Port Moody bids farewell to Agtarap and Dilworth

While there have been disputes and disagreements over the past four years, Port Moody council was unanimous in gratitude during the last meeting of the term as Couns. Diana Dilworth and Samantha Agtarap said goodbye.

Before making her first run for council in 1999, Dilworth worked as a Port Moody committee clerk where she watched council meet and realized there was a voice missing.

“One of a single mother of two kids running a small business from her home,” she said.

During her remarks, Dilworth reflected on voting for Bert Flinn Park, the importance of collaboration, and having spent about half her life in Port Moody city hall.

She also offered some words of advice to the new council.

“Our small-town charm; it’s not about the decision-makers sitting at this table and it’s not about the buildings we approve, it’s about the young people and the families and the seniors and the business owners that love their community. Please, at your worst of times, remember that as your guiding light,” she said.

From 2018 to 2022, Dilworth was part of a particularly polarized council marked by frequent arguments and marathon meetings.

“If members of council were as sensitive to time as they are in the last hour of a meeting as they are in the first two hours of the meeting, we might actually start getting out of here at 10 p.m.,” Dilworth once said as a meeting stretched toward midnight.

As director of government relations at Homebuilders Association Vancouver, Dilworth faced repeated criticism over her support for various developments.

Discussing a much-delayed gateway project on the west side of the city, Dilworth emphasized the need for the city to find a way to collaborate with developers. Failing to give that project an extension would: “give a huge black eye to this city council,” she said.

She voted against a six-storey project on James Road, which she said would set a bad precedent, “not only for James Road but for a dead-end side street.”

Dilworth was part of the council that approved using the Kyle Centre as an extreme weather homeless shelter.

She also spoke about the pitfalls of misinformation, particularly on social media.

“There is a diverse spectrum of opinions in our community,” Dilworth said. “Disagreement is not disrespect, and disagreement doesn’t mean we’re not listening.”

Resident John Grasty thanked Dilworth for her advocacy for affordable housing and for making the city greener and more inclusive.

“For over 25 years you haven’t just served Port Moody you’ve truly shaped it,” he said.

Grasty also offered kind words to Agtarap, who he called a “fierce protector” of the local tax base.

“Your data-driven, solution-focused voice will be deeply missed at this table,” he said.

Looking ahead, Agtarap advised council that social media algorithms that reward outrage will continue to divide the community. However, there is a solution, she added.

“My hope for you is simple: get out into the real world and talk face to face. We have more in common that not, whatever our political leanings.”

Agtarap has advocated on behalf of Eagle Ridge Hospital and lobbied the province to provide long-term funding to better protect residents from extreme heat and flooding.

Mayor-elect Haven Lurbiecki thanked Dilworth and Agtarap.

“I hope that if you’re leaving the council table we can still see you back in those council chambers to hold us accountable,” she said.

In his remarks, Freedom of the City award winner Robert Simons struck a philosophical tone in discussing the continuum of leadership.

“It’s hard to have your last meeting,” she said. “You took over the reins from those that preceded you and those that follow you will take those reins.”

The new council is set to be sworn in Tuesday.