January 11, 2016 – BC Chamber Public Affairs Update

Vancouver-Mount Pleasant is considered a safe NDP seat. The NDP won the riding in the 2013 general election with 65 per cent of the vote and a 10,000-vote plurality over the second-place BC Liberal candidate, and their by-election candidate Melanie Mark is the early favourite. Ms. Mark, who worked for eight years with B.C.’s Representative for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpel Lafond, is Nisga’a, Gitxsan, Cree and Ojibwa, and would become the first ever First Nations woman to serve in the B.C. Legislature if she wins. The BC Liberal candidate is Gavin Dew, a business development and community planning consultant, who says voters should elect an MLA who can get things done. The Green Party candidate is community activist Pete Fry, the son of Vancouver Liberal MP Hedy Fry. The riding became vacant after BC NDP MLA Jenny Kwan resigned to run in the federal election.

Coquitlam-Burke Mountain is a more heated race. The riding has been represented by BC Liberal Doug Horne since its creation in 2009, but it’s considered up for grabs this time around. Trying to hold the seat for the BC Liberals is Joan Isaacs, a businesswoman with three decades’ experience in the financial services industry. She is running on the government’s economic record, and hopes voters will endorse Premier Clark’s performance to date on job creation, economic growth and community safety. The BC NDP hopes those who voted to elect a BC Liberal government in the general election will be more willing to vote for the BC NDP in this by-election to send a message to the government without having to change the government. The BC NDP candidate is Jodie Wickens, the head of a local autism advocacy group. Punk rocker Joe Keithley from the band D.O.A. has switched allegiances from the BC NDP and is running for the Greens.