My wife, Darla, and I were fortunate to buy a house and raise our three boys in Coquitlam — and I want others to do the same: We must ensure new housing includes affordable rental and ownership options for families, young people and workers, as well as seniors who want to downsize but stay in their neighbourhoods.

Coquitlam is experiencing unprecedented growth, which must be managed to protect the environment, green spaces and our quality of life. City services must be maintained at the same level our citizens have come to appreciate. School, childcare, public transit and roads need to keep pace with development, and we must prioritize space for medical services.

As a past chair of the Sports and Recreation Advisory Committee, I advocated to expand our rec centres and initiated programs to refurbish older parks and tennis courts, and install eight pickleball courts. We must build more parks, improve outdoor rec amenities and seniors’ centres and find partners to help us expand our cultural centres and build covered sports facilities. 

Residents must feel safe. I want to hire community safety officers, as well as more RCMP for foot patrols, a specialized gang team and traffic enforcement. 

We need better responses to medical calls, including for mental health, and 911 call answering must be improved because no one should wait for help in an emergency. 

It’s been an honour to serve on city council for 11 years and I look forward to continuing to work on your behalf.