Six years after winning the MLA job for Port Moody-Coquitlam, BC Liberal MLA Iain Black called it quits to take over as president and CEO of the Vancouver Board of Trade this fall.
He was first elected in 2005 in the Port Moody-Westwood riding, which changed to Port Moody-Coquitlam (including north Burquitlam, a stronger NDP zone, and excluding the Liberal stronghold of Westwood Plateau) in the 2009 election. Black led the ministries of labour; small business, technology and economic development; and labour and citizens' services but was not named to cabinet when Christy Clark took over the province's top job.
Still, Black can count among his accomplishments the successful lobbying for a Heritage Woods middle school and provincial legislation requiring children to use a booster seat.
"I'll be proud of that for the rest of my life," the father of three said while campaigning for the 2009 election. "Given the statistics and the science, the numbers [for car accident injuries relating to children] are going to go down now."
Black's departure to the private sector, which will force a by-election sometime before May 2012, created an opening for another Tri-City politician.
Joe Trasolini announced in the summer that he would not seek re-election to the Port Moody mayor's chair he had held since 1999. It wasn't until after the latest civic vote, however, that he revealed his future plans: to run in Black's old seat - but not under the banner everyone had expected.
Trasolini, a supporter of Liberal Premier Christy Clark during her MLA days, surprised many by running as an NDP candidate, saying he favoured NDP leader Adrian Dix's "inclusive" leadership style.
He hopes to make the jump to provincial politics after serving 15 years at the municipal level. Trasolini was elected as a councillor in 1996 and moved to the mayor's chair in 1999.
He was at the city's helm for big-ticket building projects like the $27-million recreation centre, Fire Hall #2 and the public safety building, as well as Suter Brook Village, but aims to be in the legislature when the Evergreen Line makes its inaugural run through his old city stomping grounds.
spayne@tricitynews.com
