The Editor,
I am intrigued to learn that city council is experiencing some difficulty in making a decision on the issue of whether a byelection should be held as a result of the recent election to provincial office of both Linda Reimer and Selina Robinson.
I have recently learned from the city clerk's office that this decision has been pushed back to city council's meeting on July 8, which is almost two months after the provincial election.
What is going on here? Why are we, as residents of this city, not being given the right to replace two councillors who are no longer serving in the positions to which they were elected? I think it would surprise both Ms. Reimer and Ms. Robinson that the service that they provided to the city was not worthy of being replaced.
It is my strongly held belief that if council fails to decide in favour of a byelection, it will represent a major disservice to the residents of Coquitlam. In all honesty, this is not council's decision to make. You are bound by your positions on council to replace these two councillors.
Finally, council should recognize that precedents for byelections in this city have already been established. Louella Hollington left council in 2007 and was replaced in a byelection and Finn Donnelly, who was elected to the federal parliament in 2009, was also replaced through a byelection.
I urge each and every one of you to support the holding of a byelection to replace Ms. Reimer and Ms. Robinson.
Wayne Taylor
Coquitlam
