As Remembrance Day approaches, we are once again involved in a national dialogue regarding Canada’s involvement in a war effort. Many Canadians have taken pride in this country’s role since the Lester Pearson years as peacekeepers and peacemakers. That role changed dramatically eight months ago in Afghanistan when Canadian ground forces launched their first offensive combat operations since the Korean War. As a nation we watch with a range of emotions- sadness, anger, horror, as the flag draped coffins of another generation of soldiers come home.

Many New Westminster residents, their city steeped in military history and tradition with the Royal Westminster Regiment, will go to Memorial Plaza to pay tribute to the men and women who died in the defense of freedom. Among them is an ever dwindling number of surviving veterans of the last of the great wars.

Captain William Roy Brown, at 94 years of age, intends to go to the services on Nov.11, and attend parade as he has done for sixty years. I first saw him at the 1993 Remembrance Day services; his red beret, green blazer and artillery badge caught my attention. I was struck by the quiet nature of this man, his dignity, and his private grieving. He attended the services year after year, defying his injuries and the ravages of time.

With the help of Tom Boden at the Royal Canadian Legion, I was able to locate him and arrange a meeting. In his New Westminster apartment, surrounded by family pictures, war decorations and memorabilia, accompanied by his wife Anna, he told me his life story. He is an extremely modest man, and by his own description, a very emotional one. His wit and memory are as sharp as his eyes as he recounts his childhood, growing up on the farm in Saskatchewan, enlisting, and his years in the military which took him from Canada to England, Scotland, the Azores, Africa, Gibraltar, Italy, and France. Although it is a story of sacrifice, injuries, fear, and death- the horrors of war, this remarkable man speaks of commitment, perseverance, understanding compassion and friendship.

These qualities he took with him in his post-war life as a teacher and a high school principal.

To me, he is THE Canadian soldier, an example of the qualities we all like to think we strive for.

On Nov.11, if you don’t already do so, consider going to Memorial Plaza, to pay tribute to our fallen soldiers, and to say thank you to those heroes still among us. If you look for a red beret, you may find Capt. Roy Brown.

Provincial appointee Doug Hibbins’ review of School District Business Companies raises a number of critical issues, as do the various responses to it. Most members of the public that I have spoken to are pleased with the recommendations; some were expecting the Business Companies to be completely disbanded. What is abundantly clear though is that the New Westminster parents who have been railing for the better part of four years were bang on in their observations and concerns. Their letters to the Minister of Education requesting intervention in what had become a major concern for education stakeholders in New Westminster were clearly successful.

In Hibbins’ own words, “The review was not intended to be an audit of individual business companies. Nor was it intended to be a critique of decisions made by individual school boards or business company boards. Rather it was intended to be an assessment of the extent to which business companies are serving the public interest”. The review, analyzed in depth by this newspaper, focuses firstly, on the issue of competence and secondly, on the issue of transparency and accountability. On the issue of competence, the School Board by its’ own admission, spent in excess of $1 Million of scarce public funds in the absence of a formal business plan, a risk profile, or a well developed budget.

On the issue of transparency and accountability, the general tone of the board was that the Business Company was a private venture and that it could do what it wanted, how it wanted, when it wanted. Over time, changes were made, but they were made only in response to relentless pressures from the community.

School Board Chair Michael Ewen’s response to Hibbins’ recommendations is consistent with the spin and doublespeak that we have become accustomed to hearing from the board over the years. Instead of responding to issues of board competence and independence, accountability and transparency, we are told that the report won’t change much in New Westminster. Really? What planet is this guy on? At the very least the board should make a public commitment to a transparent appointments process in which people with the requisite experience and knowledge are openly requested to apply for business company board membership. Further, it is not unreasonable, given Hibbins’ findings, to expect a commitment to a comprehensive public accounting and an end to the community having to pull out information piece by piece. No longer should we read about trustees voting on major issues while being unaware of key pieces of financial information.

