Nakusp’s acting chief administrative officer may be out of work in a week or two, but she won’t be idle for long.
Linda Tynan says she was “surprised and honoured” to be chosen as one of the members of the 2021 Electoral Boundaries Commission.
She’ll join a three-person team tasked with recommending borders for provincial ridings before the next election.
“I’m just looking forward to getting started and learning as much as I can,” Tynan told the Valley Voice. “Having the opportunity to hear different perspectives through extensive province-wide consultation and to be part of formulating the recommendations is exciting to me.”
Tynan will join Commission Chair Justice Nitya lyer of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and Anton Boegman, British Columbia’s chief electoral officer, to draw up the new political boundary maps.
The commission’s mandate is to set the borders between provincial ridings free from political interference. The commissioners are asked to follow the fundamental democratic principle that everyone’s vote should be reasonably equal in weight in choosing elected officials, said a news release announcing the appointments.
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Other factors that will be considered by the commission under the legislation will be population, geography, means of communication and means of transportation to recognize representation concerns in less-populated regions and help ensure effective representation throughout the province.
“I don’t know too much yet (about the process) and really wouldn’t want to comment as the commission will have its first meeting very soon,” she said.
“I will learn much more about the process and the magnitude of the work at that time.”
Tynan and her fellow commissioners will seek community input through a province-wide consultation before developing their recommendations. They’ll have a year to deliver a preliminary report, and six months after that, their final recommendations.
According to the legislation, members of the commission must include a judge or a retired judge of the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal, B.C.’s current chief electoral officer, and a third member recommended by the Speaker of the House in consultation with the premier and leader of the Opposition.
Tynan, who will be finished her term as Nakusp’s acting CAO in November, has an extensive background in local government management. Since 2004 she’s served as chief administrative officer for the District of Summerland and chief financial officer for the City of Nelson. She also held a senior management role with the Regional District of Central Kootenay.
Tynan is a former president of the Government Finance Officers Association of B.C. and CivicInfo B.C. and is a member of the Local Government Management Association and the Canadian Municipal Administrators Association.
She holds a bachelor of business administration from Simon Fraser University and is a chartered professional accountant.
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