The race is now on to fill the Coquitlam council seats left vacant this spring by two civic politicians elected to provincial jobs.
On Monday, city council voted 4-2 in favour of holding a byelection in October to replace councillors Linda Reimer and Selina Robinson. (BC Liberal Reimer and Robinson, of the NDP, won seats in Port Moody-Coquitlam and Coquitlam-Maillardville respectively in the May 14 provincial election.)
For much of the 38-minute debate, council went back and forth between the right of taxpayers to vote and the need to save their dollars.
In the end, it came down to Coun. Lou Sekora - who in 1997 prompted a byelection when he quit as mayor to become a Liberal MP - to allow the campaign to proceed.
Sekora argued, "Canada is what it is today because of the people who had fought in the war" to defend democracy.
Sekora was backed by councillors Brent Asmundson, Terry O'Neill and Neal Nicholson, who was part of campaign last week to encourage residents to sign an online petition to call for a byelection (as of Tuesday morning, it had more than 100 names).
"Voting is one of the greatest rights we have," Asmundson said, urging residents to "due their due diligence" by vote given that byelections typically see 5% turnouts.
Coun. Mae Reid, however, contended she would like to see the $150,000 not used for a byelection be put towards social programs such as the food bank or the animal shelter.
Mayor Richard Stewart said he worries the new incumbents will have less than a year to catch up before the next general election. And he has lobbied the provincial government to change the rules around byelections, permitting municipalities to "promote" the first-place loser of the previous campaign.
In this case, it would have been Doug Macdonell, who supported Stewart for mayor.
City clerk Jay Gilbert said a staff report will go before council on July 29 to set the byelection date and appoint a chief election officer.
A number of people contacted by The Tri-City News have said they're considering throwing their hats in the ring for the Coquitlam council byelection, including:
Barrie Lynch, a former city councillor who in 2011 gave up his seat to launch an unsuccessful challenge of Richard Stewart for the mayor's job;
Doug Macdonell, who lost his council chair by 102 votes in the last election;
Fred Soofi, a resident of Anmore who owns a restaurant in Coquitlam and who placed behind Macdonell two years ago;
Randy Delmonico, the former general manager of the Coquitlam Senior Adanacs lacrosse team who also was a council candidate in 2011;
Jack Trumley, chair of the Coquitlam Public Library board, who has run for civic office;
Ben Craig, president of the Oakdale Neighbourhood Association;
and Chris Wilson, executive director of KidSport and former Olympic wrestler who lost to BC Liberal MLA Doug Horne in the May provincial election.
In previous byelections, the candidates who secured an endorsement from CUPE, the union that represents civic workers, tended to win.
For the 2007 and '10 byelections to replace Louella Hollington and Fin Donnelly respectively, union-backed candidate Neal Nicholson took the highest number of ballots in both races.
Monday's decision by council was watched closely by union officials, including Ken Landgraff, president of CUPE Local 386, which represents Coquitlam city staff. Landgraff was not available for comment by The News' print deadline.
