Phillip Buchan Candidate for Coquitlam City Council

Went to the first council meeting of the year where the developer gave a presentation about a new development on the Port Moody Coquitlam border.

Merry Christmas and all the best in 2023 from Kingsley, Miho and I.

Thank you to everyone for coming to my Donor and Volunteer Appreciation party yesterday at the Coquitlam Legion. I want to express my heartfelt thanks to my wife Miho Kitamoto for making the delicious pumpkin muffins and helping me set up. I hope you can support me again when I run again in 4 years.

Hi everyone this is the recap of the campaign. Thanks to your donations and your help volunteering on my campaign,I was able to get 2306 votes on my first try at running for Coquitlam City Council.I was satisfied with the campaign and I think I got my message out to the people. Due to your contributions, I was able to raise $10280.87 which shattered my target of $10000.I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to everyone who donated to my campaign.

I hit about 3000 doors during the campaign and I only canvassed for 4 months. I want to express my deepest gratitude to Linda Asgeirsson who believed in me from July when I finally decided to run. She did chastise me for not declaring my intention to run soon enough.I have decided to run again in 4 years and I think I can get elected then.I promised Linda I would start preparing at least 2 years in advance.I also want to thank Neal Nicholson who was a wise and trusted advisor during the campaign. I also want to thank Kaitlyn Gorman who was my graphic design wizard for my brochures and ad and I want to thank Sarah Stewart who designed my website.

I want to thank my wife who supported me throughout the campaign. Unfortunately, my mother-in-law,Midori passed away during the campaign on October 5 and my wife is still in Japan right now with her family. I really regret not being able to go to Midori’s funeral.I did go to my niece,Theresa's wedding in Saskatoon during the campaign in September.

I am planning to have a small party next month to thank my volunteers and donors, so please watch your inbox for the invite.It will probably be at the Legion on Ridgeway Ave.

This has been one of the best experiences of my life and I really enjoyed talking to voters for the past 3 months. I have even had some canvassing withdrawal this week and wanted to go out on the doorsteps again.
I was so nervous about the debates, but once you are on the stage it seems like your instincts take over and you just start talking. I was using my notes and looking at them too much, but my voice did not crack or I did not start babbling like an idiot.I really was interested to hear voters opinions and I was surprised that speeding and dangerous driving are such big issues in our city.

Thanks again for making this a wonderful campaign and I hope you are not too mad at me for bombarding you with so many emails over the past 4 months.I was so happy to see my friends Matt Djonlic and Jennifer Blatherwick get elected to Council and School Board respectively.The only thing that really disgusted me was the 20% voter turnout which means around 20000 people decided our representatives for the next 4 years.

Please feel free to reach out with any critiques of my campaign and what you think I can do better when I run again in 4 years.
My email is [email protected]
Sincerely,

Phil Buchan

Last sign waving of the campaign.
There are less than 3 hours to vote.

Vote tomorrow for Phillip Buchan for Coquitlam city council.

Meet and greet with voters at Lincoln sky train this morning with Benjamin Perry

Profile in the TriCity News Votesmart edition last Thursday.

Phil Buchan. Integrity. Compassion. Commitment Coquitlam Candidate: Elections 2022 - Supporting growth and innovation for a healthier community. Working with you, for you.

Good night on the doors tonight. I met Frank and he said you are on my list of who I am voting for on Saturday. What a great moment!!

Arts, culture and heritage: Where do Coquitlam 2022 candidates stand? Coquitlam Heritage is hoping the next council can bring more attention to the sector, claiming it brings in twice the tourism money for the growing community.

For an indepth look at the candidates in Coquitlam, see our Vote Smart feature in this week's Tri-City News.
https://issuu.com/tri-city-news/docs/votesmart-coquitlam_1006

I am so happy to receive this endorsement this morning.

I am happy to endorse Phil Buchan. Having read his platform it is clear that he is well focused on issues that are in the best interests of our community.

Sincerely,

John Cashore: MLA (Maillardville/Coquitlam) 1986 to 2001.

Hello friends and Coquitlam residents,
My name is Phillip Buchan and I am running for election to Coquitlam City Council.

I am honoured to have received the following endorsements:

"Since I met Phil nine years ago I have observed his dedicated and loyal support in many election campaigns held in Coquitlam and elsewhere. He has also been active between elections by serving on executive boards and assisting with many pre-election activities.
Phil has always been willing to do the important on-the-ground jobs such as organizing and putting up signs, knocking on doors and delivering leaflets etc. He is passionate about his progressive values and works hard to enable the election of those who share these principles. He has now decided to enter the political arena as a candidate for Coquitlam City Council and I am confident that, if elected, Phil would bring a strong progressive voice for social justice, reconciliation and diversity to the Council table.".. Linda Asgeirsson, long-time Coquitlam political activist

"Phil has worked hard on behalf of progressive causes since he moved to Coquitlam. I believe Coquitlam Council's failure to hold a by-election, as required by provincial government law, is one of the main issues motivating Phil to seek a Council seat. He would bring a fresh and principled voice to the Council."....Neal Nicholson, former Coquitlam City Councillor

I am focusing on 4 issues in this campaign:

- If I am elected I will introduce a motion for Council to require that developers must designate 20% of the units in all new developments as below-market rate rental units. I will work with the federal and provincial governments to increase the number of co-ops and other forms of truly affordable housing and I will press the city to give non- profit housing organizations free land on which to build below-market rate rentals.

