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Parties to vote next month on Coquitlam byelection candidates

Members of the BC NDP and BC Liberals in the provincial riding of Coquitlam-Burke Mountain will soon vote on their person to run in the upcoming byelection.
BYELEX

Members of the BC NDP and BC Liberals in the provincial riding of Coquitlam-Burke Mountain will soon vote on their person to run in the upcoming byelection.

The NDP will select its candidate Dec. 6 at Coquitlam Public Library's City Centre branch while the BC Liberals will choose their candidate Dec. 14 (a location has not been disclosed).

As of Tuesday, each party had only one candidate publicly declare an intention to seek the nomination: Jodie Wickens for the NDP and Rick Pasin for the Liberals.

The Coquitlam-Burke Mountain office has been vacant since BC Liberal Doug Horne resigned in August to run for former MP James Moore's job in the federal election (he lost to Liberals Ron McKinnon).

Don Main of Elections BC said the government has until Feb. 17 to call a byelection — six months after Horne quit. But as NDP MLA Jenny Kwan also left her Vancouver-Mount Pleasant riding on July 13 to run federally — meaning a byelection must be called there by Jan. 13 — it's likely both votes will take place on the same day.

So far, the only confirmed byelection candidate is Joe Keithley, the frontman for the punk rock band DOA, who was acclaimed by the BC Green Party in September.

jwarren@tricitynews.com