About CityCaucus.com

If as the saying goes, all politics is local, then how come there is so little attention paid to the importance of our urban centres? We hope the ideas, the politics, and the people behind making Canadian cities will now be given their due at CityCaucus.com. Our goal here is to have a fun, but respectful dialogue about Canada's major urban centres, and we hope you will participate in "the conversation" by providing comments that stick to the issues, and do not stoop to name-calling or personal attacks. We won't always agree with each other, but the interchange must always be civil.

Please note, while we do not "censor" comments, we will remove defamatory or libelous messages, and ask that you do not use expletives. Our spam filter on rare occasions does block some comments, but once we check the filter we promise to publish it.

Email citycaucus@gmail.com if you would like to reach us, to share a story idea or news tip about a Canadian city. Or you can leave a comment!

CityCaucus.com's contributors are as follows:

Daniel Fontaine is the former Chief of Staff to Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan and has been involved in politics and political strategy at the municipal, provincial and federal level for most of his adult life. He is a commentator for the civic affairs panel on the top-rated Bill Good Show on CKNW AM980 radio in Vancouver. Fontaine also appears as a political commentator on CBC radio in Vancouver, and has made several appearances in local and national media such as GlobalTV, CBC News Network, and contributed to the Vancouver Sun opinion page.

Born and raised on the Canadian prairies, he has lived in Metro Vancouver for the last 21 years. He and his wife have lived in New Westminster's historic Queen's Park for the last 9 years. Having graduated with a degree in political science from the University of Manitoba, he went on to complete the Media Writing and Public Relations Certificate program from Langara College in Vancouver.

Fontaine lives in a compact and walkable neighbourhood and is a daily transit user. In his downtime (how little there is), he enjoys curling, camping, watching CFL football and coaching his son's T-ball team.

You can read Daniel's CityCaucus.com posts at CityCaucus.com/daniel-fontaine.

Active in politics since the late 1980s, Erin has managed and advised campaigns at three levels of government, as well as party leadership races. She has also served on staff to federal and provincial ministers and leaders.

Professionally, Erin is a President and Founder of three companies, one of which is currently publically traded.

Her community activities include the yearly door-to-door canvass for the Canadian Cancer Society, the BC Association of Midwives, the Association of Mineral Exploration, BC, among others.

She appears often as a political commentator on television and radio, including weekly on the heated Monday morning political panel on CBC Early Edition.

Erin's CityCaucus.com posts are listed at CityCaucus.com/erin-chutter.

Kerri Brkich has called Vancouver home for the past decade, but still has roots firmly planted in the Okanagan and on Vancouver Island—after growing up in Vernon, she went on to obtain her degree in Political Science at the University of Victoria.

She has been actively involved in provincial politics since 1999, as a staffer, campaign worker, and riding executive. After leaving government in 2004, Kerri enjoyed stints at the Business Council of BC and Compton Fundraising. She has been the Manager of Public Affairs for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of BC for the past three years, handling communications and government relations.

In her spare time Kerri enjoys seeing family and friends, playing sports, and volunteers on the organizing committee for All About Girlfriends™, the signature fundraising event for the Minerva Foundation for BC Women. Covering the Olympics is her first foray into blogging.

For a list of Kerri's writing here see CityCaucus.com/kerri-brkich.

Mike Klassen (@Twitter, @Facebook) is a born and raised Vancouverite and a proud East sider (Killarney High School alumni). A writer, urbanist, technology buff and communications strategist, Mike had the honour to serve as Vice-Chair of the esteemed Vancouver City Planning Commission ('07-'09). He is known for his passionate commitment to his Fraser Street community. He now writes a political column for 24 Hours Vancouver, Metro Vancouver's third largest circulation daily, and has contributed to the Vancouver Sun opinion page, as well as appearing on CTV, GlobalTV, CBC TV News, CKNW Radio, Talk1040 and Shore 104 FM.

First published in 1988, Klassen wrote for alternative publications such as Discorder and Vancouver's legendary Terminal City magazine, as well as mainstream publications such as Moneysense and Reader's Digest. Citing the irreverent influences of Mad Magazine, Monty Python, National Lampoon & Canada's SCTV, as well as local radio & TV counter-culture icon J.B. Shayne, Klassen brings a wit to both his writing style and imaginative Photoshopping.

During the early 1990s Mike was regularly heard on local radio, including CBC Radio One, Coast 1040 (as writer/co-host of the Hollywood North Report), and Z95.3 in Vancouver. A frequent contributor to community television, Klassen won a 1994 Hometown USA award in the category of Best Comedy for his lighthearted send-up of film festival culture.

An early internet adopter, Mike built his first website in October '94 and has been publishing stories and commentary online – today known as blogging – ever since. For the latter half of the '90s working at Electronic Arts, Mike was an assistant producer and game features designer on the world's most successful basketball videogame franchise – EA Sports' NBA Live. The highlights of his entertainment software career were conducting a private technology demo for filmmaker Steven Spielberg, and meeting a true hardwood hero, NBA superstar Kevin Garnett.

A veteran of civic, provincial and federal election campaigns for the past three decades, Mike played a pivotal role providing communications and organizational support to the successful 2004 Knowards campaign alongside then City Councillor Sam Sullivan, and twice managed the election campaigns of a provincial cabinet minister, achieving the highest winning margin of any constituency in British Columbia.

Mike is a graduate of the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature. He is an avid gardener, as well as a devoted BC wine enthusiast. He is married with one child.

You can read Mike's CityCaucus.com contributions at CityCaucus.com/mike-klassen. For other writing see MichaelKlassen.com, BCWineLover.com or pick up a copy of 24 Hours newspaper.