‘Thank you, Richard’ Coquitlam mayor departs amid praise from colleagues

The new Coquitlam council will have a clean slate but they may spot a few tearstains.

The last council meeting of the term marked the departures of Couns. Dennis Marsden, Brent Asmundson, Trish Mandewo, and outgoing Mayor Richard Stewart.

“I’ve always been shy but now I’m called outgoing,” Stewart quipped.

After 18 years in the mayor’s chair, Stewart closed his political career with a speech that included pleas for respectful political discourse and empathy for members of the community suffering from addiction or mental health challenges.

The mayor recalled a prominent B.C. politician asking him to run for office many years ago.

“I laughed and said you’d have to be an idiot to run for office,” Stewart recounted, adding that Gordon Campbell politely thanked him for his response.

After serving as Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA, Stewart won a seat on council, eventually running for mayor in the hopes of breaking what he called the: “nevergreen line stalemate.”

The SkyTrain extension coincided with a boom period that saw the city adding about 35,000 residents between 2007 and 2020.

“You can’t get billions of dollars in investment in rapid transit without accepting the growth that must go around those stations,” Stewart said, explaining his aversion to cutting down forests or sprawling into agricultural land.

Stewart noted the level of car ownership was about 60 percent when he joined council.

“Another million people with 60 percent car ownership would mean paving an area the size of Port Coquitlam just to park them,” he said.

To serve that growing population, Coquitlam added a rec centre of Maillardville, the YMCA in Burquitlam, and the revamped Mundy Park Pool – all of which were largely paid for with non-tax revenue and grants from senior levels of government.

“We don’t generally go into debt financing,” Stewart said.

The mayor also advised future councillors to avoid the pitfalls that come with freezing property taxes.

“Zero percent tax increases only makes people try to cut programs,” he said. “We see that in a couple communities now.”

The outgoing mayor devoted much of his speech to the need for mental health, noting his daughter’s hospitalizations.

There are consequences when people with mental health issues aren’t supported, he said.

“That is 3030 Gordon,” he said. “The street disorder issues that people complain about without necessarily recognizing: that’s my daughter without mental health treatment. That’s my uncle without addictions treatment. That’s what happens.”

Communities inherit the failures of the public health system. However, there are reasons to be hopeful, Stewart said, noting the Brookside/Hillside rehabilitation and recovery program as well as the Red Fish Healing Centre.

While there still aren’t enough beds, Coquitlam council’s support for the facilities demonstrates that communities can embrace mental health and addictions service, he said.

Stewart mentioned that his daughter eventually worked as a psychiatric nurse at Brookside/Hillside.

“All of us could face mental health issues,” he said. “Every single one of us could be hospitalized. . . . Looking at this table – one of us may be struggling with his or her mental health. I know I am.”

Stewart asked residents to look at their neighbours, “with a little bit more kindness.”

Addressing the incoming councillors, some of whom were seated in the gallery, Stewart advocated for them to keep working toward reconciliation.

“It really matters that we continue to work with Kwikwetlem First Nation,” he said.

In telling his own family story, Stewart explained that his French-Canadian Catholic mother chose to raise her child in Maillardville – a community that reflected her faith, culture, and religion.

“We need to keep remembering that the First Nations people of this province didn’t have that option,” he said.

Mandewo also praised Stewart for being a consensus builder.

“You lead from behind,” she said of Stewart. “I never saw you trying to dim anyone’s light so you could shine.”

Council has had some battles. “But it’s done with respect,” said Coun. Dennis Marsden.

Marsden noted council’s work in building up the city’s affordable housing reserve fund.

“We’ve achieved over $40 million in money that we have raised to give back and make housing more affordable,” he said.

Addressing the newly elected councillors, Marsden told them they were now part of something bigger than themselves.

“You are merely stewards to ensure that when your time is done at this table it is in better shape than when you found it. And you found it in pretty damn good shape,” he said.

Vowing not to become the old guy who returns to chambers to interrogate the new council, Brent Asmundson congratulated the new generation that will lead the city.

He discussed the importance of balancing today’s needs with tomorrow’s residents and not leaving a future burden.

Asmundson ended his remarks by thanking Stewart for his friendship and his commitment to a difficult job.

“Richard, thank you.”

After a quarter-century in elected office, Stewart talked about the privilege of his job as well as the strain politics can place on a family – both in terms of time commitments and online misinformation.

He recounted his spouse mentioning: “You know, honey, your current wife would like you to retire.”

As one of his last acts, Stewart handed Mayor-elect Craig Hodge his gavel, which he noted his made of foam rubber.

“It’s more like a stress toy for when Craig won’t stop talking,” Stewart said. “It’s worn out.”

Stewart emphasized the importance of working to find agreement among nine independent voices.

“Building a consensus is always a challenge but we are so good at it and I think that you will continue in that path,” Stewart told Hodge.

The new council is set to be sworn in Nov. 9.