School District 46 · Trustee Area 3Gibsons · Roberts Creek · Elphinstone · West Howe Sound
BAILEYMark
School Trustee
A Roberts Creek resident with sixteen years on a school board.
This site is kept as a record of the 2026 school trustee campaign and is no longer updated. The election was held on 17 October 2026. The campaign's budget section is kept on the archive page.
Thank you.
On 17 October the voters of Gibsons, Roberts Creek, Elphinstone and West Howe Sound elected me as one of three school trustees for Area 3. I am grateful to everyone who voted, who asked me a hard question, who put a sign on their lawn, who shared a video, or who hosted a forum or a coffee.Congratulations to the trustees elected with me: Amanda Amaral and Sue Girard in Area 3, Tina Joe, Brenda Rowe and Donna Lynden in Area 2, and Tracey McClelland in Area 1. And thank you to every candidate who put their name forward. The Coast had a better conversation about its schools because you did.The new board is sworn in in November. Between now and then I plan to listen a lot more than I talk.MarkYou can reach me at mark@markbailey.ca.
Watch
It has never been harder to be ten years old.
Two minutes on what kids and teachers are carrying right now, and what a school board can actually do about it.
Read the transcript
Think about what it must be like to be a ten-year-old growing up these days. Adults fighting with each other and lying to each other on the TV news. Your parents arguing about where the rent is going to come from. Summers full of smoke warnings, and signs in front of the fire hall saying you can't water your garden. An app on your phone that can do all of your homework for you. Another app on your phone that all your friends are using, that is telling you that your life is not as good as theirs.
Any one of these would have been a story for a generation. And yet our kids, they get all of them. At the same time. And our teachers are teaching a room full of kids going through these experiences, all of them, at the same time.
I was a trustee for sixteen years. I led a board through the pandemic. And I have to say, I've never seen classrooms harder to teach in, and I have never seen childhoods so challenging to grow up in, than now.
I'm not going to pretend that the school board can solve all of these issues. But the key is this. A school board can make sure that each child has a counsellor, rather than a waiting list. That our nine-year-olds aren't cheating themselves of an education by having an app do their homework for them. That our fifteen-year-olds are learning critical thinking, so that they recognize that these are powerful tools that are also often wrong.
That's not loud leadership. That's steady leadership. And these next four years, it's going to require a lot of steady leadership at our school board.
My name's Mark Bailey. You have three votes on Saturday. I'm looking for one of them. If you agree with the issues that I'm talking about, if you got this far in the video, you're probably like-minded, I have to say. And then I'd ask if you would be so kind as to share this video, because I bet you have a couple of friends who still haven't decided yet. Thank you for watching.
Watch
The part of the ballot people skip.
A minute and a half on what a school trustee actually decides, and why the three votes you have in Area 3 are worth using.
Read the transcript
There's a section on your ballot that many people skip. School trustee. Maybe you've never met one. Or maybe you vote for mayor and councillor and vaguely recognize one or two more names and check those off. Well, I'm here to tell you just how important that position is.
A $56 million budget. Getting to decide who runs the school board. Getting to decide, when times are tight, what quietly gets cut. Whether the struggling student has access to that instrumental counsellor that has been so supportive for their school career so far. These are not small jobs, and yet they get decided by people on the ballot that many people skip over.
You have three votes for trustee in Roberts Creek and Gibsons, and I'm asking for one of them. My name is Mark Bailey. I was chair for five years and a trustee for sixteen in a different board, and I'd like to apply those skills here. Both of my sons have graduated Elphi, and my youngest one is still in the system upgrading courses.
I'd like to see that the next generation of students has as much opportunity as they can get, despite tighter budgets that are coming. My name is Mark Bailey and I'm asking for one of your votes. Thank you for your time.
Watch
The most used public building in your community.
Two minutes on why the school is often where affordability shows up first, and why the people talking about housing and the people talking about enrolment should be talking to each other.
Read the transcript
The most used public building in your community may be one you haven't stepped into for twenty years. It's the gym where teams gather for league play on a Tuesday night. It's the field where you've walked your dog a thousand times. It's the playground where you take your grandkids on a Sunday afternoon. It's the Christmas concert where all the magic happens once a year.
When a community stops being affordable, the school is often the place it shows up first. Not in real estate prices or listings, but in the number of parents enrolling their kids in kindergarten.
Now, can the school board fix housing? I'm not going to stand here and tell you that it can. But I do sit on two committees where affordable housing is a much discussed topic. I currently chair the Roberts Creek Official Community Plan Commission, and I'm also the alternate director for Area D at the Sunshine Coast Regional District.
When a district talks about affordability, and the school board talks about declining enrolment, those two concepts should be shared with each other. I'm one of the few people on the Coast that has experience doing both, and I would like to take those experiences to the school board for this term.
Childcare in every single school, so that parents can take that extra shift. Kindergarten numbers being discussed actively at planning tables at the Sunshine Coast Regional District and other municipalities.
My name is Mark Bailey, and if you agree with these concepts, I'm asking for your vote on October 17th. You've got three votes, and I would like one of them. Thank you.
The record
Why me:
- I have done this job. Elected four times as a school trustee in Guelph, Ontario: sixteen years, five of them as board chair, at a board of roughly 35,000 students.
- My kids went to these schools, and one still does. Both of my sons graduated from Elphinstone, and my youngest is still enrolled, upgrading courses.
- I run public processes here now. Chair of the Roberts Creek Official Community Plan Commission and vice president of the xwesam-Roberts Creek Community Association.
- I already sit at a local government table. Alternate Director for Electoral Area D at the Sunshine Coast Regional District.
- I know how to argue for funding. Six years as a vice-president of the Ontario Public School Boards Association, making the case for public education to the people who write the funding formula. SD46 has a strong case, and I know how to make it.
In February the community plan commission I chair ran a town hall in Roberts Creek about the future of our community. I organized it, nine volunteers facilitated the tables, and a larger team of commission members and neighbours put the whole thing together. About 175 people came, 220 answered the survey afterward, and the report we sent the regional district published the weaknesses in our own method alongside the findings. That is how I think a public body should work, and it is how I would work at a school board table.
Committed to schools worth moving to, and worth staying for
What others say
People who know me here.
-
Kelly BacksDirector, Electoral Area D (xwesam / Roberts Creek), Sunshine Coast Regional DistrictI found Mr. Bailey to be an intelligent and capable leader for his community who makes fair and balanced decisions as Chair.
-
Simon HaidukVice Chair, and former Chair, Roberts Creek Official Community Plan CommissionHe originally joined as a committee member, while I was Chair, then he took over Chair while I remained on as Vice Chair. Seeing how he communicated and functioned within meetings, with utmost kindness, respect and openness made it an easy choice to elect him as Chair.
-
Susan DavidsonDirector, xwesam-Roberts Creek Community AssociationI have worked with Mark on the xRCCA board for the past few years. I have found Mark to be calm, knowledgeable, diligent and hard working! Mark cares! He follows through!
Jordan EdmondsParent, GibsonsMark will strengthen our schools through his leadership and thoughtful commitment to our community.
Get in touch
Questions, concerns or ideas about our schools?
I'd like to hear from you. I stopped knocking on doors a few elections ago, because I found it bothers as many people as it wins over. So call me or send me an email instead. Ask me anything.
- Phone
- 604-998-8039
- mark@markbailey.ca
- MarkBaileySD46