Geoff Meggs is a Canadian politician, who served on Vancouver, British Columbia's City Council from 2008 to 2017. He was first elected in the 2008 municipal election, and resigned his seat on city council in 2017 to accept a job as

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

to John Horgan, the Premier of British Columbia.

Background

Meggs was born in Ontario and grew up in Willowdale, Toronto and

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. His father, who was trained as an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

priest, was a broadcaster with the CBC, and his mother was a nurse who retired to become a homemaker."Geoff Meggs: Articulate, Experienced City Council Hopeful"
, '' Vancouver Observer'', October 20, 2008. Meggs graduated from the University of Toronto. After graduating he joined the

Canada World Youth Canada World Youth (CWY, in French: ''Jeunesse Canada Monde, JCM'') was an international non-profit organization dedicated to providing youth with a voluntary opportunity to learn about other communities, cultures and people while developing leaders ...

exchange program and spent time in Malaysia. He eventually relocated to Vancouver in 1976."About Geoff Meggs"
, ''Tideline Communications Website'', Accessed August 30, 2009. Meggs' career includes time as a journalist, a communications director in the offices of former

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 and former Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell, an executive director of the

BC 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 claims to have a membership of 500,000, wi ...

, and president of Tideline Communications. He is the author or co-author of four published books, including ''Salmon: The Decline of the West Coast Fishery'' (Douglas & McIntyre, 1991), which won the 1992 Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing, and ''Cork Lines and Canning Lines; the Glory Years of Fishing on the West Coast'', with Duncan Stacey (Douglas & McIntyre, 1992).

Politics

Meggs ran as part of the

Vision Vancouver Vision Vancouver is a green liberal municipal political party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vision was formed in the months leading up to the 2005 municipal election. Formation Vision was founded by former Coalition of Progressive ...

slate in the 2008 election."Election Results: November 15, 2008"
''Vancouver City Election Results Website'', Accessed August 30, 2009. He received 49,538 votes, in ninth place out of a field of 32 candidates for Vancouver councillor, the fewest votes among the seven elected Vision Vancouver councilors."Racism is alive and well in Vancouver municipal politics"
'' Georgia Straight, November 16, 2008. In 2011, Meggs was re-elected as a Vision Vancouver city councillor with 56,183 votes, sixth out of a field of 40 candidates. In June 2014, Meggs faced a court petition to remove him and fellow councillor Kerry Jang from office for allegedly violating rules on conflict of interest in connection with the rezoning of a public housing project.''Court petition seeks removal of Kerry Jang and Geoff Meggs from Vancouver city council''
'' Georgia Straight'', 23 June 2014

Family

Meggs and his wife, Jan O’Brien, live with his daughter Claire in False Creek."About Geoff"
''Geoff Meggs Website'', Accessed August 30, 2009. Their oldest daughter, Caitlin, lives and works in Victoria.

Works

* 2018: ''Strange New Country: The Fraser River Salmon Strikes of 1900–1901'', 236 pages. Harbour Publishing. * 2012: ''The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and the NDP in Power, 1972-1975'' (co-authored with Rod Mickleburgh), Harbour Publishing. * 1995: ''Salmon: The decline of the British Columbia fishery'', 274 pages. Douglas & McIntyre. * 1992: ''Cork Lines and Canning Lines'' (co-authored with Duncan Stacey). Douglas & McIntyre.

References

External links

Geoff Meggs
at Vancouver City Council {{DEFAULTSORT:Meggs, Geoff Living people Vision Vancouver councillors Journalists from Ontario Journalists from British Columbia 1951 births