White Rock’s newest civic political party has announced its candidates for this fall’s election.
Democracy Direct – formed earlier this year by a group of residents – announced in a news release Sunday that it would put forward one mayoral candidate and four council candidates.
Darryl Walker is the organization’s nominee for mayor, and Erika Johanson, Scott Kristjanson, Anthony Manning and Christopher Trevelyan will run for council.
The selections were made last Wednesday in front of a “standing-room only crowd” at the White Rock Library, the release notes.
Walker is described as a Nanaimo native who has lived in White Rock since 1970, and is a former president of the BC Government and Service Employees Union. Before retiring, he was a heath-care worker at Riverview Hospital.
Johanson is an information technology professional; Kristjanson – previously part of the ‘No Casino Surrey’ campaign – works in computer science; Manning works in commercial aviation and Trevelyan, an Earl Marriott Secondary graduate, is a teacher at his alma mater.
The electoral organization began meeting in late 2017 and officially formed in January, in response to what group members claimed was a lack of transparency at city hall.
“The lack of transparency. Not necessarily being able to get information about things such as what do the development plans look like, why is the official community plan being changed on a regular basis, what to do the finances of the community look like, where is the money coming from for a number of major projects. I could go on, and on and on,” Walker told Peace Arch News at the time.
The slate hopes to wrest the council majority from the White Rock Coalition, which won four of seven council seats in 2014.
With Mayor Wayne Baldwin – who was elected to two terms as an independent – not seeking re-election Oct. 20, White Rock Coalition incumbent councillor Grant Meyer has announced his mayoral ambitions, backed by incumbents Megan Knight, Bill Lawrence and Lynne Sinclair. Speaking to PAN last month, however, Lawrence said he hadn’t entirely ruled out a run at the mayor’s chair himself.
The two other incumbent councillors – Helen Fathers and David Chesney – both indicated in February that they are considering seeking another term, with Fathers eyeing the mayoralty and Chesney focused on a council seat.
