Twice-elected Thind backs court appointment to avoid $840,000 Surrey trustee byelection

Twice-elected Garry Thind wants Surrey to avoid an $840,000 school trustee byelection and instead have Gary Tymoschuk, described in the report as Thind’s crony, declared elected, although Tymoschuk was not elected on Oct. 17. Thind also says the BC Conservative-led government will introduce legislation to ensure provincial elections can never again coincide with local elections, so no community faces the same situation.

Thind was re-elected as a school trustee on Oct. 17, then elected a Conservative MLA for Surrey-Guildford a week later, on Oct. 24. His election could trigger a byelection to fill his trustee seat. He will be disqualified as a trustee when he is sworn in as MLA on Nov. 19. At that point, if and when a court application is made under B.C.’s Local Government Act, a judge could declare the seat vacant, leading to a byelection, or order that the candidate with the next-highest vote total—incumbent Gary Tymoschuk in this case—be declared elected in place of the disqualified candidate. Surrey Schools would pay the entire cost of a trustee byelection.

Asked about the situation on Nov. 5, Thind sent a statement to the Now-Leader through BC Conservative Party media relations. He said Surrey students should not lose $840,000 that could go to classrooms because of a decision made in Victoria. The Local Government Act allows a court to seat the next-highest vote-getter, Gary Tymoschuk, a 12-year trustee, he said, adding that he supports the City’s application to do that. Thind called David Eby’s decision to hold a provincial election one week after every local election in British Columbia “cynical.” Surrey’s chief election officer said on Nov. 5 that the city had not made a court application for a ruling.

Observers say Thind could have avoided the situation by not running in the B.C. election after signing on as a school trustee candidate. Thind and Tymoschuk both ran with Surrey First Education, which has long dominated the school board. After the snap provincial election was called, Thind did not want his name on the ballot as the civic campaign continued. He ultimately placed second among trustee candidates, with 43,900 votes.

Thind says he filed to run for re-election to the Surrey Board of Education when the provincial election was still two years away. After nominations closed, David Eby called a snap election for the week after the local vote, and the law did not allow Thind to remove his name from the trustee ballot, he said. He said he suspended his trustee campaign and made clear he was running for the legislature, not the school board.

At the newly elected Surrey Board of Education’s inaugural meeting on Nov. 4, Thind was not among the six trustees sworn in. Returning Surrey trustees are Terry Allen, Laurie Larsen, Bob Holmes and Shawn Wilson, all with Surrey First Education, and newcomer Michelle Ceniza of the Surrey Now slate. White Rock representative Laura Lattanzio was also sworn in.

Rival trustee candidate Anne Whitmore, who finished ninth in the Oct. 17 vote, wants a byelection for Thind’s seat. In a Facebook post, she said no one wants the school district to spend $840,000, but voters deserve a byelection for the sake of electoral integrity, rather than a post-election substitution that benefits the same slate.

Surrey resident and letter-writer Mardie Wolsey says Thind should pay the $840,000 cost if a byelection is held. In an email to the Peace Arch News, she said greed in seeking to hold at least one of two elected positions should be punished, and that Thind should stick with his first choice—school trustee—or pay any byelection costs caused by what she called his foolishness. She added that the situation makes her question whether he should hold either office he sought.