Merrick Elated With Election Victory
Jillian Merrick rode her substance over bucks approach to victory. 250News archive photo
Prince George, B.C. – One of the three new members on Prince George City Council says she was taken totally by surprise by her victory at the polls Saturday.
Jillian Merrick has gone from a not-yet-30-year-old novice politician who was displaying her unique, do-it-yourself, inexpensive form of campaign advertising at an outdoor fair at the Civic Centre in late September to a fifth-place finish among 25 candidates for councilor in the November 15th election. She was supported by 6-thousand-829 voters.
Merrick says “I was definitely surprised but pretty elated” with her success in the campaign. Asked if she was surprised by her fifth-place finish she says “ya well I wasn’t even really expecting to get in there. I had doubts that I’d even done enough and it turns out that I’d done more than enough I guess.”
Merrick says her first steps will be to meet with council, say hello to staff and the organization. “Up till this point a lot of the feedback from the community has been on running a good campaign, and now it definitely needs to be how to be a good representative.”
On council’s first actions she feels “there’s a lot that can be done quite quickly and at very little expense in terms of changing some of our bylaws around to allow some different programs people in the community have been asking for. Certainly talking about how we can make council more accessible and, quite frankly, more fun for people to be involved with.”
“And then obviously winter is coming and the ploughs will hit the road any day now so that will be a good way to get us started and for us newcomers, the rubber hits the road I guess.”
Do you support keeping city business as open as possible for the citizens, the taxpayers? “Ya absolutely, I mean it makes everything so much easier that way. Because if you have questions they can get the answer and if they can’t get the answer I find they’re more frustrated than if they did get the answer they wanted.” And what about when the media and the taxpayers come asking the no-easy-answer, tough questions? “There’s two things at play, one is that no councilor speaks individually on behalf of the City, so obviously they can’t make any remarks on behalf of the City without having some sort of indication as a group of where they need to go.”
“But at the same time there’s some real simple stuff like if you need a report, or if you need a certain number, that stuff shouldn’t be that hard to get. Yes obviously it requires staff time and we have to allow staff to do the best work they can with the time that they have but the city is just so much better when everybody has the information that they need to do their jobs really well, and that’s including the organization the city itself and everybody else in the community. Everbody else will be able to function and do their best for the community if they have the information they need. I’m very committed to making that happen.”
Comments
She was the right candidate, at the right time, with the right message. I hope she makes the best of it, because next time around she will also have a record to be judge by.
I should add that I think she will help the cause of making city hall and council more accessible and for that she is a winner for democracy more than any single agenda she campaigned for. Whether she is up for the challenge remains to be seen.
She had the backing of the local unions so it will be interesting to see her financials for any monetary support they gave…
There was a story on the the Citizen’s website not too long ago. I think she got $4500 from CUPE, but don’t quote me on that figure.
new2pg – correct her own local 1048 – inside workers of the city – $2500/CUPE BC – $2500/CUPE National-$2000 for a total of $7000 plus all the free advertisement for her – like the mail-out card to each CUPE member as well as ex- members from CUPE BC/phone calls/robo calls from the President of CUPE BC – so she was not lacking funds of any type. And did she receive funding from the North Central Labour Council?
7000 these days to run in an election, is hardly any money at all.
What was Sheri calculated at? 70,000?
She did an absolutly great job on campaining etc.
No one really knew her but she had answers and enough to win over 6000 votes.
Good on you! Now lets follow through with these answers
Im looking forward to PG for a first time in a long time
Oldman1:
so what im reading here is, that she isnt an “ordinary citizen” trying to run a political campain with out breaking the bank, as she is claiming in the above photo?
Very concerning if the unions come calling for payback in the next round of bargining!
We need to wait for the financial disclosures on all the new council to determine their allegiances.
I’m really disappointed to hear this. I thought we finally had a politician who strings weren’t being pulled by a special interest group. She sure had me fooled. Oh well, live and learn I suppose.
Do you honestly think she will be at the contract bargaining table? I wish her all the best.
She asked her supporters on facebook whether she should accept the donation as her goal was to have a low cost campaign. The overwhelming majority had commented for her to accept the donation. Best of luck to her.
This surprises anyone, how? The union mantra is to steal from the taxpayer to pay to the idle but organized. I mentioned this before; that is why there school boards are no-longer allowed to negotiate teacher’s contracts.
She won’t last another term. In fact , she won’t even be able to keep a straight face, the moment ANY interviewer calls her on her on who she is beholden to, and what the quid pro quo is. Just another phony, who managed to sucker the electorate. Nothing new to see here, move along.
Did a little homework and found only 2 of the councillors are union members and Jillian isn’t one of them. Brian Skakun and Frank Everitt are members of a union and neither is CUPE.
It was late in the game that the Union offered her the money. She decided to take it, and then had to find ways to spend it, which she did mostly through advertising.
I seriously doubt that she was bought and paid for by the Union,. If anything they wanted someone on Council who was more left than right, and gave her some support. Such is the way of politics.
I guess she could have refused the money, lost the election, and who knows maybe Munoz would have won. Hmmmm. Munoz was also supported by the Unions. So, maybe Stolz would have won, along with his support from business. Hmmmm. Not a good solution.
I think that Jillian will be judged by how she performs for the next four years, regardless of where her support came from.
To all the negative posters… How frightening it must be to experience the world through your self-righteousness. Good luck finding happiness, here there or anywhere.
To clarify some info. I am not a member of CUPE 1048 or any labour union. Never have been.
My total campaign budget was just shy of $14,000, $7,000 of which came from various levels of CUPE. The next largest chunk was about $2,500 that I fundraised through special events like dinners and dances. No other donations were money than $1,000.
