Port Coquitlam: Hazel Trembath a community priority as four-way race shapes up

Four candidates are vying for the chance to represent Port Coquitlam.

Longtime NDP MLA Mike Farnworth will attempt to hold onto his seat amid a challenge from Conservative Party candidate Keenan Adams, Green Party candidate Adam Bremner-Akins, and Libertarian Lewis Dahlby.

How the candidates answered your questions on . . . affordable housing

On the subject of building more affordable housing, each candidate noted the need for speed.

Conservative Party candidate Keenan Adams focused on working with cities to cut red tape.

NDP incumbent Mike Farnworth also cited the need to cut red tape while touting his party’s plan to build 300,000 new homes over the next decade. Farnworth also touted utilizing public land to build affordable housing.

Green Party candidate Adam Bremner-Akins emphasized a need to build nonprofit and co-op housing, as well as working with municipalities to streamline the approval process for affordable housing projects.

Bremner-Akins also emphasized the need to protect tenants from rent hikes and displacement.

Homelessness

Asked about homelessness, Conservative candidate Adams focused on the shelter at 3030 Gordon Avenue, stating the NDP has “refused to do anything” following a critical report in 2023.

Farnworth noted the 6,000 units of supportive housing already built and pledged to keep working with local governments on homelessness.

Besides building new shelters, Green candidate Bremner-Akins emphasized the importance of addressing root causes of homelessness by providing job training programs as well as addiction treatment and mental health supports.

Climate change

Given the increased frequency of extreme weather events, Farnworth pledged to invest in renewable energy while expanding rebates for electric vehicles.

B.C. should phase out fossil fuel subsidies, according to Bremner-Akins. The Green Party candidate also emphasized expanding public transportation while creating new, more environmentally friendly jobs.

Adams did not provide an answer for the climate change question.

Industry and regulations

For Adams, cutting regulations is critical, particularly in the forestry sector. The Conservatives pledged to dramatically reduce regulations while introducing a law requiring one regulation to be cut for every new regulation added.

Farnworth and Bremner-Akins focused on the balance between attracting investment and protecting the environment.

Bremner-Akins added he would not support “widespread deregulation or privatization of any industry,” adding that protecting workers rights was a top priority.

Click here to read the complete candidate questionnaire responses from:

NDP incumbent Mike Farnworth
Conservative Party candidate Keenan Adams
Green Party candidate Adam Bremner-Akins

Riding history

After losing the riding in 2001, Farnworth returned to capture what was then Port Coquitlam-Burke Mountain in 2005, edging Liberal Greg Moore by 4.4 percentage points.

Including that 2005 election, Farnworth has won the riding five straight times. In the last four elections, no challenger has come within 15 percentage points of the incumbent.

Most recently, Farnworth cruised to re-election in 2020 with 64 percent of the vote, far ahead of Liberal challenger Mehran Zargham, who finished with 20.9 percent of the vote.

Green Party candidate Erik Minty captured 12.6 percent of the vote.

Shaped a bit like a genie’s lamp, the riding is bordered by the Pitt River on its eastern side. Heading west, the boundary follows Lincoln Avenue up to Victoria Drive up Wellington Street and across Mason Avenue at its northernmost point before heading down Oxford Street back down to Lincoln and over to Westwood Street.

The riding wraps around ƛ̓éxətəm (tla-hut-um) Regional Park (formerly Colony Farm) and is generally bounded on its southeastern side by the Coquitlam River.

Despite an early idea that would have redrawn the riding to group the southern side of Port Coquitlam with Pitt Meadows and Fort Langley, the riding is largely unchanged from the last election. However, the Kwikwetlem First Nation reserve just north of ƛ̓éxətəm is now in the Coquitlam-Maillardville riding.

Bridge work

In an open letter, Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West listed several priorities for the city including rebuilding Hazel Trembath Elementary and replacing the Coquitlam River Bridge on Lougheed Highway.

Citing the bridge’s age and relative lack of capacity as well as the role it could play in an evacuation, replacing the bridge is crucial, West wrote.

The province gave the bridge to the city in the late-1990s.

“With a cost estimate of approximately $60 million, the position that this burden for a regional bridge that is used by thousands of people from all over should be paid solely by the taxpayers of Port Coquitlam is completely unreasonable and unfair,” West wrote in his letter.

The bridge is Port Coquitlam’s responsibility, according to a message from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure earlier this year.

“Our government continues to lobby the federal government to increase its infrastructure funding for these types of projects,” the ministry representative added.