One of the pleasures – one of the many pleasures, I should hasten to add – of being your campaign correspondent is that I frequently get to meet candidates who are not only friendly (they are all that – they don’t respond to my calls if they aren’t) but also knowledgeable and have a track record of helping housing co-ops.
Bill Cunningham’s presence in this line up requires some explanation for though he is the Liberal candidate in Burnaby Douglas he is not an incumbent seeking re-election. Why then does he know the issues so well and how has he been able to help us?
Before resigning to run in the election, Bill was the Senior Advisor to the BC Ministers’ Regional Office and it is through his work that we have been able to meet with and gain the support of the local federal ministers and to meet with Minister Fontana to discuss those issues on two occasions. I am not exaggerating when I say that without Bill’s help progress on the Section 95 and leaky co-op issues would have very much harder and very much slower.
Sitting in Bill’s campaign office listening to him discourse eloquently and (more to the point) accurately on the technicalities of the Section 95 issue and the problems facing leaky co-ops, I have to make a conscious effort to stop myself taking notes. That wouldn’t look so good: I’m supposed to be the expert here.
As to his personal goals for housing if he is elected, I can do no better than to quote the commitments soon to be posted on his web page (your correspondent’s first scoop!):