Most members of council are staying mum about their plans for November’s municipal election under wraps for the time being – but everyone’s keeping an eye on Mayor Wayne Wright.
British Columbians will head to the polls to vote for mayors, councillors and school trustees on Saturday, Nov. 15. New Westminster residents will get a chance to vote for mayor, six councillors and seven school trustees.
Coun. Lorrie Williams is the only incumbent who is taking a firm stand on her plans for this November.
“I’m a yes. Everybody is being cagey. That’s fine. They have their reasons. I’m out there – yes, I will run again,” she said.
While Williams had previously indicated the 2011 campaign would be her last, she’s decided to take another run for council.
“That was before I got involved with the Wait for Me, Daddy. There’s one more year yet on that,” she said. “I really want to see the project through to completion.”
Like other politicos and community members, Williams is eager to know whether Mayor Wayne Wright will run again.
“Everybody is waiting to hear what Wayne’s going to do – that changes the whole game. We will wait and see. I think everybody is waiting to see if Wayne throws his hat in the ring or puts his hat on and goes to Australia or something,” she said. “I think he’s done so much for the city. I would certainly understand if he wants to get a rest from it all. He is dynamic. A small businessperson, I think is the ideal candidate for mayor – he can easily sit right down the middle between the left and the right. I would definitely support him – he’s a joy to work with.”
Wright said he’s still debating his plans and expects to make a decision in June.
“I have spoken to some of my funders,” he said about preliminary inquiries. “Quite frankly, they all say ‘go ahead, we want to support you. And more people are coming forward for me to do it.”
Wright, however, said he doesn’t want to think about financing an election campaign until he’s made a firm decision.
Someone awaiting Wright’s decision is Coun. Jonathan Cote.
“At this point I haven’t made any firm decisions about what I am going to be doing in the fall. I have been considering running for mayor but I am not at the point where I am able to make that decision,” he said. “I have had conversations with Wayne, the mayor, and he hasn’t himself made a decision what his future plans are, and I want him to have time to make his own decisions on that matter. That will be a consideration.”
Cote wouldn’t say whether he’d run against Wright in a mayor’s race, or whether he’d take another run at council.
“I haven’t made a decision about what I am going to be doing. I have basically left it with him to make a decision about what he wants to do, then I will make whatever decision I am going to make,” he said. “Also, I need to do some work to see if I have the community support to make that kind of a run.”
Cote, who is currently serving his third term on council, has been near the top of the polls in each election.
“I think I am getting to the point in my time on council where I am looking for a new challenge, whether that is a run for mayor or that is something else, I don’t know,” he said. “I am in the final stages of finishing up my master’s degree at SFU in urban studies, which has been a great program. I am getting to that point where I am looking at my next challenge. That could be a run for mayor or maybe something else.”
Although some community members have speculated Cote could be interested in running for senior levels of government, that isn’t in the cards – at least not yet.
“No other elections, no. On the political side of things, with a young family, I would much prefer to stay in the city,” said the father of three young children. “Longer term, would I ever be interested provincially or federally? I don’t know. But at this stage in life, and talking to MLAs and MPs about what’s involved in their schedule, I would much prefer to stay involved with local government.”
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr, who was reelected to council in the 2011 municipal election, has also been rumoured as a potential mayoralty candidate.
“I heard rumblings of that when I was coming out of retirement as a retired MLA,” said Puchmayr, who served as New Westminster’s MLA in Victoria from 2005 to 2009. “A week doesn’t go by when somebody doesn’t ask me that question. That’s not a decision I have made.”
Puchmayr, who previously served on council from 1996 to 2005, retired from provincial politics to tend to his health, after undergoing a life-saving liver transplant in January 2009.
“I really haven’t decided. It’s quite a commitment. Even council or beyond, it’s quite a commitment,” he said. “In my post-transplant world, you have about a 20-year extension in your life. Every five years is a quarter of your life. To make a decision to tie myself up for another three years, and how I would do that, is a pretty big decision. I can’t just make it by myself. I have the luxury of not having to make that decision right now.”
By the time the election rolls around, it’s likely that successful candidates will serve four years, as the province is set to introduce legislation to increase municipal terms from three to four years.
Veteran Coun. Betty McIntosh said she has also been encouraged to run for mayor but has no interest in doing so. She wouldn’t comment on her election plans.
“I have a plan,” she said. “I will not be discussing it till October.”
While McIntosh has a plan, Coun. Bill Harper is still pondering his political future. As in past elections, he said he won’t make a decision until May or June.
“There is a lot of stuff I would like to complete in the sense there are projects on the table. That’s always going to be the case. I’ll have to see in the next couple months,” he said. “I consciously said to myself I am not going to make a decision till then. There are a lot of things going on with my life. There is family. I have already put in nine years. There is nothing particular – I have been thinking about it.”
Coun. Jaimie McEvoy could not be reached for comment.
