Author: Daniel Fontaine

The Record published a story today about concerns expressed by the New West Progressives regarding the shelving of a report by city hall outlining serious human resource challenges at city hall.  I couldn’t agree more with mayoral candidate Ken Armstrong when he says we need to focus on the basics and make sure city staff are not being pulled in multiple directions.

Here are some excerpts of the story…and a link to the entire story below:

The City of New Westminster’s staffing challenges highlight the need to focus on core civic responsibilities, say the New West Progressives.

On Monday, council received a staff report and memos from several department heads outlining some of the staffing challenges being faced by the City of New Westminster. In response to “higher than anticipated” staff vacancies due to retirements, departures and challenges with recruiting staff, some department are changing up their work plans and delaying work on some projects.

The reports prompted some councillors to comment that council has heard staff’s concerns, is concerned about the issue, and will do what it can to support staff and city projects.

Ken Armstrong, mayoral candidate for the New West Progressives, issued a press release the following day stating that the NWP team has heard city staff “loud and clear” and is committed to addressing staff’s concerns rather than “shelving them” in a report. He said the report to council showed that city staff are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, short on capacity due to the tight labour market and are overburdened with city council’s strategic priorities.

“First and foremost, our thought is that we acknowledge that the city hall staff are singularly the most valuable resource the city has, and we want to be as supportive as possible with them,” Armstrong told the Record. “A clear meta message from this report is the staff are either burnt out or on the verge of being burnt out. I think everything that can be done needs to be done to support them through that. And that’s a challenge for sure.”

Armstrong noted staff have identified various opportunities and priorities for addressing staffing challenges.

The New West Progressives have consistently called for a “back to basics” approach to running city hall – a message they’re reiterating in response to the staffing challenges currently being faced by the city.

…The New West Progressives have consistently called for a “back to basics” approach to running city hall – a message they’re reiterating in response to the staffing challenges currently being faced by the city.

“We would really encourage our city council to direct the city staff to really focus on the basics, the core responsibilities that city hall has with potholes, with repairing the sidewalks, with maintaining our parks, and these kind of topics, ahead of some of the other sort of special projects,” he said. “Not that the special projects aren’t valuable, but when you have finite and taxed resources you sort of need to consolidate around the core responsibilities.”

Click here to read entire story

After the Vancouver Sun published my OpEd this week which focused on the important need to link infrastructure investments with increased density, I was asked to appear on the Jill Bennett Show.

During the interview, Bennett and I discussed a number of issues pertaining to a ‘carrot’ and ‘stick’ approach when it comes to densifying cities. I spoke about how New Westminster is an older city with ageing infrastructure that already has a high level of density.

If you want to here the entire interview, click on the link below.

On October 15th, if you live in New Westminster, you will once again see the name Daniel Fontaine on the ballot. In 2018 I ran for the first time to secure one of six spots on council. After all the ballots were counted, I came in just shy of the 6th spot.

This year I’ve decided to throw my hat in the ring and run with New West Progressives (NWP) mayoral candidate Ken Armstrong and city council candidates Paul Minhas, Jiayi Li-McCarthy and Rick Folka (more candidates to come!!).  The NWP has pulled together a great team and are working on developing a very progressive and fiscally prudent campaign platform that will be released later this year.

If elected to council, I want to assure voters that I will be interested in fixing our crumbling sidewalks and potholes, as much as I am in trying to tackle the affordable housing crisis, reduce crime and protect our environment.  We have a very significant infrastructure deficit in New Westminster and we need a team at city hall who is interested in getting that resolved.

I’ll be writing more blog posts here over the coming months as the campaign gets in full swing, but for now I’ll share with you the news release that was issued by the NWP today.

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New Westminster (May 11, 2022): Mayoral candidate Ken Armstrong is pleased to announce that long-time New Westminster resident Daniel Fontaine will be seeking a seat on council with the New West Progressives this fall.

“It’s great to see someone with Daniel’s background, experience and commitment to New Westminster put his name forward once again to become a city councillor,” says Armstrong. “As an Indigenous person of Metis heritage, he brings a thoughtful perspective and understanding regarding how our city can better listen and engage with our residents, including those who have been historically marginalized.”

Fontaine was a council candidate in the 2018 civic election with the NWP. He garnered almost 5,300 votes and came in 7th place, falling just short of securing a seat on council. Fontaine has worked in senior roles for several high-profile non-profit organizations as well as the private sector. In 2015 he established Fontaine Consulting and he previously worked as a civic affairs columnist and radio commentator.

“I’m a resident of Quayside who lives in a dense urban area. That means I’ve got a front-row seat regarding some of the key challenges and opportunities associated with higher density,” says Fontaine. “I want to make sure that city hall doesn’t lose sight of the fact we need to address core issues like the poor state of our crumbling sidewalks, roads and infrastructure, as well as building affordable housing and reducing crime in our city.”

In March 2022 Fontaine was inducted into Canada’s Marketing, PR, Advertising and Communications Hall of Fame. In 2012 Fontaine was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for public service. He remains an active volunteer with the New Westminster Minor Hockey Association. In 2016 they presented him with the Volunteer of the Year award. Fontaine also was appointed by Mayor Cote to the Mayor’s Taskforce on Public Engagement.

The NWP announced earlier this year that Paul Minhas, Jiayi Li-McCarthy and Rick Folka will be running as city council candidates. Additional city council and school board candidates will be announced in the coming months. The civic election is taking place on October 15, 2022.