The whole exercise leaves me with several questions. First, why are revenues raised through international education viewed differently than provincial grants? All money, once it enters the system, should be viewed as education dollars, with the same accountability requirements. Second, although Hibbins’ report has convinced me that there is a limited in-province role for business companies, why shouldn’t the business companies be put to the same test as private businesses? On the strength of the acumen of their boards and the business cases they present, publicly owned companies should be required to go to private lending institutions to generate the necessary funds and to private insurers to cover their liability. Third, if the Province is convinced that their education package is an internationally marketable commodity, why not let other agencies and the private sector deliver it? Tender it out in a way that delivers maximum bucks to the Ministry and plow the profits back into the system. That would allow school boards to concentrate on their core mandate: the development and delivery of education services to their students and communities.

Once again New Westminster students have greeted September with renewed energy, optimism and a willingness to face challenges. I wish I could say the same for residents, taxpayers and particularly for the parents of these students. Reality is, that as we enter the new school year, many of the issues that have plagued this district are still with us, without even hope of resolution.

We await the report of special provincial appointee, Doug Hibbins, on School District Business Companies. In New West, the business company, which has thus far diverted in excess of one million dollars from the education of our children, continues to operate as if it were “business as usual”. In an attempt at damage control, at no doubt, great cost, the highest-ranking employee of the Business Company has been thrown under the bus by the school district. Meanwhile, as the high school site deteriorates by the day, we learn that the Ministry of Education has advanced nine million dollars to the school district and that close to seven million dollars of that amount has to this day been spent. As reported by the Minister of Education, the School Board tendered the ill-fated construction project, knowing full well that there was no prospect of successfully moving forward. This little game of politics was not only a waste of public dollars, but opened SD#40 up to the possibility of litigation by the companies that committed resources to engage in the tender process. School District offices and portions of the school have been demolished only to have to be replaced or to have costly temporary measures put in place. Additional collateral damage in this was the unnecessary closure of the Massey Theatre, affecting its viability as a community operated amenity.

In comparison, during the time this costly charade has played out within our district, on our border in Burnaby, a high school has been successfully financed, designed, constructed and occupied.

One could go on, and on, but I think the point has been made. What we are really faced with is a highly dysfunctional school board. The business company, the West Side middle school debate, the manner of implementation of French Immersion and the high school site debacle are merely symptoms of this dysfunction.

Members of the public have for several years now been asking for answers to their questions and have been rewarded for their efforts for the most part with arrogance, doublespeak and in some cases with threats. They deserve so much more. They deserve accountability, transparency, to have a comfort level that student learning outcomes are paramount and that elected trustees understand their fiduciary responsibilities. All students, parents, taxpayers and residents are owed this. There is also an additional group that is owed more. This very talented and dedicated group is comprised of the employees of the school district. Many of them have been very vocal to me in pointing out the colossal waste and the consequences of a dysfunctional board in the school district.

It is time to stop the waste, to make adjustments and to move forward with clarity and confidence. I believe this is possible only with an independent third-party review of SD #40 by the Minister of Education. I believe a three-pronged approach, as follows, is necessary:

I. A complete audit of the business company. In addition to Hibbins’ province wide study, an in-depth audit of the New Westminster situation is needed. This would include examination of the decision-making process, expenditures, revenues, the flow of money between the school district and the Business Company and recommendations to move forward.

II. A value for money audit of the high school project. This would report on the decision-making process, expenditures, revenues and funding sources. For the reported $7,000,000 spent, what is the residual value? What is needed for this project to move forward?

III. A complete audit of the school district to examine the decision making process, policy, procedure, and practice complete with recommendations on how to move forward in a manner that is respectful of the needs of students, parents, employees, residents and taxpayers. One that is respectful of the need for all trustees to have access to full information so that they can all participate in making the best decisions possible.

The citizens of New Westminster need and deserve a School Board that the public has complete confidence in. A board that is fiscally responsible, that operates with complete transparency and that is free of special interest politics, conflicts of interest, cronyism and nepotism.

It is important to start down a road to achieve what is in the best interests of the public, the staff and, above all, the students.