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Two BC byelections set for April 19, 2012

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark has called the byelections for Port Moody-Coquitlam and Chilliwack-Hope.

Both will be held on April 19, 2012.

The Port Moody-Coquitlam byelection is to replace Iain Black, a former minister in Gordon Campbell's cabinet who left the government to head the Vancouver Board of Trade. He announced his resignation last August, but did not officially resign until October.

Clark had six months to call the byelection.

In Chilliwack-Hope Barry Penner's November, 2011, resignation made the byelection necessary. Penner, whose cabinet posts included Attorney General and Environment Minister, took a job with Vancouver law firm Davis LLP saying it would provide a better work-life balance.

The BC Liberals, NDP and Conservatives have been unofficially campaigning in both constituencies for some time.

Asked yesterday about Clark's delay in calling the byelections, NDP Leader Dix said, "They are spending money out there like you wouldn't believe . . . They're doing everything they can."

In Port Moody-Coquitlam former Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini is running for the NDP. The Liberal candidate is Dennis Marsden and the Conservatives are running Christine Clarke.

In Chilliwack-Hope the Conservative candidate is newspaper columnist and criminologist John Martin, the Liberal candidate is Laurie Throness and the NDP candidate is health advocate Gwen O'Mahony. Throness is a former aid to Conservative MP Chuck Strahl.

The BC Green Party has decided not to run candidates in either byelection, The Tyee reported in December.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Find him on Twitter or reach him here.

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