{"id":22144,"date":"2016-12-02T00:55:15","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T08:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=22144"},"modified":"2016-12-01T13:09:15","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T21:09:15","slug":"garfinkel-aims-for-victoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/12\/02\/garfinkel-aims-for-victoria\/","title":{"rendered":"Garfinkel aims for Victoria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabe Garfinkel is running for the B.C. Liberal nomination in Vancouver-Fairview. (photo from Gabe Garfinkel)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Gabe Garfinkel says he has the combination of youth and experience that makes him an ideal candidate for the B.C. Legislature.<\/p>\n

Garfinkel recently announced his candidacy for the B.C. Liberal nomination in Vancouver-Fairview. The 31-year-old former assistant to Premier Christy Clark added that representing the Jewish community is an important part of his reason for running.<\/p>\n

Garfinkel attended Vancouver Talmud Torah elementary (as did both his parents) and Prince of Wales secondary before obtaining a BA in political science at the University of British Columbia. During his time at UBC, he did a semester at Hebrew University and says Middle East issues have long been an area of interest.<\/p>\n

His first job after university emerged out of a volunteer position. The Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC), for which he had volunteered as a student, hired him as outreach coordinator, based in Toronto. CJPAC is a national, independent, multi-partisan organization that aims to engage Jewish and pro-Israel Canadians in the democratic process and to foster political participation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the guy that was going into community groups, to community centres, to high schools, to summer camps, to campuses, to Hillels across the country and essentially telling them why they should get involved in politics,\u201d Garfinkel told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cI was selling a few different programs, but what I was really doing was [building] up an army of hundreds of Jewish community members across the country that were in most cases in high school or university and giving them a voice and a vehicle to represent their own community\u2019s interests in government.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he returned to Vancouver, Garfinkel followed his own advice. He walked into the campaign office for federal Liberal candidate Joyce Murray and volunteered. After the election, the MP hired Garfinkel to work in her constituency office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw firsthand how hard an MP can work and how an MP can make a difference in their constituents\u2019 lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Garfinkel volunteered on the successful campaign of Margaret MacDiarmid, who was elected MLA for Vancouver-Fairview in 2009. She went on to serve in several portfolios in the B.C. Liberal government, including labor and education. MacDiarmid was defeated in 2012 by New Democrat George Heyman, who Garfinkel will be up against if he wins the Liberal nomination. (The Independent <\/em>will invite all Jewish candidates in the election, which includes Heyman, to be interviewed and profiled.)<\/p>\n

Garfinkel also volunteered on the leadership campaign of Clark, who went on to become premier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was drawn to her because I saw the energy and charisma she could bring and the care she had for people,\u201d he said. \u201cI helped put together her youth campaign and young professional team. I played a small role in helping her win and it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Clark became premier, Garfinkel served as executive assistant and advisor to several cabinet ministers before being called to the premier\u2019s office and offered a job by Clark. He was the premier\u2019s executive assistant until the 2012 election, when he left government to work for the party. He was on the campaign staff that oversaw the B.C. Liberals\u2019 stunning come-from-behind victory that gave Clark her first full four-year mandate. His role in the election was working with multicultural communities and media.<\/p>\n

After the election, Garfinkel returned to the premier\u2019s office as director of community and stakeholder relations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government does so many things and my job was to bring along stakeholders in all these decisions, and making sure that the decisions were being made not from the lens of the government, but from the lens of the people they affected the most,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Garfinkel joined FleishmanHillard, an international public relations and marketing firm. He developed a particular interest in health policy and worked for health-care clients in the nonprofit and private sectors at FleishmanHillard and, since leaving that company, as a self-employed consultant.<\/p>\n

He also has gained experience in small business.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust over a year ago, I realized that my dad\u2019s business needed some help,\u201d he said. Both his parents, Sandi Karmel and Larry Garfinkel, are social workers, but his father left social work to start Native Northwest, which creates products featuring the works of local First Nations artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a really great experience helping him run a small business,\u201d he said. \u201cI have such a great time because you never know what\u2019s going to hit you every day and you never underestimate the sheer amount of small hurdles you need to get by in running a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

