Since 2000, James Moore has held the riding Port Moody – Westwood – Port Coquitlam. He has been a very familiar face in this riding and won every single election with more than 50 percent of the vote. Now that he has left, it has left a void in this riding. Douglas Horne (Conservative), Lewis Dahlby (Libertarian), Brad Nickason (Green), Ron McKinnon (Liberal), and Sara Norman (NDP) are all competing for the seat this year.
Douglas Horne has a working relationship with Moore and considers him a friend. Horne and Moore stand for a lot of the same issues, including a more socially liberal, while economically conservative stance. He is a strong proponent of Horne plans to continue Moore’s legacy in the area and work with the community and provide strong, responsible leadership in parliament. Doug has also supported a true balanced budget, continuing to reduce the deficit.
Lewis Dahlby represents the Libertarian party in this riding. He advocates the least allowable level of government involvement in our lives. Dahlby believes in scrapping numerous aboriginal benefits, introducing a flat income tax of 16% and limiting our foreign aid.
Brad Nickason’s Green Party Platform is based on protecting the environment. He believes that the government should accommodate more students and engage people on the climate change issue. Nickason also believes in paying for pollution, starting with a gas tax and corporate tax increase.
Ron McKinnon of the Liberal Party has confidence in the federal Liberal plan of increasing taxes on higher income individuals, which includes small business, spending more on infrastructure in an effort to help stimulate the economy. The platform also consists in more education tax credits to help out young people.
Sara Norman of the NDP believes in hiking the minimum wage to $15, education tax credits and higher taxes to fund it all. She agrees with a government who helps out the poor, and aids the distribution of taxes. Norman has also states that we need to increase funding to aboriginal communities.
This riding will be a swing riding, and could end up tipping the balance of power in this tight federal election. Many people are focused on ‘strategic voting’, and lean towards the ‘Anyone but Harper’ candidate (Norman), though there are lots of people who loved Moore and will transfer their support to Horne in this riding.