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Candidate bio: Daniel Tonn

Daniel Tonn is a school trustee candidate running with ParentsVoice BC
Daniel Tonn
Daniel Tonn (ParentsVoice BC)

I am a longtime Ladner resident and homeowner.

I have travelled extensively throughout Europe and Japan and gained valuable life lessons. Education is the most important thing that we need to impart to the next generation and it is for this reason that I currently sponsor and support two Guatemalan children’s education. Currently I also care for my aging mother who has taught me to believe charity in community is an important part of character building for all its citizens.

In my professional life, I have worked as a heavy duty mechanic at the City of Vancouver, Coast Mountain Bus Company and currently at DeltaPort. I am proud to be an alumni of Hawthorne Elementary as well as having graduated from Delta Secondary.
It has become apparent that there has been a major focus change in our education system since I was a student. It is deeply concerning that parents and the community at-large are no longer being made aware of what’s happening in the schools.

Parents are supposed to be partners with the schools in supporting their education. The community at-large also has a vested interest in ensuring that our children are getting a well-rounded education to become productive citizens.

Government and school trustees need to be making sure that all stakeholders have influence and input into the school programing. Community building is what defines Ladner and I feel that schools are lacking in this spirit. There has been a lack of transparency with school boards and we now need to fix that and bring back a goal for making sure our students are excelling academically.

If elected my position as school trustee would be to be transparent and ensure parents and other community members have a role in helping put Delta’s schools and students on the map.

What are your election issues?

Daniel Tonn is a long-time Ladner resident and homeowner. He has extensive experience as a heavy duty mechanic working with the City of Vancouver, Coast Mountain Bus Company and DeltaPort.

Daniel is deeply concerned about the shift away from the essential building blocks of a successful working life – reading, writing and mathematics – toward major initiatives around hot-button issues such as sex, race, and schools’ response to COVID-19, with little or no input from parents or the local community.

Daniel believes the primary responsibility for children’s education lies with their parents, not the state.

Daniel also believes parents and their community deserve full transparency about what happens in local schools, including the educational decisions made by school boards and how those decisions impact their children.

When parents are ignored, at best, and labeled as troublemakers or intolerant at worst, school boards have completely lost the plot.

The role of the school trustee is embedded in the name: to be a trusted voice for the community they serve, not the servant of powerful unions and government bureaucrats.

He went to school at Hawthorne Elementary and graduated from Delta Secondary.