PRESS RELEASE

DATE: NOVEMBER 5, 2014

Election Campaign Headquarters

from the Desk of Independent Candidate
JANOS BERGMAN, running for Council at the CITY OF RICHMOND, BRITISH COLUMBIA

in the November 15, 2014 Municipal Elections

Candidates Meeting, Tuesday, Nov. 4, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the
Kwantlen Polytechnic Universitys Melville Centre for Dialogue in Richmond
I CANNOT HELP BUT COMPARE MY ELECTION CAMPAIGN BUDGET OF $200 WITH THOSE OF MY HONOURABLE
COLLEAGUES WHOSE BUDGETS RUN IN THE THOUSANDS, TENS OF THOUSANDS AND, IN SOME CASES, WELL OVER
ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. I PERSONALLY PREFER TO BE INDEBTED TO NO ONE, WHETHER IT BE
POLITICAL, CORPORATE, REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING REALTORS, OR ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL
DONORS WHO MAY HAVE THEIR OWN AGENDA. I WISH TO BE ON RECORD TO STATE UNEQUIVOCALLY THAT I
HAVE NOT ACCEPTED ANY DONATION TO DATE; NOR SHALL I ACCEPT ONE RED CENT GOING FORWARD.
I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT WITH ANY POLITICAL DONATION, BE IT SMALL, LARGE OR DISPROPORTIONATELY LARGE,
THERE WILL ALWAYS BE THE INEVITABLE TEMPTATION FOR SOME TO TRY AND UNDULY INFLUENCE THE
CANDIDATE AND FUTURE ELECTED OFFICIAL.
BY MAKING IT A RULE NOT TO ACCEPT ANY DONATIONS I AM ABLE TO RUN ON MY OWN PLATFORM BASED ON
MY OWN CONVICTIONS, OPINIONS AND CONSCIENCE.
MY CLEAR MESSAGE TO YOU, MY FELLOW CITIZENS OF RICHMOND: NO DONATIONS, PLEASE! I AM ONLY
ASKING FOR YOUR VOTE SO THAT FOLLOWING NOVEMBER 15TH I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE ON YOUR BEHALF AND
BE YOUR VOICE AT CITY HALL.
I WISH TO BE ON RECORD THAT ONCE ELECTED, MY ISSUES ON THE TABLE WILL BE AS FOLLOWS:

Environmental Sustainability I am against oil and coal barges on the Fraser River and along our coast; I
stand for protecting our agricultural lands from developers; this will help us keep locally sourced crops
and foods and cut down on oil consumption spent on food transported from afar; I stand for restrictions
on night flights at YVR to cut down on noise pollution;
Public transportation - possessing no car myself, I firmly believe in greater investment in public
transportation; more buses and an expanded Canada Line service; this means more train cars and
greater frequency which will be vital to serve our growing population, especially in the Richmond Center

area; investing in public transportation infrastructure will mean less cars on the road and less air
pollution.
Housing Affordability similar to Australia and other countries, I will lobby hard at all 3 levels of
government for laws and/or bylaws that will prevent non-residents/foreigners from buying multiple
residential properties for investment purposes; simply put, anyone who purchases a home must reside
in our country! This will result in a dramatic lowering of home prices in Richmond and Greater
Vancouver, and thus make housing affordable for the average hardworking, taxpaying Canadian! Nor
do all these empty homes and condos contribute to our community in any tangible way!
Unilingual (Chinese) Signs Similar to Richmond Hill, Ontario, (By-Law 52-09, Section 5.0) I am in favour
of a bylaw to protect and ensure the use of one of our official languages, English, on all commercial
signs; this will promote unity and inclusion in our community and make business accessible to all.
Simply put, a lack of English on signs is disrespectful to the great many of us who do not read Chinese,
including a great many second, third and fourth generation Chinese Canadians. Nor is it sound business
practice unless your explicit goal is to cater to a Chinese only clientele. I, myself, speak 5 languages
but I choose to speak in English as it is our common language and it serves to unite us rather than
divide us.
Open, democratic education and student activism I wish to be on record that I salute the great many
university students in Hong Kong who are currently protesting and fighting to maintain a free and
democratic government; having personally visited Hong Kong many times, it holds a special place in my
heart and I wish them every success in keeping Hong Kong free! On a personal note, I, myself, grew up
in a communist one-party state, Hungary, and I decided to move to Canada in 1974 because I valued
personal freedom and democracy. I have never looked back since then, and I am now a very proud
Canadian who learned English and integrated into mainstream society.
No campaign donations I do not accept any campaign donations as I do not want to be unduly
influenced by any party, business or affiliation when I will be elected to City Council November 15 th.
You can expect me to be your voice: a voice for the people and the disenfranchised!
I am happy to see so many young people interested in our local election and its many issues.
I encourage all of you to ask questions, inform yourselves about the platforms of the various candidates
and get out and vote! Our community needs your energy!
I TOLD YOU BEFORE AND I WILL TELL YOU AGAIN: IF I CAN GET ELECTED ON A CAMPAIGN BUDGET OF $200, JUST
IMAGINE WHAT I WILL DO TO KEEP COSTS DOWN WITH THE CITYS BUDGET!!
VOTE ME IN AND THE OLD ESTABLISHMENT/STATUS QUO AT CITY HALL WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, VOTE FOR ME, JANOS BERGMAN, RUNNING AS AN INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FOR
RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL WITH NO POLITICAL OR CORPORATE AFFILIATION OR FINANCING, ACCEPTING NO
DONATIONS.

YOUR INDEPENDENT CANADIAN VOICE, EH?

AUTHORIZED AND SPONSORED BY JANOS BERGMAN, CANDIDATE AND FINANCIAL AGENT, JANOS.BERGMAN@SHAW.CA