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Port Moody council candidate fined $150 by Elections BC

By Patrick Penner, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

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December 7, 2022

Junker-ElectionsBC-fine — Barbara Junker. Screenshot from tricitiestv YouTube channel

Elections BC has issued a Port Moody council candidate a $150 fine for forgetting to include an authorization statement on her brochures promoting her candidacy.

Barbara Junker received 38.1 percent of the vote on Oct. 15 in the 2022 municipal elections, missing out on a council seat by less than two points.

Just before the election of Oct. 11, she contacted Elections BC, informing them she had accidentally forgotten to place the required authorization statement on 14,500 brochures that had already been distributed.

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Junker was required to compile copies of the brochures and her invoices for an Election’s BC investigation team, who requested she correct the non-compliant advertisements.

Monetary penalties for this offence under the Local Elections Campaign Financing Act can reach up to $5,000, but there were several mitigating factors, according to Elections BC.

The statements were not likely to have misled a reader, the lack of any authorization was a mistake, and Junker reported the error.

However, Elections BC’s director investigator noted it is Junker’s fourth time participating in local elections as a candidate and she should be aware of election advertising requirements.

Author

Patrick Penner, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Having spent the first 20 years of his life in Port Moody, Patrick Penner has finally returned as a hometown reporter.

His youth was spent wiping out on snowboards, getting hit in the face with hockey pucks, and frolicking on boats in the Port Moody Arm.

After graduating Heritage Woods Secondary School, Penner wandered around aimlessly for a year before being given an ultimatum by loving, but concerned, parents: “rent or college.”

With that, he was off to the University of Victoria to wander slightly less aimlessly from book, to classroom, to beer, and back.

Penner achieved his undergraduate degree in 2017, majoring in political science and minoring in history.

To absolutely no one’s surprise, translating this newfound education into career opportunities proved somewhat challenging.

After working for a short time as a lowly grunt in various labour jobs, Penner’s fruitless drifting came to an end.

He decided it was time to hit the books again. This time, with focus.

Nine months later, Penner had received a certificate of journalism from Langara College and was awarded the Jeani Read-Michael Mercer Fellowship upon graduation.

When that scholarship led to a front page story in the Vancouver Sun, he knew he had found his calling.

Penner moved to Abbotsford to spend the next three years learning from grizzled reporters and editors at Black Press Media.

Assigned to the Mission Record as the city’s sole reporter, he developed a taste for investigative and civic reporting, eventually being nominated for the 2023 John Collison Investigative Journalism Award.

Unfortunately, dwindling resources and cutbacks in the community media sphere convinced Penner to seek out alternative ways to deliver the news.

When a position opened up at the Tri-Cities Dispatch, he knew it was time to jump ship and sail back home to beautiful Port Moody.