The New Democrat duo of Bob D’Eith and Lisa Beare, have their offices open and are ready for business, although the grand opening celebrations are still to come.
The MLAs elected in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows May 9, have both moved into the old offices of their former Liberal MLA rivals Marc Dalton and Doug Bing.
D’Eith, Maple Ridge-Mission, is now in Dalton’s office on Dewdney Trunk Road and 230th Street and has kept the same furniture.
Beare, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, also Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, is now in Bing’s old office on Lougheed Highway and 201st Street. She’s also keeping the furnishings but giving it a fresh coat of paint. The offices have been open about a week.
D’Eith said that’s the way most ridings in B.C. do it, an approach which saves public dollars. “Everything in here is part of the legislature. It’s a big cost savings for everybody and also gets us in a lot quicker.
“We’re looking at office (grand) openings some time in August,” D’Eith said.
The pair said the next three months are going to be busy, pointing out it’s the first transition of government in 16 years. “But we’ll be hitting the ground running in September.”
The NDP-Green party agreement means there’s only a one-seat difference between a combined total of 44 NDP-Green seats, versus the Liberals’ 43 seats.