Bill Tieleman 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 ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, 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, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frack ...

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 relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

for export from BC, and for denying the role of

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

in BC forest fires. Tieleman supported the Site C dam & opposed the 2017 governing agreement between three elected BC Greens & NDP leader

John Horgan John Joseph Horgan (born August 7, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 36th premier of British Columbia from 2017 to 2022, and also as the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party from 2014 to 2022. Horgan has been the ...

Career

Tieleman was a director of communications (

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

) 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 British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province ...

and also in the Office of the New Democratic

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 governm ...

Glen Clark Glen David Clark (born November 22, 1957) is a Canadian business 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, n ...

. 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 (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

commentator on radio and writes a politics column weekly in the 24 Hours newspaper and

The Tyee The Tyee is an independent online daily news source primarily based in Vancouver, British Columbia. 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 f ...

online magazine. From 2005 to 2009, he appeared as a guest opposite

Norman Spector Norman Spector (born March 6, 1949) is a Canadian journalist and former diplomat, civil servant, and newspaper publisher. Early life and career Born in Montreal, Quebec, Spector received a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Political Science, fro ...

weekly on

CKNW CKNW is a news/talk formatted radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia, owned by Corus Entertainment. It broadcasts on an assigned frequency of AM 980 kHz, and is unusual in that it is a 50,000-watt, Class A station broadcasting on a region ...

Bill Good Bill Good Jr. (born 1945) is a Canadian television personality and host of talk radio shows, all in the province of British Columbia. After 21 years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, first doing radio before moving to Television news, ...

Show. Tieleman also participated in a political panel for about 10 years on CBC Vancouver Early Edition radio show. He previously wrote a Political Connections column for

The Georgia Straight ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, ...

. He is known for his commentary and coverage of the

BC Legislature Raids The BC Legislature Raids (also known as Railgate after Watergate) resulted from search warrants executed on the Legislature of British Columbia, Canada, in 2003 and has become a collective term for the associated criminal proceedings and ensuant ...

. 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 following a 24 Hours column calling for a boycott of China. In April 2021, Tieleman took a strong position against 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 elected in 2018 with the Non-Partisan Association (NPA), and a gro ...

to run for city council under the TEAM banner in the

2022 Vancouver municipal election The Non-Partisan Association (NPA) is a municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was established by the city's business leaders in 1937 to challenge the democratic socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) ...

Referendum

He was president of th
No STV Campaign Society
that successfully prevented the introduction of

BC-STV BC-STV is the proposed voting system recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform in October 2004 for use in British Columbia, and belongs to the single transferable vote family of voting systems. BC-STV was supported by a majority (5 ...

, a form of Single-Transferable Voting in the second 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 Gordon Muir Campbell, (born January 12, 1948) is a retired Canadian diplomat and politician who was the 35th mayor of Vancouver from 1986 to 1993 and the 34th premier of British Columbia from 2001 to 2011. He was the leader of the British Co ...

introduced the concept of a new Harmonized Sales Tax or HST, Tieleman started a No HST campaign on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

. 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, the official proponent, led by

Bill Vander Zalm William Nicholas Vander Zalm (born Wilhelmus Nicholaas Theodore Marie van der Zalm; May 29, 1934) is a politician and entrepreneur in British Columbia, Canada. He was the 28th premier of British Columbia from 1986 to 1991. Early life Wilhelmus Ni ...

, seeking a referendum to cancel the HST in accordance with the Recall and Initiative Act. Tieleman sought official recognition (with allies

Suzanne Anton Suzanne Anton, (born May 31, 1952) is a Canadian politician and the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of British Columbia. Elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2013 provincial election, Anton represent ...

& Bob Plecas) to oppose a 2018 referendum on whether to hold a second vote to choose a proportional voting system. As both sides of the referendum receive public funding, this is effectively an application for direct subsidy for lobbying efforts.

Personal

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 Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

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 has served as a director of the board for

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 i ...

, the Vancouver City Savings 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 People from Vancouver University of British Columbia alumni Year of birth missing (living people)