Linda Reimer is the BC Liberal incumbent. She beat former Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini by 437 votes (46.4 per cent – 44.3 per cent). Trasolini, who had won the seat in a by-election the previous year, likely inflated the NDP vote beyond its usual levels (he received about 1,600 more votes than the NDP candidate received in 2009, while the Liberal vote slipped slightly by 300).
In 2009: Liberal Iain Black won this riding, defeating NDP candidate Shannon Watkins 52-39 per cent. But in the 2012 by-election, Trasolini defeated Dennis Marsden by nearly 3,000 votes, 54-30 per cent.
History & Geography: A riding centred around Port Moody was first created in 1991, and the district’s current formation also includes northern areas of Coquitlam west of Gatensbury, along with the villages of Anmore and Belcarra. It had gone to the Liberals in every election since 1996 before Trasolini, who was heavily wooed by both the Liberals and NDP, took the seat.
Candidates
Liberals – Linda Reimer: incumbent is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development. Reimer is a graduate of SFU and previously served two terms as a Coquitlam City Councillor.
NDP – Rick Glumac: A Port Moody city councillor since 2011, he has background in electronics engineering and the high-tech sector as an app developer and a computer graphics supervisor in the film industry.
Greens – Don Barthel: Founder of two high-tech businesses (Softline Systems and UsedVancouver.com), he has made comments on social media that he is just a “paper candidate” and doesn’t expect to actively campaign. He lives in Vancouver.
2017 Stats: Port Moody-Coquitlam
Population (2014): 59,355 (25th)
Population Deviation from Average: 11.7 per cent
Area: 85 sq km (54th)
Pop Density: 698.3 (34th)
Average Age: 39.1 years (67th)
English as Second Language: 31.27 per cent (31st)
Top 3 Second Languages:
Korean – 4.81 per cent
Persian (Farsi) – 2.87 per cent
Chinese, n.o.s. – 2.26 per cent
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