“It could change things,” says Bowen Island Councillor, Alison Morse, when asked to comment on the fact that four of the six members of the new council are women. “Women think differently, and while we’ve had a woman as mayor, this has never happened before.”
Morse has been on council since 1999. At an election event at Tunstall Bay, she promised to mentor the rookie female candidates who got elected.
“I look forward to her following through on that,” says Melanie Mason, who, with the support of 1,155 Bowen Islanders, obtained the most votes of any female candidate to ever run in a municipal election on Bowen.
Mason says she sees this group of women as being particularly dynamic, and bringing something entirely new to Bowen’s council.
“There’s a really broad skill-set among these women. We have Alison’s extensive experience on council; Maureen’s communication and research skills, as well as her strong sense of impartiality; and then with Sue Ellen, she’s got this talent for community engagement, her passion for the environment and her in-depth knowledge of the OCP.”
Mason says that she is excited to be a part of such a group, and is in awe at her own success in the election.
Sue Ellen Fast, who received the support of 996 voters and will work alongside Morse as an Islands Trust trustee, says that the success of women in this election is connected to the calls for balance and civility by the voters.
“Of course, there’s more to people whether they are male or female,” says Fast. “And this is definitely an interesting and energetic group.”
Maureen Nicholson won a total of 1024 votes.
“I think the conversation will change at council, it will be more open, and I think we’ll reach some conclusion,” she says, considering the gender dynamic. “Also, Sue Ellen, Melanie and I have worked on a number of things together in the past, and we’ve worked well together. Ultimately, though, I think we genuinely have a divers council this time around.”
Former councillor Peter Frinton says that having three women on council between 2005 and 2008 (Lisa Barrett, Lisa Shatsky and Alison Morse) changed things dramatically.
“The two Lisa’s started to back each other up, and we saw things start to go in very different directions,” says Frinton, pointing to the decision to legalize secondary suites as a case in point. “When the decision was made, the men at the table started coming up with all kinds of rules around it – for example, making people pay for a second set of garbage stickers. Then the Lisas started asking, what’s the point of legalizing suites anyways? The point was to make things easier for people in a financial sense, to make it more economically viable for people to live on Bowen. So if we were going to put up all of these road blocks, then why bother legalizing suites in the first place? They approached the issue with compassion. In the end, their approach won.”
Frinton adds that the presence four women on council will create enduring and positive change.
“They will rule the roost,” he says.
