After a back-and-forth evening, Carin Bondar is the winner of the Chilliwack Board of Education’s contentious school trustee byelection over Richard Procee on Saturday (Feb. 13).
At 9:05 p.m. with 10,710 ballots counted, according to results posted by the chief election officer on the City of Chilliwack’s website showed Carin Bondar the winner with 5,455 votes to Richard Procee’s 4,786.
In third place was Brian VanGarderen with 287 votes and fourth was Adam Suleman with 182.
The results were always likely to be close as the byelection race quickly proved to be nasty given the deep divisions on the board.
Repeated comments made by sitting trustee Barry Neufeld led the Ministry of Education to appoint special advisors to evaluate the school board in an ongoing capacity. Neufeld endorsed Procee in the campaign.
READ MORE: Special advisors appointed to evaluate Chilliwack school board
Here are campaign videos from both Bondar and Procee.
READ MORE: VIDEO: Carin Bondar shares what she hopes to bring to Chilliwack school board table
Bondar was also the target of an illegal election sign posted by an unknown group, critical of her career making videos about evolution and animal reproduction.
READ MORE: Anti-Bondar billboard that appeared in Chilliwack corn field taken down by landowners
Procee said his campaign had nothing to do with the billboard and when asked, he said he was “opposed to any form of communication that violates principles of respect, value and dignity.”
See www.theprogress.com for more details on the results.
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