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Richard Stewart

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the English stage actor who settled in Australia, see Richard Stewart (actor). For the English cricketer, see Wes Stewart.

His Worship
Richard Stewart
Stewart in 2014
Mayor of Coquitlam[1]
Incumbent
Assumed office
December 1, 2008
Preceded byMaxine Wilson
Councillor of Coquitlam[2]
In office
November 19, 2005 – December 1, 2008
MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville[3]
In office
2001–2005
Preceded byJohn Cashore
Succeeded byDiane Thorne
Personal details
Born1958 or 1959 (age 65–66)[4]
NationalityCanadian
Political partyBC Liberals
SpouseAnna Rosa Stewart
Children4
Alma materSimon Fraser University
OccupationPolitician, Entrepreneur
WebsiteRichardStewart.ca

Richard Stewart (born 1959) is the mayor for the city of Coquitlam, British Columbia. He was elected to Coquitlam City Council in 2005, and became mayor in 2008.[1][2]

Personal life

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He was married in 1983 to Anna Rosa, they have four children. Stewart has served his community in the provincial government as MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville from 2001 to 2005;[3] appointed MLA Responsible for Francophone Affairs,[5] member of the Government Caucus Committee on the Economy, and Chair of the Select Standing Committee on Education.

Stewart is bilingual, speaking English and French.[5]

Stewart has experience as a community volunteer in a large number of social, service, environmental, business and community organizations, including the Coquitlam Rotary Club, the Knights of Columbus, the Maillardville Lions Club, the Société Maillardville Uni and Société Francophone de Maillardville.

Career

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Stewart was previously President of the Canadian Home Builders' Association of British Columbia, Chair of the National Housing Economic Research Council, a member of the BC Minister's Advisory Council on Affordable Housing, a member of National and BC Building Code Committees, and a member of the National Research Council Canada's Standing Committee on Housing.

At the local government level, Stewart has served on Economic Development Committees, on a local Advisory Design Panel, on Housing Committees, and as a Trustee on the Coquitlam Public Library Board. Stewart is a writer, and has operated his own publishing, government relations and communications business.

In 2004, MLA Elayne Brenzinger, then an independent, accused Stewart of improper conduct, claiming he had groped her. Brenzinger later retracted the allegations and issued an apology.[6][7][8]

On November 15, 2008, Stewart was elected as mayor of Coquitlam in the British Columbia municipal elections, beating out incumbent Maxine Wilson.[9]

In 2016, Stewart revealed that he had been wearing the same suit to work events for the past fifteen months, in an effort to highlight the double standard that women in the public sphere, particularly in politics, are subject to over their appearance.[10][11] He stated that while he had heard of female colleagues at both the municipal and provincial levels of government receiving negative comments about their outfits and hairstyles, particularly when they re-used outfits, he had never heard of a male politician receiving similar comments.[12] Although his original intention was to carry on until someone noticed, he went public after fifteen months because "I was wearing the same suit to every meeting and (there was) no indication that anyone was ever going to notice."[10][11][12]

In 2022, the Metro Vancouver Regional District, of which Coquitlam is a member, became involved in a dispute with construction company Acciona over a building project in North Vancouver.[13] In fall 2022, a lawsuit filed by Metro Vancouver alleged that Anika Calder, the daughter of Coquitlam city manager Peter Steblin and an employee with Acciona, had used Stewart's login and password access confidential legal documents relating to this dispute, then provided copies of the documents to Acciona.[14] As of May 2023, the city council has not commented on the allegations officially. In an interview in January 2023, Stewart stated that the details presented by Metro Vancouver "aren't entirely accurate," and suggested that additional information would be presented at trial.[15]

City Councillor committees

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  • Chair of the Livable Communities Advisory Committee
  • Chair of the Disability Issues Advisory Committee
  • Chair of the Maillardville Revitalization Committee
  • Member of the GVRD Labour Relations Bureau
  • Chair of the Parcel Tax Review Panel
  • Council representative to the Fraser-Burrard Community Justice Society
  • Member of the Executive of Lower Mainland Municipal Association

References

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  1. ^ a b City of Coquitlam: Mayor and Council Retrieved on March 15, 2009
  2. ^ a b City of Coquitlam: 2005 Election Results Retrieved on March 15, 2009
  3. ^ a b Elections BC 2001 Results: Coquitlam-Maillardville Retrieved on March 15, 2009
  4. ^ Election 2014: Stewart wins in Coquitlam; Sekora, after many years, is out of office (McKenna, Gary) The Tri City News [Coquitlam, B.C] Nov 18, 2014.
  5. ^ a b Relations, Office of the Premier, Intergovernmental (August 21, 2001). "MLA Given Francophone Responsibilities". archive.news.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved June 22, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Mickleburgh, Rod (May 27, 2005). "No evil doers here, only a farcical MLA". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  7. ^ Meissner, Dirk (May 13, 2004). "MLA retracts accusations of lewd conduct". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  8. ^ Rockel, Nick (April 1, 2004). "It's question period for the B.C. Liberals". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  9. ^ City of Coquitlam: 2008 Election Results Retrieved on March 15, 2009
  10. ^ a b "Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart wore same suit for 15 months and nobody noticed". CBC. February 22, 2016.
  11. ^ a b "B.C. mayor wears same suit for 15 months as social experiment - Macleans.ca". www.macleans.ca. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  12. ^ a b "He washed it six times: Coquitlam mayor Richard Stewart explains why he wore the same suit for 15 months". National Post. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  13. ^ "Company ousted from $1B North Shore wastewater treatment project suing Metro Vancouver". CBC News. March 31, 2022. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  14. ^ McElroy, Justin (December 16, 2022). "Coquitlam leadership involved in legal battle between Metro Vancouver and wastewater contractor". CBC News. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  15. ^ McElroy, Justin (January 18, 2023). "Coquitlam's calm political culture faces test with explosive privacy allegations". CBC News. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
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