An introduction as I launch the campaign
I took the Blue Bus back last night from a concert in Vancouver—David Byrne, still vital and relevant a half-century into his career. I’ve seen him perform five times, twice with Talking Heads. Modern music remains a passion; I still listen to what’s new. I began my career writing about rock, interviewing hundreds of artists and seeing thousands of shows over the years—my first was The Beatles at age six—and later became Canadian editor of Billboard. It remains one of the best side hustles I could have imagined.
On one of the first warm nights of the year, heading home to West Vancouver, I found myself thinking about readers who have asked to know me better, in part about hobbies but especially through the lens of community life and service.
At the moment, I serve on one board, in my seventh year with Vancouver Opera. I chaired its strategic plan a few years ago and later its directors committee, and I’m proud of the work to broaden audiences and diversify casts. Many of its patrons and supporters are from West Vancouver, as that Blue Bus ride home on the 250 always reminds me.
In recent days, I stepped away from the governance committee of the West Vancouver Foundation while I run for office, to avoid any conflict in the months ahead. It is an important organization and well worth community support. I also recently concluded my time as chair of KidSafe Project Society, which for more than three decades has helped feed children and keep them active during school breaks. KidSafe’s programming has now shifted to Boys and Girls Club South Coast BC, and it is in very good hands, with stable support and experienced delivery.
That work matters to me personally. I was fortunate to build a rewarding career, but I grew up with food insecurity. My single mother worked hard, but there were times the pantry and fridge were not full. I know what it means for a child to lack the security and nourishment needed to learn and thrive. I have worked with United Way and literacy programs over the years, and when I ran for office in Vancouver, I made child hunger a local issue, even though it is largely the responsibility of senior governments. The city responded with support for lunch programs that still exist today. Provincial and federal governments have since stepped up as well, but the need has not disappeared. KidSafe made that plain, and so does the continued rise in food bank use.
My work with children has also included the National Reading Campaign, support for Room to Read, and, years ago at the Vancouver Sun, the Raise-a-Reader program. Literacy opens doors, builds confidence, and changes lives. As a journalist, supporting that work always felt like common sense. In teaching journalism at UBC since 2004, I’ve also seen the renewal of my craft and how literacy has shifted.
And I would be remiss not to mention 13 years of coaching girls’ softball since moving to British Columbia, along with several years coaching boys’ baseball in Ontario before that. I did not have the benefit of organized sport as a child, but I came to understand how much it can do for young people—the confidence it builds, the teamwork it teaches, the connection it strengthens among families. There were cold, wet, scorching, windy days on those diamonds, and I would not trade them for anything.
A small aside to mayor and council, if I may: in all those years of hauling equipment and players around the Lower Mainland, often after long drives to and from games, I never once had to pay for parking at a field. Other communities seemed to understand what families and volunteers were already contributing.
Sports came later to me. I played football, basketball and track in high school, but these days my main outlets are hockey and running. I’ve been a goaltender for about four decades now, on the ice a couple of times a week, and I’ve been running for 44 years. Hockey has given me enduring friendships; running has given me something closer to meditation. On days I’m not at a rink on the North Shore or over the bridges, I’m often at Gleneagles Community Centre. And while the treadmill may now be a closer friend than the pavement, I still love the Seawalk when the weather agrees.
I’ve also played golf since my teens, though I’ve never broken 82, and even that was with three miraculous putts. I still haven’t reached the green in two on Cardiac Hill at Gleneagles, and I’ve donated more golf balls than I care to admit to the trees along the doglegged fourth. It is hard to lose balls on that municipal course, but I keep inventing a way.
In recent years my writing has focused mostly on business, politics and public affairs, though I still get to write occasionally about sports for The Hub, and I keep local season tickets for the Whitecaps. But the common thread in all of it—journalism, business, boards, coaching, advocacy, teaching—has been an interest in how communities work, how institutions earn trust, and how people can be better heard.
That is also what draws me to public life in West Vancouver. I’m running for mayor not simply because I care about this place, but because I believe we need to nurture a community where children and families can thrive, be healthy and active, and be supported properly to do so. It needs leadership that listens earlier, explains decisions better, manages public money more carefully, and plans more seriously for the future. My life and work have taken me through newsrooms, boardrooms, classrooms, and playing fields. What they have taught me, above all, is that people respond when they feel respected, included and told the truth.
So as this campaign unfolds, I’ll write from time to time about what I’m seeing, hearing and learning across the community. Not as a lecture, and not as a slogan, but as part of a conversation about the kind of West Vancouver we want to build together. Feel free to reach out (kirklapointe@gmail.com) to talk.