by Principal Evans to be part of a new irrigation system for the field. Mystery solved!

Thanks so much for reading, and have a great November!