This past Sunday, October 4, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the date of the by-election in the federal riding of New Westminster-Coquitlam. The election will take place on Monday, November 9. The by-election is necessary because the seat was left vacant when former MP Dawn Black left it to serve as the MLA for New Westminster.
The riding of New Westminster-Coquitlam covers portions of New Westminster, Coquitlam and Port Moody. If you’re not sure whether you live in the riding or not, you can refer to the detailed riding map provided by Elections Canada.
If you drive through the riding you can see that the campaign is already underway, with signs popping up on lawns and roadsides. Candidates for the four major parties have been selected and they are all busy sharing their message with voters. Port Moody councillor Diana Dilworth is representing the Conservatives, Coquitlam councillor Fin Donnelly is representing the NDP, Rebecca Helps is fighting for the Green Party, and Ken Beck Lee is standing up for the Liberals. (I presented the candidates in alphabetical order by last name, by the way. The order has no significance whatsoever, I promise.)
If you live in New Westminster-Coquitlam, this is the time to start informing yourself about the issues that matter to you and what the candidates have to say. There will be advance polls on October 30, October 31 and November 2, and general voting day is November 9. There are plenty of chances to make your voice heard, so please get out and vote!
[...] is candidate week here at the V3H! There is a by-election happening in the federal riding of New Westminster-Coquitlam on November 9, and we want to keep you informed. So this week we will be posting interviews from four candidates [...]