Suzanne Anton

(Redirected from Maple Batalia)

Suzanne Anton, KC (born May 31, 1952) is a Canadian politician and the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of British Columbia. Elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2013 provincial election, Anton represented the riding of Vancouver-Fraserview as a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party, following a career at the municipal level. She was appointed British Columbia's Attorney General and Minister of Justice on June 10, 2013.

Suzanne Anton
Suzanne Anton
Attorney General of British Columbia
In office
June 10, 2013 – June 12, 2017
PremierChristy Clark
Preceded byShirley Bond
Succeeded byAndrew Wilkinson
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly
for Vancouver-Fraserview
In office
May 13, 2013 – May 9, 2017
Preceded byKash Heed
Succeeded byGeorge Chow
Personal details
Born (1952-05-31) May 31, 1952 (age 72)
Political partyBC Liberal (provincial)
Non-Partisan Association (municipal)
ProfessionLawyer, schoolteacher, politician

Prior to her political involvement, Anton was a lawyer and former prosecutor with the Criminal Justice Branch of British Columbia. She was defeated in the 2017 provincial election by George Chow.

Anton sought official status to lead the "no" side opposing any electoral reform in BC with Bill Tieleman and Bob Plecas.[1][2]

Attorney General of British Columbia

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Crime Victim Assistance Program

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Anton has made public statements in regards to the murder of Maple Batalia, a Simon Fraser University student murdered in 2011, whose alleged murderer has been charged but still not tried as of 2015. The trial is expected to resume in January 2016.[needs update]

Anton has stated that the pre-trial delay must be very difficult for to the Batalia family. She said the British Columbia government is committed to supporting families through the Crime Victim Assistance Program which provides financial benefits to help people recover from the impacts of victimization. She said that Crown counsel do their best to advance cases promptly and provide the accused with a fair and timely trial.[3]

Background

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Born in Duncan, British Columbia, Anton graduated from Queen Margaret's School in 1970 and went on to receive her Bachelor of Science in mathematics from the University of Victoria. She went on to complete her Bachelor of Law from the University of British Columbia in 1979.[4]

Prior to her career in politics, Suzanne Anton was a mathematics teacher at the Carlucci American International School of Lisbon in Portugal, and through Canadian University Service Overseas in Nigeria.[5] She was also a Crown Counsel lawyer. She served with many organizations including the Vancouver Sport Tourism Task Force; MoreSports (founding member); ARKS (Arbutus Ridge Kerrisdale Shaughnessy) CityPlan Visioning community liaison group; Vancouver City Planning Commission; Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion Vancouver event; Kerrisdale Soccer Club (past president); Vancouver Field Sport Federation (past vice-president); Achilles Track Society; and Riley Park community association.

Vancouver City Council

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In 2002, Anton was elected to the Vancouver Park Board and served a single term. Anton was elected to Vancouver City Council in 2005, to which she was re-elected in 2008. During that time, Anton served on the Board of Directors for the B.C. Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the BC Sports Hall of Fame, the 2011 Grey Cup committee and the Vancouver 125 committee.

While in municipal government, Anton served as the Vancouver director for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, where she was the vice chair of the committee to Increase Women's Participation in Municipal Government and sat on the Governance Review Committee. As a Director of Metro Vancouver, Anton was a member of the Waste Management Committee, the Land Use and Transportation Committee, and the UBC/Metro Vancouver joint committee. Anton served as the Vancouver director on Translink during the initial construction of the Canada Line. While there, she also served on the audit committee. Anton has served on numerous community and sport boards.

In addition to this, Anton served as the vice-chair of the city's Planning and Environment Committee and a member of the Heritage Commission. At the Metro Vancouver level, she was a member of the Land Use and Transportation Committee and the Vancouver/UBC Joint Committee, where she was the lead on the issue of University of British Columbia governance.

In Vancouver's 2011 municipal election, Anton was the Non-Partisan Association's candidate for Mayor of Vancouver, eventually losing to incumbent Gregor Robertson of Vision Vancouver.

In her time on Vancouver City Council, Anton has also sat on the boards of TransLink, Metro Vancouver, and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. She has been vice-chair of the city's Planning and Environment Committee and a member of the Heritage Commission. At the Metro Vancouver level, she was a member of the Land Use and Transportation Committee and the Vancouver/UBC Joint Committee, where she was the lead on the issue of University of British Columbia governance.

Personal life

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Anton and her husband Olin have three adult children named Elizabeth, Robert and Angus.[5]

Electoral record

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2017 British Columbia general election: Vancouver-Fraserview
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
New Democratic George Chow 11,487 48.57 +4.01 $68,196
Liberal Suzanne Anton 9,985 42.22 -4.52 $69,911
Green Eric Kolotyluk 1,826 7.72 +2.04 $2,357
Libertarian Hiroshi Hyde 179 0.76 $56
Your Political Party Harpreet S. Bajwa 174 0.73 $8,399
Total valid votes 23,651 100.00
Total rejected ballots 252 1.05 -0.1
Turnout 23,903 60.55 +5.59
Registered voters 39,479
Source: Elections BC[6][7]
2013 British Columbia general election: Vancouver-Fraserview
Party Candidate Votes %
Liberal Suzanne Anton 10118 46.74
New Democratic Gabriel Yiu 9648 44.57
Green Stuart Mackinnon 1230 5.68
Conservative Rajiv Pandey 653 3.02
Total valid votes 21649 100.00
Total rejected ballots 251 1.15
Turnout 21900 54.96
Source: Elections BC[8]

