Councillor Pietro Calendino
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After coming to Canada from Italy in 1959, I graduated from Britannia High School and went on to receive an Honours BA and MA in Languages from UBC and a teaching certificate from SFU. I also did post graduate studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. For 30 years, I worked as a teacher. Along with my wife, Cedna – and our daughter, Victoria Milena who is an early childhood educator, currently training teachers in Abu Dhabi, UAE – I have called Burnaby home for 37 years. For most of those years, I’ve been active in Burnaby politics. |
I have always believed in the value of community involvement. Between 1987 and 1996, I served on the Burnaby School Board, for two years as chair. Between 1996 and 2001, I was the MLA for Burnaby North and was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Small Business, Tourism and Culture from 1998 to 2001. In 2002, I was elected to Burnaby City Council. I was re-elected in 2005 and 2008.
I have particularly enjoyed serving as a city councillor because municipal government is the closest to the people. I enjoy the many opportunities I have to help citizens understand how to access services and to work closely with individuals and communities to facilitate progressive changes.
Burnaby has always led the way in terms of providing great services and low taxes. My goal has always been to ensure that Burnaby remains a fiscal, social and environmental leader. I love Burnaby’s huge amount of green space, the fabulous community centres, the excellent libraries, and the hundreds of people who are so willing to volunteer their time to make Burnaby a great place to live.I welcome every opportunity to play a role in keeping Burnaby an inclusive, welcoming, safe community in which individuals, families and businesses can thrive.
Current Focus
My focus continues to be on advancing projects and policies that make Burnaby a livable, walkable, inviting community.
Having had the opportunity to work with Council, City staff and the community to launch events such as the Giro di Burnaby, which has become Burnaby’s largest single sporting event, I am very aware of the value such community events bring to Burnaby citizens and businesses.
In May of this year, Council approved a $763,000 rubberized jogging track for Confederation Park, which opened in September. The new track is illuminated and requires less maintenance than the gravel track it replaced, particularly in the wet months. And, most importantly, it provides a great new venue for year-round activity in Burnaby.
I look forward to continuing to work with Council, staff and citizens – and with our Community Development Committee – on the zoning and long-term planning initiatives that enable development of events and facilities that encourage our communities to gather and enjoy their City. I strive to have new developments in Burnaby that combine residential and commercial elements in such a way as to enable the creation of vibrant, ground-level, pedestrian-oriented streetscapes.
As chair of Burnaby’s Community Policing Committee, I will also continue to focus on crime reduction. On behalf of Council I worked closely with the Chief Superintendent of the RCMP and the Community Policing Committee to launch Burnaby’s Crime Reduction Strategy in November 2009. By the end of December 2010, police were seeing a significant decrease in all monitored crime types. Together, we are working to ensure this trend continues.
I also chaired a subcommittee that developed a Business Crime Prevention Strategy; arising from that, the Business Watch program was launched in Northwest Burnaby with unqualified success. I hope to see this program expand to the rest of the community soon. We will also work toward extending the hours of our very successful community policing offices. In addition, for the last two years, I have been working with a policing communication subcommittee to provide Burnaby citizens with relevant information on personal and home safety and with tips on crime prevention in a monthly insert appearing every third Saturday in the Burnaby NewsLeader.
Finally, I will continue to be involved with activities and initiatives that enhance the lives of Burnaby seniors. I take great pleasure in volunteering for seniors’ events, driving seniors and shut-ins to luncheons at Confederation Seniors Centre and other events (through Burnaby Volunteer Services), and working with Voices of Burnaby Seniors on the task force that identifies gaps in seniors’ services.
Memberships and Community Links
- Chair, Community Policing Committee
- Vice-chair, Social Issues Committee
- Chair, Simon Fraser Liaison Committee
- Council representative, Parks, Recreation and Culture Commission
- Council representative, Social Sustainability Strategy Steering Committee
- Member, Executive Committee of Council
- Member, Community Development Committee
- Director, Metro Vancouver Labour Relations Bureau
- Member, Metro Vancouver Parks Committee
- Alternate director, Metro Vancouver Board
- Council liaison for Corporate Labour Relations
- Council liaison to RCMP
- Council liaison to Burnaby Board of Education
- Director of public relations, Rotary Club of Burnaby Deer Lake
- Volunteer Driver, Citizens Support Services
- Member, Voices of Burnaby Seniors
- Past-director, Simon Fraser Health Region
- Past-vice president, National Congress of Italian Canadians
- Past-director, Burnaby Multicultural Society
- Past-president and Honorary Life Member, British Columbia Heritage Language Association
- Past-president, British Columbia Association of Teachers of Modern Languages
- Member, COMITES, an Advisory Citizen Committee to the Italian Consul General
