A process to nominate a Port Coquitlam councillor to run for the NDP in the riding of Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam followed all the rules, says an official with the local riding association.
Linda Allott said there was no interference in the candidate selection process, and of those who were contacted to possibly run, only Laura Dupont stepped forward to be an NDP federal candidate.
Dupont is expected to be acclaimed at a virtual meeting of the electoral district association on March 30.
In her comments, Allott, who is the treasurer and official agent for the Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam Electoral District Association, was responding to criticism from former NDP flag bearer Christina Gower who said she never heard nominations were being sought, calling the process “quiet” and undemocratic.
“The people running the show back then wanted democracy, which is providing a choice for the electorate to choose from,” said Gower, who said this time the nomination process was “kept quiet.”
But Allott defended the process, noting that it met the rules of the federal NDP. Search committee members — tasked with approaching potential candidates for nomination — attended training on how to navigate the nomination process and “engaged” a “number of people” who met the party’s candidate qualifications.
“As far as Laura being the preferred candidate, that is incorrect,” added Allott in an email to the Tri-City News. “Laura came forward to serve the community that she has worked for in other capacities.”
However, Gower maintains that there was a “stark difference” between how the candidate was chosen this time compared to when she sought the nomination, with potential candidates signing up memberships “right up to the meeting.”
“It’s not to say that Laura wouldn’t serve them, I know she would,” said Gower.
However, she said she made a promise to some she would run again for the federal NDP if given a chance.
However, Allott said Gower didn’t need an invitation to put her name forward and could have approached the riding executive at anytime; however, the fact that she wasn’t a member of the NDP would have “hindered that process.”
“As far as the comments from Christina Gower, she is no longer a member of the NDP as she ran for the EcoSocialists Party in the Provincial election before having to withdraw,” Allott wrote in an email.
Gower agrees that running for the Ecosocialist Party may have been a factor in not being asked to run for NDP in the Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam federal riding, but said she had issues with the provincial NDP’s record on the environment.
Gower later withdrew from the provincial race due to health reasons but said she would have been “willing to work with the NDP and build up the riding” in another federal bid. She said she hasn't ruled out running as an independent candidate in the federal election that has yet to be called.
Dupont, meanwhile, hasn’t made her candidacy official, with the virtual nomination meeting set to go ahead Tuesday, March 30 at 7 p.m. to those who sign up.
Once her candidacy is made official, Dupont, who topped the polls in the 2018 municipal election, would be up against federal Liberal and incumbent Ron McKinnon, who has been acclaimed to run again.
Meanwhile, Dupont is waiting for a judge’s decision in her bid to overturn a censure against her by her Port Coquitlam council colleagues, passed after a third-party found she broke confidentiality rules.
A decision by the Supreme Court judge in the Jan. 15, 2021 hearing has not yet been publicized.
