With the federal Liberals running at a high following the Liberal leadership change this month, the cards are stacked for an early election.
And officials in ridings across the country — including in the Tri-Cities — are now getting their staff, volunteers and candidates in line for a possible spring vote.
The 2025 ballot will have the contenders’ names in the Tri-Cities’ three federal constituencies. Here’s who’s running so far to represent the parties (in alphabetical order by surname; asterisk denotes incumbent)
Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam
- Iain Black, Conservative
- Malcolm Cooke, PPC
- Laura Dupont, NDP
- Michael Glenister, Green
- Ron McKinnon, Liberal*
New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville
- Peter Julian, NDP*
- Jonathan Sheardown, PPC
- Tara Shushtarian, Green
- Lourence Singh, Conservative
Port Moody-Coquitlam
- Vladimir Dedovic, PPC
- Paul Lambert, Conservative
- Bonita Zarrillo, NDP*
The Green Party, which recently nominated their Tri-City candidates, picked Glenister, a science and math teacher in the Surrey School District for more than 25 years, to battle MP McKinnon.
Glenister, who is also a part-time magician and Uber driver, said he plans to push for a national referendum on proportional representation. If elected, he’ll also seek more renewable energy projects and lobby for government reforms “to bring our 19th century system into the 21st century,” he wrote on the party website.
As for Shushtarian, she’s involved with the Force of Nature, an environmental lobby group, and is currently serving her second term on Burnaby’s environmental committee. “I am also a strong advocate for Indigenous rights, land titles and reconciliation, firmly believing that social justice is inseparable from climate justice,” she wrote.
As for the PPC contenders, Cooke, who has a background in the construction industry and journalism, wrote in his party biography that he advocates for Canada’s sovereignty while Dedovic is a recent graduate of the Justice Institute of B.C. and is pursuing a career in law enforcement.
According to an Angus Reid Institute poll released on March 17, the Liberals, under newly sworn-in Prime Minister Mark Carney, have surged past the Conservatives with 42 per cent in vote intention.
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