Brenda Dorosz says she will not be running in the by-election to replace school trustee June Harrington. Instead, she is considering seeking the nomination to run provincially as the NDP candidate. (Richard McGuire photo)
Allan Patton (left) and Colleen Ross (right) chat with NDP Education Critic Rob Fleming in Osoyoos in March. Both Patton and Ross have now expressed interest in seeking the provincial NDP nomination. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Two high-profile women are considering seeking the nomination as NDP candidate in the May 2017 provincial election.
Brenda Dorosz, who led the fight to save Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS), and Colleen Ross, a Grand Forks councillor and farming activist, both indicated an interest last week.
Both women chose their words carefully when contacted by the Osoyoos Times.
Sources say Allan Patton, a former Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) director for rural Oliver, had his knuckles rapped by party officials after giving an interview in March saying he was “seriously considering” seeking the nomination and in July saying: “I’d like to run.”
The party wants potential candidates to file papers and be vetted before they seek media attention.
Dorosz issued a statement last week saying she will not be seeking the school trustee position being vacated by long-serving trustee June Harrington when a by-election is held in November.
“Brenda has lots of community involvement over the years and has decided there are more issues to help change,” said her statement. “Education is important and there are many issues in our rural area to be addressed.”
Dorosz recently accompanied NDP Leader John Horgan on part of his visit to Osoyoos.
She made clear she has not yet submitted documents to the provincial NDP or been vetted by their candidate screening process.
Asked if she had been approached by people and asked to run, Dorosz replied: “Oh yes, tons of people.”
Those contacting her have been both members of the NDP and people outside the party, she said.
“I’ve been approached from across the province,” she said. “I had no idea I had supporters from everywhere.”
Ross also is clear that she can’t say much until she goes through the vetting process. Nonetheless, she has passed an important hurdle – her adult children have given her their blessing to run.
Ross said her two daughters and son live in Quebec and New Brunswick and any political involvement would mean less time to spend with family.
“I really wanted to have a frank discussion with my kids and see where they were at, with them understanding that I am way too young to retire and I have way too much energy to be a full-time granny,” she said.
Did they encourage her?
“Oh God yes,” Ross replied. “The thing is we are really close, so it seems odd that I live out here and they live there, but it’s just the way life happened. My kids are really encouraging.”
One daughter just bought a farm and the other has started a family.
“I wanted to support them as much as I can as a mother, but in the meantime, I have things that I need to do,” said Ross, who is currently a first-term municipal councillor.
Ross has lived in the Boundary area for about five years after living in the Nelson area for about two years. She’s originally from Ontario, but also lived in Australia for 15 years.
Dorosz is best known in the South Okanagan for her work to save OSS as chair of both the Save Our Schools committee and the Osoyoos Independent School Society.
But she points to other community involvement such as serving for several years on the Osoyoos Irrigation Board a decade ago; involvement in school parent advisory councils (PACs) at the local, district and provincial levels; serving on the school board’s budget committee; and serving on the skateboard park committee among other roles.
Dorosz works in the vineyard industry.
Ross is an organic farmer, although she says her current farm of 7.8 acres is “the smallest farm I’ve ever owned.”
She served in executive positions with the National Farmers Union for more than a decade, and has done policy work both nationally and internationally. She joined former federal NDP MP Alex Atamanenko on a speaking tour once.
Ross said she’s been on boards and executives of national organizations and was active with La Via Campesina, an international movement that brings together millions of peasants, small and medium-sized farmers and agricultural workers.
She’s done research contracts for various organizations and worked for an international development organization called Heifer International.
“I’m an activist,” said Ross, adding that she’s also worked on forestry issues.
An activist, she says, is someone who cares about issues that impact the environment and society and who believes that much of what is now happening isn’t beneficial in the long term for society, the environment or the world at large.
“I know what teargas feels like,” she said, explaining that this was at the World Trade Organization summit in Hong Kong in 2005 where she was an accredited non-governmental organization (NGO) representative.
She’s also worked with farmers in India, some of whom committed suicide because of genetically modified (GMO) cotton, she said.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
