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Meet Daniel Fontaine, New West Progressives

Meet Daniel Fontaine, New West Progressives Name: Daniel Fontaine Twitter: @FontaineNW Website: www.nwprogressives.ca or www.danielfontaine.ca Email: daniel@nwprogressives.ca Questions (in 50 words unless specified). Tell us about yourself.
Daniel Fontaine
Daniel Fontaine is running for council with the New Westminster Progressives.

Meet Daniel Fontaine, New West Progressives

 

Name: Daniel Fontaine

Twitter: @FontaineNW

Website: www.nwprogressives.ca or www.danielfontaine.ca

Email: daniel@nwprogressives.ca

 

Questions (in 50 words unless specified).

Tell us about yourself. (100 words)

By day I’m the CEO of a non-profit organization whose goal is to strengthen the delivery of seniors care in BC. My 30+ year career has spanned working in the private and public sector including working as a weekly civic affairs columnist and appearing on the former Bill Good Show on CKNW radio. I’m passionate about ensuring our kids have access to modern sports and recreation facilities. I was honoured to have received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for Public Service in 2012 as well as Volunteer of the Year for the New Westminster Minor Hockey Association in 2016.

 

What are the Top 3 issues facing the City of New Westminster? (100 words)

I believe the top three issues in New Westminster include affordable housing, effectively accommodating new growth and traffic congestion. In terms of affordable housing, the provincial government recently approved the largest annual rent increase in over 15 years. This move will hit renters who are on fixed income very hard. We need to develop a plan to ensure additional density gets translated into tangible benefits for our neighbourhoods such as new community centers, sports and recreation facilities. Traffic congestion and a lack of adequate on-street parking are also a concern.

 

 What is the biggest success or failure of the current city council?

The biggest failure of this council is to have facilitated significant growth, yet at the same time make almost no significant reinvestment into our public facilities. Compared to neighbouring cities we have a serious ‘public amenities deficit’. The Arenex collapse is one example of how the current council has failed ...

 

The City of New Westminster concluded a lengthy official community plan process and is working to implement that plan. With the city’s population projected to grow to 104,000 by 2041, is the city on the right track to accommodating this growth?

The city could be doing more to help facilitate ‘gentle density’ and increase housing supply. There appears to be too heavy a reliance on building new concrete towers and less focus on providing flexible zoning to construct more affordable non-strata townhomes and row houses.

 

What three people – alive or dead – would you invite to a dinner party?

The people I’d like to have dinner with fall into three distinct categories. Someone who makes me laugh. Someone who can inspire. Someone who challenges conventional wisdom. In that order, I’d plan a dinner with Ellen DeGeneres, Terry Fox and Steve Jobs.

 

Editor's note: Candidates were given specific word count guidelines and were cut off if they went over the count.