Jim is a teacher and former college lecturer and principal, the son of a teacher and a chief justice, the husband of a vice principal, the father of three lawyers, and the grandfather of seven young children. He lives in Tsawwassen.

He obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in Educational Theory and for his Masters had Mark Carney’s father as his supervisor. He has 28K followers on X (@jimmcmurtry01) where he posts on school issues. 

Like other teachers, his commitment is to the best interests of his students in an academic, intellectual, social, physical and emotional sense. He knows the most important goals of K-12 education are to give every student strong foundational knowledge and skills (literacy, numeracy, and core subjects), the ability to think critically and solve problems, and the character and civic understanding needed to become a responsible and prosocial adult who contributes to our free and democratic society.

Jim is concerned by the instructional drift from education to political indoctrination, such as referring to boys and girls as “they” on report cards, asking for their pronouns, or premature sexual discussion through SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity); indeed, the Delta School District has a district-level SOGI coordinator speaking at elementary schools.

He is also concerned by equity marking and other unfair academic competition, believing that merit should be the guiding principle. Further, he is against land acknowledgments in schools as they are not well received by many in the community. Moreover, he is dedicated to historical truth and has asked city hall to remove its plaque to “the children discovered in individual gravesites at the former the children discovered in individual gravesites at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School”—as this never happened.

Above all, Jim wants to lift student confidence in themselves and life.