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Andrea Reimer

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Andrea Reimer is a Canadian politician, currently serving on Vancouver, British Columbia's City Council. She was first elected in 2002 to the Vancouver School Board as a Green Party candidate.[1] She was defeated as a Green Party candidate in her re-election campaign in 2005[2] and then joined the Vision Vancouver party to support Gregor Robertson's mayoral campaign[3]. She subsequently ran for and won a council seat in the 2008 municipal election.[4]


Background

Reimer was born in Saskatchewan and, when she was 8 months old, she was adopted by a couple from Vancouver who subsequently relocated to Calgary[5]

Reimer is an environmentalist who has worked as the executive director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee[6][7][8] since 2002. In 2007, she was chosen by Al Gore to deliver the Inconvenient Truth presentation to local audiences,[9][7][10][11] which she delivered to over 10,000 people. While executive director of the Wilderness Committee, Reimer supported the creation of a carbon tax by the BC Provincial Government[6]. It was subsequently passed.[6]

Reimer has volunteered with many community organizations including serving as:

  • Past President of the CCEC Credit Union
  • Past President Canadian Women’s Voters Congress
  • former Vice-Chair of Your Local Farmer’s Market Society
  • former Co-Chair of the City of Vancouver’s Food Policy Council
  • Director of Toxic Free Canada

She currently serves as a Director of Environmental Education Action Project, and sits on the Vancouver Foundation’s Health and Social Development Advisory Committee.


Political career

Green Party

Reimer joined the Green Party in 1996, and volunteered on the 1996 provincial election, the 1999 civic election, the 2000 federal by-election and the 2001 provincial election.[5] She has held internal elected office as Communication Chair, Green Party of BC (1999-2002) and Chair, Green Party of Vancouver (2002 - 2008). Reimer was the first Green Party candidate ever elected to a school board seat in Canada, when she was elected in 2002.[1][6][12] She ran for re-election as a Green Party candidate in 2005 yet was defeated.[13]

Vision Vancouver

Reimer joined the Vision Vancouver party to support Gregor Robertson's mayoral campaign[14], which she co-chaired. She subsequently ran for[15] [6][8] and won a council seat in the 2008 municipal election.[16]

School Board

As a School Trustee, Reimer supported efforts to remove vending machines[17] and corporate logos from schools.[18] She pushed for getting school garden programs into schools.[19]

In January 2003, she supported the Green Party's position against bringing the Olympics to Vancouver in 2010 due to concerns about the money it would requires.[6] In 2008 she characterized her position as still ambivalent about the money spent on the Olympics but prepared to put her full energy into ensuring the Games were as good as possible.[6][20].

She was also one of the first elected officials in the country to maintain a blog while in public office[21].

City Council

As City Councilor, Reimer is a member of Gregor Robertson's Greenest City Team.[22] The team is tasked with catalyzing immediate action on green issues, a ten year action plan to become the world's greenest city and creating an environment supportive of green economic development in the city of Vancouver.[23] Reimer introduced a motion, which passed, to open Vancouver city data to the public and endorse the principles of open source.[24][25][26] Reimer introduced a motion, which passed unanimously, to allow Vancouver residents to keep hens in their backyards.[27] The motion was opposed by the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Vancouver Humane Society, and the BC Poultry Association.[27]. The proposal was brought forward as a result of a recommendation from the City of Vancouver's Food Policy Council.[28]

Reimer's other appointments on Vancouver City Council include:

  • Chair, Standing Committee on Planning and Environment
  • Vancouver Economic Development Commission
  • Joint Childcare Council
  • Family Court-Youth Justice Committee

Reimer also sits on the Metro Vancouver Regional District board and has been appointed to the Regional Planning Committee, Agricultural Committee, Electoral Area A Committee and GVRD/UBC Joint Committee.

Family

Reimer and her husband have a daughter. They live near Trout Lake in East Vancouver.[29]

References

  1. ^ a b "2002 Election Results", Vancouver City Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  2. ^ "2005 Election Results", Vancouver City Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  3. ^ Naiobh O'Connor. "Green Party staple opts for new Vision". Vancouver Courier, May 7, 2008.
  4. ^ "2008 Election Results",Vancouver City Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  5. ^ a b Janet Steffenhagen. "Protest started early for school trustee", Vancouver Sun, December 10, 2002.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Mike Howell. "Vision quest;Energetic and flooded with members, Vision Vancouver led by Gregor Robertson believes it's poised to take over city hall. But as a "progressive" party backed heavily by developers and casino operators, what does it really stand for?", Vancouver Courier, September 24, 2008.
  7. ^ a b Doug Ward. "Vancity boss takes green lessons from Al Gore", Vancouver Sun, January 13, 2007.
  8. ^ a b Gerry Bellett. "Former Green seeks Vision; Ex-school trustee Reimer will run for city council nomination", Vancouver Sun, July 17, 2008.
  9. ^ "Crusaders for a green planet: Our emerging leaders", Vancouver Sun, February 17, 2007, Page B-2.
  10. ^ "Councillor Andrea Reimer", Vancouver City Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  11. ^ "Raisin’ Issues", Today's Vancouver Woman, Accessed October 6, 2009.
  12. ^ "Speakers", Women's Campaign School Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  13. ^ "2005 Election Results", Vancouver City Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  14. ^ Naiobh O'Connor. "Green Party staple opts for new Vision". Vancouver Courier, May 7, 2008.
  15. ^ Catherine Rolfsen. "New faces vying for city seats; Vision, NPA slates have candidates targeting key demographics", Vancouver Sun, October 11, 2008.
  16. ^ "2008 Election Results",Vancouver City Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.
  17. ^ Naoibh O'Connor "Fit for a Teen?". Vancouver Courier, October 11, 2003
  18. ^ Naoibh O'Connor. "Trustees pondering commercialization policy", March 11, 2005
  19. ^ Naoibh O'Connor. "Seeds of Learning". Vancouver Courier, May 14, 2004
  20. ^ Brandi Cowen. "Councillor Andrea Reimer's First Six Months on City Council". Vancouver Observer, June 24, 2009
  21. ^ Janet Steffenhagen. "School Trustee Communicates by Blog" Vancouver Sun, August 30, 2003
  22. ^ "Members of the Greenest City Team", City of Vancouver website, Accessed October 10, 2009.
  23. ^ "How can we make Vancouver the world’s greenest city?", City of Vancouver website, Accessed October 10, 2009.
  24. ^ "City of Vancouver set to back open source, open standards, open data", Georgia Straight, May 14, 2009.
  25. ^ "City of Vancouver embraces open data, standards and source", CBC, May 22, 2009.
  26. ^ "Vancouver becomes role model for open source", Infoworld, June 11, 2009.
  27. ^ a b "Vancouver latest municipality to allow urban chickens", Vancouver Sun, March 4, 2009.
  28. ^ "Vancouver Food Policy Council Minutes, January 14, 2009"
  29. ^ "Councillor Andrea Reimer", Vancouver City Website, Accessed September 1, 2009.


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