Mayor-elect Jonathan Cote has found a “hard-core” campaigner – who’s still way too young to vote.
Cote, who beat incumbent Mayor Wayne Wright on election day, got a helping hand on the campaign trail from his daughter Renee. At seven, she’s the oldest of Cote’s three daughters.
“I had not planned on having them involved,” Cote said. “Certainly the younger two were not that interested at all, but Renee took a real keen interest in everything we were doing and wanted to come out with me, always wanted to go to the campaign office.”
On one day during the campaign, Cote embarked on an afternoon of door knocking with councillor candidate Patrick Johnstone. Renee asked her father if she could accompany them on their door-knocking excursion to Queensborough and he agreed.
“It had gotten to 5:30. We had to get home for dinner, and Patrick had somewhere to go. There were another 50 townhouses, and we were like, ‘We can’t do it.’ She started getting really upset,” Cote said. “I thought, ‘Wow, she’s more hardcore about this than I am.’”
If daughters Leah, 5, and Violet, 2, show the same campaigning spirit, Cote will have his own in-house election machine in the years ahead.
Pecha Kucha returns
Volume 7 of Pecha Kucha New West is set to take place at River Market on Friday, Dec. 5.
For those who haven’t attend past events, Pecha Kucha features 10 presenters sharing their projects and passions – in 20 images each lasting 20 seconds. The event gets underway at 6:30 p.m. with drinks and music, and presentations starting at 8 p.m.
Presenters lined up for the Dec. 5 presentations include: Susan Greig(owner/artist, 100 Braid St. Studios); Marianne Amodio (architect); Colin Easton (creator, The Stranger Project in Vancouver); Elfred Matining (art and community organizer ArtStarts in schools); Peter Hall (professor in urban studies at SFU); Pamela Findling (Coast Mountain Bus Company); Michael Kaisaris (chef at ReUp BBQ); John Gibeau (president of the Honeybee Centre); and Quentin andAlexa Bennett Fox (student and teacher in New Westminster).
Celebrating Freda’s life
A celebration of life for a prominent New Westminster resident is taking place this weekend.
Freda Hogg, 98, passed away peacefully at home on Oct. 20. Hogg moved to New Westminster with her family when she was six and lived in the city for the remainder of her life.
“She was a wonderful, pleasant lady,” said Mayor Wayne Wright. “It is a loss. There are some people you can’t replace, and she is one of them.”
During her lifetime, Hogg was involved in many organizations and committees, including the city’s Remembrance Day committee, the Canadian Club of New Westminster and Fraser Valley and the Royal Westminster Regiment Association.
A life member of the Royal Westminster Regiment Association, Hogg was one of the founders of the regiment’s museum.
Through the years, Hogg’s extensive volunteer efforts netted her numerous awards including the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and the Governor General’s caring Canada Award.
A celebration of life is being held on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. at Anvil Centre.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to the Museum of the Royal Westminster Regiment, the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation or the Make-a-Wish Foundation of B.C. and the Yukon.
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