Bill Tieleman (born February 18, 1957) is a lobbyist and former NDP political strategist in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. He is known for opposing the 2009 referendum on electoral reform, and the 2018 referendum on whether to hold a second vote to choose a proportional voting system. Tieleman is also known for strongly advocating

hydraulic fracturing Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of Formation (geology), formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the ...

to extract

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...

for export from British Columbia, and for denying the role of

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

in forest fires. Tieleman supported the Site C dam and opposed the 2017 confidence and supply agreement between the BC Green caucus and

BC NDP The New Democratic Party of British Columbia (BC NDP) is a social democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is one of the two major parties in British Columbia; since ...

caucus under leader John Horgan, which gave Horgan a legislative majority to become premier.

Career

Tieleman was a director of communications for the

British Columbia Federation of Labour The British Columbia Federation of Labour (BCFED), often shortened to the BC Federation of Labour, is a central organization for organized labour in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1910 and has 500,000 members. History The BCFED ...

, and communications director in the office of

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

Glen Clark Glen David Clark (born November 22, 1957) is a Canadian retail executive and former politician who served as the 31st premier of British Columbia from 1996 to 1999. Early life and education Clark attended independent Roman Catholic schools, na ...

. Tieleman owns West Star Communications, a consulting firm that provides "strategy and communication services for labour, business, non-profits and government," according to Tieleman's blog. Tieleman appears as a

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

commentator on radio and writes a politics column weekly for

The Tyee The Tyee is an independent daily news website based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in November 2003 as an alternative to corporate media. Articles in The Tyee focus on politics, culture, and life. The Tyee was founded b ...

. From 2005 to 2009, he appeared as a guest opposite Norman Spector weekly on

CKNW CKNW (730 AM) is a commercial radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia. Owned by Corus Entertainment, it broadcasts a talk radio format. Its offices and studios are in the TD Tower in Downtown Vancouver. CKNW is powered at 50,000 watts, ...

's Bill Good Show. Tieleman also participated in a political panel for about 10 years on

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

Vancouver's Early Edition radio show. Tieleman was known in the 2000s for his commentary and coverage of the BC Legislature raids. In December 2007, he came back from the courtroom to discover that his office had been broken-into and materials related to the trial moved about. Tieleman regarded this as an attempt at intimidation. In 2008, Tieleman reported receiving death threats after he wrote column calling for a boycott of China. In April 2021, Tieleman publicly opposed rezoning some of Vancouver to allow more social housing. In June 2022, Tieleman was nominated by the civic party

TEAM for a Livable Vancouver TEAM for a Livable Vancouver (TEAM) is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was established by Vancouver city councillor Colleen Hardwick, first 2018 Vancouver municipal election, elected in 2018 with the Non-Par ...

to run for city council in the

2022 Vancouver municipal election The 2022 Vancouver municipal election was held on October 15, 2022, the same day as the 2022 British Columbia municipal elections, municipal elections held throughout British Columbia. Voters elected the mayor of Vancouver by First-past-the-post ...

. He also served as TEAM's campaign manager. Tieleman placed 31st in a field of 59, receiving votes from just over 10% of voters.

Referendums

Tieleman was president of the ''No STV Campaign Society'' that successfully prevented the introduction of BC-STV, a form of

single transferable voting The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vo ...

, in the 2009 referendum on provincial electoral reform. Tieleman played "the leading role on behalf of the No STV camp in the public debates and discussions." The No STV campaign concentrated their media buy in the final two weeks prior to the referendum. Opposition to the measure increased from the first referendum, he felt, because citizens had more information on the practical consequences of STV, including large multi-member ridings. After the Liberal government of premier Gordon Campbell introduced the new

Harmonized Sales Tax The harmonized sales tax (HST) is a consumption tax in Canada. It is used in provinces where both the federal goods and services tax (GST) and the regional provincial sales tax (PST) have been combined into a single value-added tax. Jurisdict ...

(HST), Tieleman started a No HST campaign on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. When Facebook removed the group in January 2010, Tieleman claimed it was the province's largest Facebook group with more than 130,000 members. The group was restored by Facebook without explanation two days later. He also became a strategist and media spokesman for Fight HST, led by Bill Vander Zalm, seeking a referendum to cancel the HST in accordance with the ''Recall and Initiative Act''. Tieleman sought official recognition (with allies Suzanne Anton and Bob Plecas) to oppose a 2018 referendum on whether to hold a second vote to choose a proportional voting system.

Personal life

Tieleman holds a master's degree in political science from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

and lives in

. As a student at UBC, Tieleman quit the negotiating team for the teaching assistant union in a dispute over the settling of a labour dispute with the university. Tieleman previously served as a director of the board for the

Vancity Vancouver City Savings Credit Union, commonly referred to as Vancity, is a member-owned financial co-operative headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. By asset size, Vancity is the largest community credit union in Canada , with ...

credit union.

References

External links

Bill Tieleman official blog

Bill Tieleman's articles on The Tyee

Wine Barbarian
blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Tieleman, Bill Canadian political consultants Canadian political commentators Living people Activists from Vancouver University of British Columbia alumni 1957 births