Henry's Blog

Throughout my campaign for mayor of Abbotsford, I promised to be open about where my contributions originated. I did that by giving you an up-to-date list on November 7 and again on November 14, the day before the election.

Now I give you my final tally of campaign contributions (corporate and individual) and expenses, which is now official and posted on the B.C. government website.

If you’d like to review any B.C. municipal candidate’s disclosure, you can do that here. 

I’ve been thinking about respect lately (the word and the sentiment) and its importance in life, but especially work.

So, in January I conducted a very brief, informal, and far-from-scientific poll through my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts to find out what others think about it—what respect means to them.

The answers varied in detail, but there were many consistencies that I boiled down to this:

• Listen to people and encourage a healthy dialogue.
• Answer people’s questions thoughtfully.
• Consider others’ feelings before speaking or acting.
• Trust people to do a job well.
• Don’t judge others regarding their life stations, circumstances, or choices.

Respect in the workplace is just as important as it is in a family or friendship circle.

Some say respect does not come automatically and is not a gift. Others say respect has to be earned. But I suggest we pay people respect automatically, that we employ respect as our default sentiment when we deal with others. We can afford to do that.

And what better way to earn respect than to demonstrate it daily, starting right now? 

How do you define respect?

With Saturday’s civic election, Abbotsford saw eight city Councillors (four new) and one new mayor elected. They are currently known as either councillor-elect or mayor-elect and have no official duties until they take their oath of office during the council meeting on December 1, 2014                   .

However, the sitting (current) mayor and Councillors continue to serve the City of Abbotsford and perform their duties within their roles until that transition. If a sitting Councillor was re-elected, he or she takes the oath of office once again on Dec. 1.

There is an Abbotsford city council meeting today and you can watch it online. Internet Explorer is the recommended browser.

I am both humbled and honoured to have been elected mayor of Abbotsford. Thank you for placing your trust in me.

To all of you who came out to vote, including those who chose another candidate, I thank you for exercising your privilege. Your action helps keep our democracy alive.

I promise to be the kind of mayor I said I would be during my campaign and look forward to working with my council colleagues to move Abbotsford forward and take our rightful spot as the economic hub of the Fraser Valley, while remembering our vulnerable, marginalized citizens.

I have committed to transparent and open government and will follow through with that pledge as I work with council to rebuild the public trust.

We—elected officials—are here to serve the public, not to be its masters.

Again, thank you.

Really? 

The current mayor says in today’s newspaper ad and mailer that I voted against jobs, debt reduction, a strong economy, safety, and transit. Again … really?

No. Not really. I did not vote against those things.

I voted for making responsible decisions with your tax dollars, responsible decisions that will impact your future.

I voted against recklessly rolling the financial dice and gambling with your hard-earned money.

So, here are the facts:

The West Abbotsford Industrial Park

The developer told us what services and infrastructure they’d pay for, and what they would not pay for: Highway 1 overpass at Lefeuvre Road; widening an east-west transportation corridor (Townshipline Road or some other road); and an essential new water reservoir located somewhere in Bradner, not to mention any water and sewer upgrades. If we had approved this project, Abbotsford would have been on the hook for all these things—things for which the developer was not paying. Development Cost Charges (DCCs) would have offset a small portion of these costs, but the major portion would be paid by taxpayers. In addition, the city’s engineering estimate was not available prior to voting and the engineering department could not give Council an order of magnitude: Would all this cost the city $10 million, $20 million or $50 million? I was not going to gamble with millions of your dollars.

Five-year Financial Plan

I am all for debt reduction, but I wasn’t for the 5-yr financial plan because it was meaningless … The numbers did not reflect reality, with $350 million of costs deferred out of sight and pushed into year six, increasing both debt and deficit and resulting in higher taxes.

Abbotsford Economic Development Corporation

The purpose of the Abbotsford Economic Development Corporation (AEDC), was to develop land for profit. (I know this because I was asked to be president of this corporation prior to announcing my inaugural run for city council in 2011.) It was intended that any profits made by AEDC’s development could then be used to offset losses the city had in other areas—if there were profits. But I believe city council has a responsibility to guard citizens’ tax dollars and use them wisely. Developers can spend money to develop land and properties—after all, they are the experts in that field.