2011 Vancouver Mayoral Election

Candidate Name Party affiliation Votes % of votes Elected
(I) Gregor Robertson Vision Vancouver 77,005 53.17% X
Suzanne Anton Non-Partisan Association 58,152 40.15%
Randy Helten Neighbourhoods for a Sustainable Vancouver 4,007 2.77%
Gerry McGuire Vancouver Citizen's Voice 1,195 0.83%
Sam Pelletier Independent 443 0.31%
Darrell Zimmerman Independent 426 0.29%
Dubgee Independent 419 0.29%
Robin Lawrance Independent 353 0.24%
Victor B. Paquette Independent 333 0.23%
Lloyd Alan Cooke Independent 310 0.21%
Menard Caissy Independent 288 0.20%
Gölök Zoltán Buday Independent 268 0.19%

2008 Vancouver Municipal Election - City Council

Candidate Name Party Affiliation Votes % of Votes Elected
(I) Raymond Louie Vision Vancouver 66,226 53.29% X
(I) Heather Deal Vision Vancouver 63,116 50.78% X
(I) George Chow Vision Vancouver 62,262 50.10% X
Kerry Jang Vision Vancouver 60,598 48.76% X
Andrea Reimer Vision Vancouver 59,148 47.59% X
(I) Tim Stevenson Vision Vancouver 58,380 46.97% X
(I) David Cadman Coalition of Progressive Electors 56,665 45.59% X
(I) Suzanne Anton Non-Partisan Association 52,941 42.60% X
Geoff Meggs Vision Vancouver 49,538 39.86% X
Ellen Woodsworth Coalition of Progressive Electors 45,877 36.91% X
Kashmir Dhaliwal Vision Vancouver 44,854 36.09%
Michael Geller Non-Partisan Association 44,353 35.69%
(I) Kim Capri Non-Partisan Association 44,270 35.62%
(I) Elizabeth Ball Non-Partisan Association 42,727 34.38%
David Lee Non-Partisan Association 42,195 33.95%
Kanman Wong Non-Partisan Association 36,795 29.61%
Korina Houghton Non-Partisan Association 34,588 27.83%
Leanore Copeland Non-Partisan Association 34,566 27.81%
Sean Bickerton Non-Partisan Association 33,510 26.96%
Daljit S. Sidhu Non-Partisan Association 28,894 23.25%
Chris Shaw Work Less Party of British Columbia 11,237 9.04%
Lea Johnson Independent 10,947 8.81%
Ian Gregson Work Less Party of British Columbia 10,493 8.44%
Geri Tramutola Work Less Party of British Columbia 8,619 6.93%
John T. Boychuk Independent 8,093 6.51%
Timothy Wisdom Work Less Party of British Columbia 7,435 5.98%
Marc Boyer Independent 4,305 3.46%
Audrey Jane Laferriere Independent 4,196 3.38%
Wendythirteen Independent 3,508 2.82%
Steve Wansleeben Independent 3,299 2.65%
Bud Oracle Independent 2,860 2.30%
Matt Kadioglu Independent 2,423 1.95%

2005 Vancouver Municipal Election - City Council

Candidate Party Votes %
  Suzanne Anton NPA 60586
  Peter Ladner* NPA 58142
  Raymond Louie* Vision 52795
  Kim Capri NPA 52719
  Tim Stevenson* Vision 51527
  David Cadman* COPE 51155
  George Chow Vision 51107
  Elizabeth Ball NPA 50865
  Heather Deal Vision 50624
  B.C. Lee NPA 50047
  Ronald Leung NPA 48430
  Fred Bass* COPE 48248
  Colleen Hardwick Nystedt NPA 46737
  Valerie Jenkinson NPA 46077
  Heather Harrison Vision 45719
  Kathi Thompson NPA 45314
  Tim Louis* COPE 43349
  Ellen Woodsworth* COPE 42724
  Anne Roberts* COPE 41739
  Patrick Maliha NPA 39165
  Ann Livingston Green 27168
  Kevin Potvin Independent 10806
  Michelle Jasmine Chang Independent 9016
  Jamie Lee Hamilton Independent 8153
  Patrick Britten Nude Garden 6595
  Lea Johnson Independent 6253
  Beverley Ballantyne Independent 6153
  John W. Angus Independent 5728
  Wendythirteen Independent 4247
  John Patrick Gordon Independent 3887
  Phyllis Loke Independent 3562
  Marc Boyer Independent 3388
  Greg Aulin Independent 3335
  Don Briere Independent 3125
  David Wilson Applegath Independent 2718
  Steve Wansleeben Independent 2478
Total 1083681 100.0

References

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  1. ^ "'It's a bad system': unlikely political allies fight proportional representation | CBC News".
  2. ^ "Electoral Reform Referendum 2018 Act".
  3. ^ Maple Batalia’s family still looking for justice four years after the teen’s murder
  4. ^ "Suzanne Anton", Linkedin Profile, Accessed August 29, 2009.
  5. ^ a b "About Suzanne", Suzanne Anton Website, Accessed August 29, 2009.
  6. ^ "2017 Provincial General Election Preliminary Voting Results". Elections BC. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  7. ^ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Statement of Votes - 40th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
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British Columbia provincial government of Christy Clark
Cabinet post (1)
Predecessor Office Successor
Shirley Bond Attorney General of British Columbia
June 10, 2013–June 12, 2017
Andrew Wilkinson