Former MLA Laurie Throness Elected to Chilliwack School Board in Byelection

Image credits: Source Link

Former MLA Laurie Throness has been elected as a trustee for the Chilliwack School Board following a byelection on March 1. The results were listed on the City of Chilliwack website after polls closed at 8 p.m., with the first numbers showing up at about 8:15 p.m. Throness received 3,977 votes, while his closest competitor, Katie Bartel, received 3,163 votes, and Shane Kooyman received 94 votes. The byelection was triggered by the resignation of Chilliwack North MLA Heather Maahs, who had previously sat on the board of education.

The City of Chilliwack is reporting that 7,238 people cast a ballot in the byelection. Throness will join six other trustees who serve on the board: David Swankey, Teri Westerby, Willow Reichelt, Carin Bondar, Richard Procee, and Margaret Reid. He posted a message to his Facebook page on Saturday night, saying it is a privilege to be chosen to serve the community of Chilliwack once again. Throness also thanked Bartel and Kooyman for putting their names forward and running dynamic campaigns, stating that they did a service to the public by offering realistic choices to voters. Throness has a long history in politics, having worked as chief of staff to the late MP Chuck Strahl and having a PhD in history from Cambridge, a master's degree in public administration from Queen's, and several other degrees.

Throness was also removed from the B.C. Liberal Party while he was running for re-election as MLA for Chilliwack-Kent in 2020, in part because of his opposition to free birth control and comparing the government's coverage of birth control as a form of "eugenics." During the campaign, he said his commitment to the public system and to academia in general is unquestioned, as he went to public school throughout elementary and secondary school, and almost all of his post-secondary education. In his post after the election, he underlined his commitment to academics, stating that the election was not about the man, it was about the message, and that voters responded to the need of SD33 to focus on academic achievement.

There have been numerous byelections over the years for the Chilliwack board of education, as trustees have gone on to provincial politics. The late Dan Coulter was first elected to the board in 2013 in a byelection, which was held when Louise Piper stepped down for health reasons. He served on the board until 2020, when he was voted in as MLA for Chilliwack. That triggered a byelection, in which Carin Bondar was elected. Maahs then ran against Coulter in the 2024 election and won, becoming the MLA for the newly created Chilliwack North riding. She resigned from the board shortly after her election. As far as voter turnout goes, 10,710 people came out to vote in the 2021 byelection that Bondar won. This byelection was estimated early on to cost up to $100,000.

The following are some key points about the byelection: * The byelection was held on March 1, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. * There were three candidates vying for the seat: Katie Bartel, Shane Kooyman, and Laurie Throness. * Throness won the election with 54.9% of the vote, while Bartel received 43.6% and Kooyman received 1.3%. * The byelection was triggered by the resignation of Heather Maahs, who was elected as MLA for Chilliwack-North in October. * Throness has stated that his priorities are centered around academic achievement, fiscal responsibility, enhanced classroom attendance and discipline, and enhancing relationships between parents and the system. Some of the key issues that were discussed during the campaign include the need for diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as the importance of academic achievement and fiscal responsibility.