Recent Posts
- Why Mayor Pond’s Continued Focus on Growth is Good for Prince Rupert
- Why Did the City Send an Expression of Interest to VIRL and Leave Residents in the Dark About It for Over a Year?
- Why Local Control Over Municipal Services, Like the City’s Local Library, is a Labour Issue
- How America’s Trade War Against Canada Provides an Opportunity to Make Canada Stronger
- With Clean Water Back On, Why Prince Rupert Should Make Clean Water Available During Future Advisories or Notices
- Why Prince Rupert Needs a Public Infrastructure Plan for Growth, Liveability, and Safety
- Why the Municipal Library Is More Than an Amenity, as Libraries Are Established to Help Build and Maintain Democracy
- Why Health Care Determined My Vote in this BC Election
Tom Kertes
About Tom Kertes
Tom Kertes is a high school English teacher in Prince Rupert, BC. He’s taught grades PK-12 and is passionate about literacy and community building through the public schools. Tom has a diploma in Early Childhood Education and was a preschool/toddler educator at UBC Child Care before becoming a K-12 teacher. He’s also taught Early Childhood Education and developmental psychology as an instructor at Seneca College in Toronto.
Tom is a member of the Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church and he volunteers on the boards of the Navy League Prince Rupert Branch and Museum of Northern British Columbia. He is Labour Liaison Representative and past Vice President of the Prince Rupert District Teachers’ Union (PRDTU) and is a delegate and past President of the North Coast Labour Council. He is also the Chairperson of the Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church Council.
Tom is married to Ron Braun. Ron and Tom have lived in Prince Rupert since 2018 and were living in Daajing Giids, Haida Gwaii before moving here. They’ve also lived in Vancouver, Toronto, and Seattle. A dual Canadian-American citizen, Tom was born in Ellensburg, WA and grew up in Cheney, WA. He immigrated to Canada in 2007.
Learn more about Tom here.
Coastal Common Sense
About the Blog
Coastal Common Sense is focused on ideas for building a strong local economy for Prince Rupert and neighbouring communities.
a Strong Local Economy Provides…
- Low taxes, low utility fees, and low amenities charges
- Good jobs, secure incomes, economic growth, and a good quality of life
- A safe community, affordable housing, and quality health care for all
- Responsible resource development and a diverse economy
- Stores, restaurants, contractors, specialists, services, and entertainment
- Clean water (from the tap) for everyone – provided by our municipal utility
- Public infrastructure and government services that work
- Education, training, and opportunity for everyone
Thoughts on Building a Strong Local Economy
- Thoughts on Coastal Affordability
- Thoughts on Coastal Growth
- Thoughts on Coastal Resources
- Thoughts on Coastal Community
Literacy and Community
Tom Kertes‘s two passions are literacy and community. Literacy for building power, solving problems, sharing knowledge, creating art, telling stories, and inspiring each other. Community for surviving, taking care of one another, and being human.
Literacy Matters
Tom’s first passion: Literacy. That’s why he teaches Language Arts, owned a children’s book store outside of Seattle, was a college instructor in early literacy and early childhood development at Seneca College in Toronto, was an early childhood educator at UBC Child Care in Vancouver, and currently volunteers as coach of the middle school and high school debate teams.
Tom was a policy advisor at the self-regulatory College of Early Childhood Educators in Ontario, where he helped launch North America’s first self-regulatory body for Early Childhood Educators. Tom was also an instructor of Early Childhood Education at Seneca College in Toronto and he worked at UBC Child Care as an early childhood educator in Vancouver, helping care for toddlers and preschoolers.
Community Matters
Tom’s second passion: Community. As a community organizer for living wages in Baltimore, Tom helped triple the wages paid to a mostly homeless day labourer workforce of cleaners at the Camden Yards baseball park. This campaign focused on the values of respect for all, the dignity of all, and people working together for equality.
He was also an organizer for pay equity for early childhood educators at UBC. Working with his union, the BCGEU, Tom and other UBC early childhood educators secured a 20% pay increase in a single round of collective bargaining, without an increase in fees and without reducing access to quality child care for UBC families.
Learn more about Tom Kertes here.