2012 Budget Proposal

The mayor and council who sat prior to the election in 2011 increased the budget for police, which gave us more boots on the ground. In 2012, the crime rate was down because of the move of the previous council. So, because the police budget was rising faster than other sections within the city at the time, and the crime rate at the time was down, I voted to hold fast until we saw upward movement in the overall crime rate, which we did in 2014 (an 8% increase).

Highway 1 Bus Plan

There was no business plan attached to the report when this bus plan was proposed by the Fraser Valley Regional District. But the report did have Abbotsford paying 2/3 and Chilliwack paying 1/3 of the costs, even though four municipalities (Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Langley, Mission) were benefitting. The funny thing is, none of the elected members of the Mission Abbotsford Transit Commission knew anything about the proposal prior to it being presented.

There is a common thread here: Proposals are made without providing essential financial information. Council has often been expected to make decisions and approvals in a vacuum, without pertinent, vital financial details. When we make decisions like that, we end up playing catch-up. And playing catch-up is expensive … for a very long time.

Please vote tomorrow, Saturday, November 15, 2014.

As promised, here is an updated list of my donors and what they’ve contributed to my campaign for mayor of Abbotsford.

While you scan the list, please keep these three things in mind:

1. I have not accepted, and will not accept, any donations that exceed $2,500. 
2. I will not accept donations after the election has been determined. 
3. This donors list and the expense total are not considered official.

Points one and two are self-imposed rules, which I’ve employed to make sure no one thinks they can influence my vote at the council table; point three is simply to keep things clear. Everything I share here is meant to honour the spirit of full disclosure and transparency.

Total campaign contributions to date:
$55,620
Total campaign expenses to date:
$50,181

If you’d like to find out more about the rules surrounding campaign contributions during civic elections, you can read the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act of British Columbia.

Many thanks for all your campaign contributions—corporate and personal. Thanks, too, for your time and energy. Your support is invaluable.

If campaign contributions come in after I’ve published this, you will see them when I make my post-election declaration.

Please take time to vote November 15, 2014. If you need a ride to your polling station, call my campaign office and we’ll make arrangements: 778-880-1144.

Election day is coming—fast and furiously. So, too, is the mudslinging, filled with mucky untruths, rumours, and lies that are way off the mark.

Unfortunately, even when the mud has no real substance, it manages to stick in places it shouldn’t.

I will not go into the back alley and sling mud back or make accusations using anonymity as my shield, but I will answer some claims against me that have been made publicly.

I repeat, Abbotsford is a great city and I aim to help it to grow into something even better for this generation and the ones that follow.

Yes, I am fiscally conservative: I don’t want us to spend money we don’t have. If we do that, we eventually have to borrow to pay for necessary things, which means your taxes will go up to service that loan debt. Sometimes we have to spend right away in order to save money in the long-term, but those occasions are rare.

Yes, I believe we have a social responsibility: While remaining fiscally conservative, I believe we have a social responsibility to help provide care and opportunities for the vulnerable and marginalized people of our community. There are lots of ways to do that, including calling on private and public corporations, social and spiritual organizations, and other levels of government to support initiatives.

No, I am not a land developer: Yes, in the past I have developed land, but that does not make me a land developer today. I am not in partnership with any developers in Abbotsford, or anywhere else. Nor have I received any contributions to my campaign for mayor of Abbotsford from developers that exceed $2,500.

>> Ken Friesen and Ron Funk, who are developers, are partners with me and two other people in the Hat Creek Land & Cattle Company. This is no secret and has been disclosed in my annual disclosure statements.
>> There have been two projects in which Funk and Friesen have been involved and in both cases I have declared a conflict and recused myself from discussions about them.
>> Decades ago (mostly in the 1980s), I developed property in Abbotsford; however, it was always as part of family corporations or joint ventures. The last development in any of those companies was 21 years ago (1993).

My real estate holdings are a matter of public record: They are part of my annual disclosure statement. The reference to dollar values is no more than rumour. Moreover, most of these real estate holdings were owned by a parent corporation that has seven shareholders, hence, my ownership interest is only a small portion of whatever value the real estate holds.

A company that my wife and I currently own (100%), developed a five-lot residential subdivision beginning in 2007, which was three years before any member of my family was employed by the City of Abbotsford.

I did not inherit a railway company: Those who say I did are ill informed or are choosing to lie. My brothers and I purchased a railway/transit construction company (not a railway) from my father and took it from 35 employees in 1979 to 350 employees across Canada during the ensuing 20 years. There was no inheritance involved.

