New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote is willing to take on a bigger role in the region following the 2018 civic election.
Cote easily won his second term as mayor, on a night when other mayors in Metro Vancouver weren’t quite as lucky. Incumbent mayors in Burnaby (Derek Corrigan), Pitt Meadows (John Becker) and Port Moody (Mike Clay) were all defeated.
“First of all, you have 65 per cent of the mayors not running again, and then you have three incumbent mayors defeated,” Cote told the Record. “Definitely there is going to be big changes around the regional government tables in Metro Vancouver. I am going to go from the rookie mayor to one of the veteran mayors in the region.”
Cote said he’s championed issues like transit and housing at the regional level.
“Those are two areas where I look to take a strong regional role at Metro Vancouver and TransLink next term,” he said.
While the mayor is automatically the city’s representative to the Metro Vancouver board, city council will appoint its alternate director to the Metro Vancouver board at its inaugural meeting on Monday, Nov. 5. Metro Vancouver’s inaugural board meeting is set for on Nov. 16.
Cote is now the fifth longest-serving mayor in the region, behind Malcolm Brodie (Richmond), Richard Stewart (Coquitlam), Jack Froese (Township of Langley) and Doug McCallum, who served as Surrey’s mayor until 2005 and was re-elected mayor on Saturday.