I was offered the CUPE money on November 3rd, and it left me with a bit of dilemma. Should I continue my low budget campaign, or take the money and have a real shot at winning? I decided to leave it up to the public and post the question on my Facebook page. I received dozens of comments, 99% of which suggested I accept the gift I had been offered. This was a very public decision.
I have been very upfront about this. CBC and the Citizen both ran news about it, and the only reason any of you know these facts is because I voluntarily provided them. Campaign statements are not required until February, and it was by choice that I provide these numbers. If you weren’t aware, it’s not because I hid these facts, but because you didn’t look.
I am very grateful to receive the support of 6,900 people in Prince George, and look forward to giving my all to this new responsibility. If you’d like to reach me, you can call 250-561-0562 or go through one of the million social media and online platforms I run. Thank you again, Prince George.
Sincerely, Jillian Merrick
Thanks for the clarification, Jillian. I did my homework and knew that you are not a union member. One of the things that I believe made Jillian’s campaign to get her name out in the public so successful was the sheer amount of work she did. She door knocked, she made large use of social media, including a You Tube video that I found about transportation. She met with people whenever she could. I heard one friend tell me he voted for Jillian after meeting her out in the community while she was campaigning. I look forward to Jillian being an informed and effective voice on council.
Thank you for being so upfront and informative Jillian:
And for all the people that were bashing her for taking a union donation, just wait until the campaign statements come out in February. I would bet that all of the successful candidates took donations from one or more special interest group. And why is it OK to take donations from one or more of the developers or big businesses in town and not from a union?
” And why is it OK to take donations from one or more of the developers or big businesses in town and not from a union?”
In my opinion it’s not OK to take donations from any special interest groups.
I think Jillian is extremely naive if she’s thinking the union isn’t expecting anything in return for their support.
With your honesty and your style Jillian, I think you will do a great job for Prince George!!
Jimmy Hughes- cheer up! Before you go off all negative, lets give Jillian a chance to prove herself. Your bias against unions is pretty clear.
I think it says loads about this ‘discussion’ board that no-one has posted an apology to this lady.
CUPE BC and CUPE National do not just give money to anyone who runs for any position – whether it is muncipal/provincial/federal – they have guidelines and bylaws to follow. Did she not campaign on “no-attach/no strings? Why would CUPE 1048(inside workers) support her with a donation of $2500/ CUPE BC $2500/CUPE National $2000?
Posted on Monday, November 17, 2014 @ 2:00 PM by mudgeman
I think it says loads about this ‘discussion’ board that no-one has posted an apology to this lady.
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For what?
Get working on the “Code of Conduct” Jillian. It was created by the last council to tie your hands. Any info you want that is not in your package for the meeting will require a written email to the City and if they chose to give you the info then they will probably do so at the council meeting because they have to give the info to every councillor. This is in reference to the last paragraph of this article, although this seems like a minuscule thing to you and I it is a big thing to the lady in the big chair.
Congrats on making it to council, I wonder if they have good bike racks at City Hall?
Most of the people posting on this issue don’t know what they are talking about.
Common sense would tell you that any Union anywhere would support a middle to left candidate over a middle right, or extreme right candidate.
To suggest that those who received donations will have to somehow tow the mark for those contributions is a bit of a stretch. The left doesn’t have much leverage in that kind of situation. The right on the other hand with all their business connections, etc; can bring pressure to bear on candidates that took their money.
Thanks Pal.
Cheers
Palopu: “To suggest that those who received donations will have to somehow tow the mark for those contributions is a bit of a stretch.”
And to suggest that CUPE is a benevolent organization that donates to candidates out of the goodness of its member’s hearts with no expectations is also a stretch.
And to clear things up for Ms. Merrick, nobody is suggesting that she ‘hid’ the information of who donated to her cause. The information was reported on other news sites, just not this one.
In any case, she sure came a long way from that sign she is standing next to at the top of this article. Clearly, the situation changed, an opportunity presented itself, and Ms. Merrick grabbed it with both hands. Don’t lay it at the feet of a what a few dozen supporters told you on your Facebook page… own the decision you made and stick with it.
So just to be clear, she was funded by CUPE? lol, what exactly were her credentials to warrant the votes that came her way?
Posted on Monday, November 17, 2014 @ 7:02 PM by PG101
So just to be clear, she was funded by CUPE? lol, what exactly were her credentials to warrant the votes that came her way?
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A lot of CUPE members vote for whoever their leaders tell then to. No credentials needed; the union figures she’ll do their bidding. I hope she proves them wrong.
A lot of CUPE members vote for whoever their leaders tell then to. No credentials needed;
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Well, no kidding, I was asking what her background was.
Posted on Monday, November 17, 2014 @ 10:09 AM by Jimmy Hughes
This surprises anyone, how? The union mantra is to steal from the taxpayer to pay to the idle but organized. I mentioned this before; that is why there school boards are no-longer allowed to negotiate teacher’s contracts.
She won’t last another term. In fact , she won’t even be able to keep a straight face, the moment ANY interviewer calls her on her on who she is beholden to, and what the quid pro quo is. Just another phony, who managed to sucker the electorate. Nothing new to see here, move along.
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Your message is getting really old Jimmy boy. You are a sad person. Can’t believe you’re still allowed to post here.
I’ve been a union member for 40 years. I’ve never been told who to vote for. What exactly is it that those that claim so, are injecting?
Congrats Jillian Merrick for receiving more votes than those you beat fairly.
congrats on a well run campaign, Jillian! You worked hard, have great ideas, and are a breath of fresh air for council. I look forward to watching you during this term and seeing some of the excellent changes I know will be coming.
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