While his new candidacy has required him to take a leave, Garfinkel was until recently on the allocations committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and also sat on the Local Partnership Council for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. He still volunteers for CJPAC, speaking to groups, usually young people, about the political process, and he is a longtime volunteer for Cystic Fibrosis Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been important to me because we have a very close family friend who has the disease and for years I\u2019ve been fighting internally for government to help make changes, and now I took that advocacy outside of government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In addition to general awareness, advancing the cause of cystic fibrosis includes promoting organ donation and access to life-saving medications.<\/p>\n

\u201cChristy Clark\u2019s government has been able to make a lot of positive changes on the organ registry,\u201d Garfinkel said. \u201cThere are more avenues for people to sign up and be an organ donor.\u2026 It\u2019s a lot easier now than it used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, he said, there remains a long way to go to increase the number of donors.<\/p>\n

Garfinkel was formed by the Jewish community, he said, and has been deeply influenced by his grandmothers. While both his grandfathers passed away when he was young, Garfinkel cites his grandmothers as models of community engagement. His late paternal grandparents, Marsha and Israel (Izzy) Garfinkel, were members of Schara Tzedeck, while his maternal grandparents, Ethel and the late Jonah (Johnny) Karmel, were Beth Israel members. Ethel Karmel was a leader in the preservation of the Cambie Heritage Boulevard, lobbying successfully to have the Cambie Skytrain route go underground, and is an artist with an upcoming exhibition (see Community Calendar for details).<\/p>\n

His grandparents\u2019 and parents\u2019 models of community service, he said, helped make him the person he is.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou understand the interest of looking out for other people, you understand the importance of tikkun olam,\u201d said Garfinkel, who also credits summers at Camp Miriam for building his Judaism and social conscience.<\/p>\n

In his race for the nomination, Garfinkel said he is relying on his experience drawing people into the political sphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy background\u2019s in engaging people into the political process so they can have a voice,\u201d he said. \u201cIn many cases, it\u2019s been the Jewish community and young people, but also multicultural and new Canadians, where there is some kind of disconnect between them and the government that\u2019s supposed to represent them.\u201d<\/p>\n

His candidacy is resonating in particular with young people, he said. In many cases, young people are asking him basic questions about the political system, which indicates to Garfinkel that they feel alienated from it.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t feel represented,\u201d he said. \u201cFirst and foremost, I want to make sure people have a voice and I want to fight for them in Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n

His own experience is similar to that of many his age, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a small apartment in the riding and I\u2019m afraid that a bigger place nearby is already out of reach,\u201d he said. \u201cI see transportation and transit as really important because it allows people to spend more time with their families and it protects the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The riding of Vancouver-Fairview runs from False Creek to 33rd Avenue between Main and Granville, and also includes areas west of Granville from Cornwall to Fourth Avenue east of Burrard, and east of Arbutus from 4th to 16th.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a general consensus that this is a great neighborhood to live in, but it\u2019s not always easy to live here,\u201d said Garfinkel. \u201cIf you look at things like housing affordability, it\u2019s something that affects a lot of people here and a lot of future generations as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The election is slated for May 9, 2017, but first Garfinkel has to win the B.C. Liberal nomination. The date for the nomination meeting has not been set and, therefore, neither has the deadline for joining the party in order to vote at the meeting. Garfinkel expects the meeting to be called for January, which means the membership cut-off will be in the coming few weeks.<\/p>\n

He believes his comparatively young age combined with his experience in government is good preparation to be an MLA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought maybe I should wait until I\u2019m older and have more money in my bank account and a longer resum\u00e9, but I realized that I have energy now, I have the desire now and have some really great experience I can bring to the table,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gabe Garfinkel is running for the B.C. Liberal nomination in Vancouver-Fairview. (photo from Gabe Garfinkel) Gabe Garfinkel says he has the combination of youth and experience that makes him an ideal candidate for the B.C. Legislature. Garfinkel recently announced his candidacy for the B.C. Liberal nomination in Vancouver-Fairview. The 31-year-old former assistant to Premier Christy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3597,6569],"class_list":["post-22144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-politics","tag-provincial-election"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}