It's 9:45 a.m. on a Wednesday, the time Eric Hirvonen scheduled the week prior for a phone interview while he was waiting for a video shoot at The Tri-City News' office. The call wakes him up but he allows for the discussion to proceed.
Over the course of 16 minutes, Hirvonen has many things to say about Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore and how he has represented the city for the past two terms.
As in The Tri-City News video, Hirvonen launches directly into an attack of water metering. He believes they're a waste of money. Hirvonen said homeowners are already taxed enough and installing water meters on residential properties is tantamount to "a home invasion robbery cash grab" by Metro Vancouver. In the video, Hirvonen talks about a June 2011 Drinking Water Management Plan document as proof of Metro Vancouver's intentions to install residential water meters.
Mayor Moore has publicly stated there's "no truth" to Hirvonen's comments.
And there is no indication the city of Port Coquitlam is considering installing water meters at this time.
But Hirvonen, who declined requests for a reporter to accompany him while he knocked on doors campaigning, said this is the key plank in his campaign against Moore for the PoCo mayor's chair, claiming Moore, as board chair of Metro Vancouver, is driving a push for meters by the regional authority.
Mostly, Hirvonen's platform is anti-Moore. He "is not a good mayor," Hirvonen says. "There's no evidence of him serving the public I would do a much better job to represent the people than the current mayor."
Hirvonen takes aim at Moore's endorsements from "special interest groups" such as the New Westminster and District Labour Council and CUPE Local 498, which represents PoCo civic workers. They pay for his campaign and Moore, in turn, doesn't have to pay a cent, Hirvonen claimed.
By comparison, Hirvonen says his campaign is self-funded through his registered slate, the Canada Electric Services Inc. - or Canada Elect, as he calls it on his city disclosure papers - of which he is named as director.
It's not the first time Hirvonen has put forward an electoral organization. In 2011, he ran for city council and his Canada Fire Safety Corp. slate backed William Issa for mayor. But in that run three years ago, when he placed third from bottom with 738 votes, Hirvonen reported the campaign costs carried much larger numbers: $32,494 to be exact, or some $2,000 more than Moore's campaign total.
According to the 2012 documents he filed with the city, for which there are no financial records, Hirvonen's bills included:
$7,777 for advertising;
$8,999 for signs and flyers;
$5,888 for campaign staff;
$3,888 for rent and utilities;
$2,888 for furniture and phones;
$88 for office supplies;
$2,888 for research and polling;
and $78 for transportation.
When challenged, Hirvonen denied his campaigns are tax write-offs, saying said he runs for civic office for the good of the community. "I don't do this for a reason other than to serve the public," he said.
Asked how he would handle the growth coming down from Burke Mountain, where Coquitlam is allowing construction of homes for 20,000 more residents, Hirvonen said he "wouldn't even consider complying with Coquitlam's requests anymore."
"They've already gotten Port Coquitlam to tally up and pay for the Coast Meridian Road and the provincial government helped with the David Avenue route. All of the development is helping Coquitlam, not Port Coquitlam."
As for the RCMP, Hirvonen said sharing a detachment with Coquitlam is "fine the way it is" and police presence is already high in PoCo because of the provincial court.
@jwarrenTC
Website: ericin.tripod.com
