Some facts about the federal riding of Port Moody-Coquitlam

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/10/2019 (2173 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORT MOODY, B.C. – Port Moody-Coquitlam

New Democrat Fin Donnelly won this riding in Metro Vancouver in the last election. First elected in 2009 in the riding of New Westminister-Coquitlam, the well-known fisheries advocate announced he wouldn’t be running for re-election. Donnelly has a long history of working for the environment and has embarked on 14 marathon swims in B.C. lakes and rivers, including twice swimming the 1,400-kilometre length of the Fraser River.

Population: 110,817

Major communities: Port Moody, Coquitlam, Belcarra and Anmore.

Main challengers: Bonita Zarrillo, a two-term Coquitlam city councillor is running for the New Democrats; Bryce Mathew Watts, an environmentalist, ethnobotanist and entrepreneur, represents the Green party; Sara Badiei, who has worked for the World Bank Group and the International Red Cross, is the Liberal candidate; and Nelly Shin, entrepreneur and musician, is carrying the Conservative banner.

Election history: Over the last three decades the riding’s representation has swung from New Democrat to Reform, Liberal to Alliance and back to the NDP.

Fun fact: The riding includes the tiny Boulder Island in the Indian Arm, a kayaking hot spot that was once a burial site for the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation. Traditionally, the dead would be wrapped in cedar bark and placed in the branches of trees, but Christian missionaries denounced the practice and the bodies were moved to the mainland. Legend says when they moved the body of Waut-Sauk, a famous chief who lived in the early 1800s, the canoe was followed by two killer whales that only turned back to sea when the vessel made it to the beach.