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 | |
| Premier | Christy Clark |
| Preceded by | Shirley Bond |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Wilkinson |
| Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Vancouver-Fraserview | |
| In office May 13, 2013 – May 9, 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Kash Heed |
| Succeeded by | George Chow |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 31, 1952 |
| Political party | BC Liberal (provincial) Non-Partisan Association (municipal) |
| Profession | Lawyer, 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
editCrime Victim Assistance Program
editAnton 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
editBorn 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
editIn 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
editAnton and her husband Olin have three adult children named Elizabeth, Robert and Angus.[5]
Electoral record
edit| 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
edit- ^ "'It's a bad system': unlikely political allies fight proportional representation | CBC News".
- ^ "Electoral Reform Referendum 2018 Act".
- ^ Maple Batalia’s family still looking for justice four years after the teen’s murder
- ^ "Suzanne Anton", Linkedin Profile, Accessed August 29, 2009.
- ^ a b "About Suzanne", Suzanne Anton Website, Accessed August 29, 2009.
- ^ "2017 Provincial General Election Preliminary Voting Results". Elections BC. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
- ^ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
- ^ "Statement of Votes - 40th Provincial General Election" (PDF). Elections BC. Retrieved 17 May 2017.