If you have questions you want me to answer, please write to me directly or call me at 778-880-1144.

If you want Abbotsford to become an even better place to live, work, play, learn, and grow, please vote for proven leadership – Vote for Henry Braun as Mayor on November 15, 2014.

Abbotsford is a great city, but we are travelling the wrong road and need to get back on track.

Increase, not decrease in crime: The current mayor has repeatedly stated that our crime rate is down. The reality is quite different, despite the valiant work of our city’s police department, and contrary to what the current mayor says. Our overall year-to-date (Jan 1 – October 3, 2014) crime rate is UP 8%; crimes against people are UP 13%; and crimes against property are UP 11%. Crime is NOT going down.

We need to revisit whether or not we hold the line with the APD. In other words, the current mayor pushed for a hold on any new officers and the police went along with it. Given the upward crime trend line, we need to rethink that decision.

Zero percent property tax rate: In 2012, I made a motion for a zero percent tax rate, which the mayor voted against. In 2013, I again argued for a zero percent property tax rate, which failed. With the arrival of our new city manager, he agreed with my view and we did achieve a zero percent property tax increase in 2014 and now the current mayor is taking credit for something he opposed in 2012 and 2013.

We have to turn the business ‘atmosphere’ around. We must stop the exodus to other jurisdictions and welcome new businesses to Abbotsford without downloading on to the taxpayers of Abbotsford. If we don’t accomplish the forgoing, zero percent tax increases will be more difficult going forward.

Abbotsford’s unemployment rate: It is the highest in western Canada. In September of 2014, the Canadian Conference Board of Canada released a report benchmarking the attractiveness of the top 50 cities in Canada. Abbotsford was the only city west of Ontario to receive a D ranking.

We must remove the obstacles that are stalling projects. Secondly, we need to revamp some of the bylaws that are out of sync with other local jurisdictions. We are losing businesses—and, hence, jobs—to neighbouring jurisdictions because they are organized and don’t hold up projects unnecessarily…delay times are costly. Our zoning bylaw rewrite will help, but the more challenging work is .the OCP update

YMCA: The current mayor voted in favor of giving $17.5 million of your tax dollars, money we didn’t have, to the YMCA.

The only way we could have given it was to delay infrastructure work—infrastructure work that had already been delayed—for five years in order to accumulate $17.5 million over that period of time. We must look forward to our future needs. There is approximately $350,000,000 of work that keeps getting pushed into the sixth year, which is the year just beyond the five-year financial plan.

Pushing this out year after year is not good planning and will one day catch up to us. The only solution then will be to borrow more money, which results in tax increases.

If you want Abbotsford to become the economic hub of the Fraser Valley, please vote for proven leadership – Vote for Henry Braun as Mayor on November 15, 2014. 

Here it is, as promised, a list of my donors and what they’ve contributed to my campaign for mayor of Abbotsford, one week before the election.

Before you scan the list, I want you to know two things: 

1. I have not accepted, and will not accept, any donations that exceed $2,500 and 
2. I will continue to accept donations up to the election, but not after the election has been determined.

These are self-imposed rules, employed to make sure no one thinks they can influence my vote at the council table.

Many thanks for all your campaign contributions—corporate and personal. Your support is invaluable.

I will update this list for you next Friday, the day before the election, before you go to the polls to cast your ballot.

Please take time to vote November 15, 2014. If you need a ride to your polling station, call my campaign office and we’ll make arrangements: 778-880-1144.

Trust in government is enhanced when citizens know what their government is discussing and what positions their elected representatives are taking on the issues.

You need to know what we talk about and the stands we take 

Mistrust occurs when governments unnecessarily hold in-camera (closed to the public) meetings and discuss public business behind closed doors. 

Personnel items, contractual negotiations, purchase or disposition of property, and legal matters need to remain confidential, but… 

It is acceptable that issues related to personnel, contractual negotiations, purchase or disposition of property, and legal matters remain confidential. However, extreme care should be given to ensure that the parameters of these areas are not expanded so broadly that mayor and council deal with every ‘issue’ behind closed doors. 

Fewer in-camera council meetings will increase government transparency 

As mayor, I will reduce the scope of these ‘closed’ meetings—meetings that are not open to the public—so that only matters requiring absolute confidentiality are dealt within camera.

When I am able to employ this commitment, time spent conducting government business behind closed doors will be significantly reduced.