- I want to protect more of the tree canopy and urban forest by having the City review and amend its tree bylaws to protect as many of our mature trees as possible.

- I want to work with Translink to improve our bus service and my goal is to have a bus come every 15 minutes during the day for all Coquitlam residents. This will help to alleviate some of the traffic congestion which many residents have complained to me about.

- And finally, Coquitlam should have followed the legal democratic process in place to promptly replace a Councillor who for any reason leaves the Council. There was ample funds available in the City's Election Reserve Fund to hold a by-election last fall and other municipalities in BC (including Lytton which had been devastated by a wildfire) held necessary by-elections at that time. Coquitlam appealed the provincial government's requirement to hold a by-election 3 times and delayed for many months so that eventually a Judge ruled it was too late to hold one. The Judge did not say that Coquitlam was correct in failing to carry out its democratic duty. If I am elected to Council, I will try my best to ensure that nothing like this happens again and that currently elected officials cannot deprive Coquitlam citizens of their democratic right to elect a replacement Councillor.

I pledge to be accessible and transparent with all Coquitlam residents about all issues that come before Council.

Thank you and I would appreciate your support on October 15.

You can contact me at 604 329-5537 or [email protected]

Election info Call 604 368-7189. [email protected]. www.coquitlam.ca/elections

Sincerely,
Phil Buchan

Elections | Coquitlam, BC The City of Coquitlam holds elections in accordance with the Local Government Act, the Community Charter and the School Act.

Vote for Phil and Matt on October 11,12 or 15.

I talked to my wife in Japan last night and she said my mother-in-law’s funeral went well. I also talked to my 2 Japanese nieces as well and they said Senkyo Ganbatte which means good luck and keep fighting hard in the election. It is inspiring me for the next 6 days.

Great day of canvassing with my friend Wayne Taylor today. We hit over 100 houses and the issue of speeding on Mariner is coming up in a lot of conversations.

Sign waving on Coast Meridian this morning, you can vote from 8-8 today at Victoria Hall, Innovation Centre and Centennial Pavilion.

Canvassing with my volunteer in western Coquitlam today and I walked into an area that is not happy with the City and developers. It was eye opening to listen to their concerns.

I voted for myself and a few other candidates. You do not have to vote for 8, you can vote for only those you really support. I voted for Jennifer Blatherwick, Craig Woods,Carol Cahoun and Chuck Denison for school board. You can vote from 8-8 today at Centennial Pavilion today.

Pamphlet is ready to go, now I have to fold 2000 .

I hit 120 doors today on Austin Ave, a majority were not home. My favourite voter I met today was Glen he was fired up about saving trees. He said he has seen 129 trees cut down in his neighborhood around Austin and Laurentian. He called the city tree bylaws meaningless for protecting mature trees. I agree with him, we have to stop this madness. He said he would vote for me to save the trees.

Here is a list of all people who have donated more than $100 to my campaign as of October 1 2022
Miho Kitamoto
Dale Stadnichuk
Nicola Spurling
Steve Lecouilliard
Bonita Zarrillo
Carlo Zarrillo
Brenda Flynn
Linda Asgeirsson
Sebastien Anderson
Benjamin Perry
Sandra Hochstein
Edie Kernighan
James Hanson
Chris Wilson
William Kulsky
Neal Nicholson
Sungjun Moon
Victor Armstrong
Wayne Taylor
Phillip Buchan
Total $ 8475.33 for all these people
$1294.77 from people who donated under $100 dollars for a total of $9670.
None of these people are executives or family members connected to property developers to the best of my knowledge.I have made a pledge to not accept any donations from any executives or family members of property developers.

I was talking to a voter tonight who has a small business and he moved his business to Port Moody because of too much red tape in Coquitlam. Let’s lower taxes on small businesses in Coquitlam and make it easier for them to do business here. Small businesses make up the majority of our economy. # buchanforcoquitlamcouncillor

3rd sign up at Mariner and Dewdney Trunk road.

Ready to put up my signs this morning and I might do a solo burmashave at Austin and Blue Mountain as well.

2 photos from the debate last night. Thanks to the Tri Cities Chamber of Commerce for organizing this.
Photo Credit
David Blatherwick

Good night of doorknocking with my friend Mike Bell tonight. We hit about 80 doors . We had a good talk about municipal politics in Coquitlam after and agreed we need to get more progressives elected on October 15.

Coquitlam is the only municipality in the greater Vancouver area that is not allowing mail in ballots. One of my neighbours has limited mobility and this means they will not be able to vote. We should be making voting easier for citizens not harder.

This was a very intense conversation about climate change and housing affordability. 2 issues I am passionate about and are both emergencies that we have to take seriously . This was at the Coquitlam town centre library this afternoon.

Campaign info if you want to check out my website or reach out to me.

Good night of doorknocking in Austin and Joyce area. One lady shared her love of trees and she was mad about one being cut down on Rochester.

I was doorknocking tonight and a voter told me about the gym that is not finished at Centennial high school after 5 years and I did some research and it is delayed by legal troubles and a contractor that was fired for not doing good work and another contractor has taken over and insurance company is involved as well and the school board is in court too. It is a pretty complicated issue I will have to look into more. Other voters talked about speeding cyclists on the King Albert bridge and bike path. One voter was concerned about cars speeding down Schoolhouse street too.

I am back from my wedding in Saskatoon and ready to go canvassing every day until October 15.

I am officially nominated and registered as a councillor candidate in the Coquitlam city municipal election on October 15 as of 4 pm yesterday.