Port Coquitlam, BC – March 25, 2013 …Port Coquitlam’s come a long way, baby. In the same month as its 100th birthday, one of Metro Vancouver’s smaller cities has received external recognition for its livability. Port Coquitlam was ranked the third most livable city in B.C. and 33rd out of 200 across the country in Moneysense magazine’s annual Best Places to Live ranking – something that comes as little surprise to Mayor Greg Moore.

“Although this is just one magazine’s view of our city, it does underscore what we in Port Coquitlam  already know – that there is something unique and special about our city,” Mayor Moore said. “We’re still one of Metro Vancouver’s best-kept secrets – people can still afford to buy a home or set up a business here, our jobless rate is one of the lowest, and our property taxes are among the lowest in the region. Not to mention, we still have that old-fashioned community spirit that you don’t often find in an urban setting.”

The Moneysense ranking took into account factors such as income, employment, housing prices, weather, crime, access to medical treatment and cultural activities. Only Saanich and the District of North Vancouver placed ahead of Port Coquitlam in B.C. Port Coquitlam also scored high with its own citizens last fall in a statistically valid survey by Ipsos Reid. The survey showed 99 per cent of residents feel their city offers a good or very good quality of life, 97 per cent were satisfied with municipal services, and 97 per cent feel Port Coquitlam is a safe place to live.

The timing of the ranking comes in the midst of Port Coquitlam’s year-long 100th birthday celebrations. A century ago on Mar. 7, Port Coquitlam officially split from Coquitlam to become a city in its own right. The population at the time was estimated at 1,200-1,500 and was centred around the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Westminster Junction, near Kingsway Avenue. The city continued to grow and thrive over the decades as both residents – including hometown hero Terry Fox – and businesses made Port Coquitlam their home.

Today, Port Coquitlam is a community of approximately 57,000 people – seventh smallest among Metro Vancouver’s 18 cities and district municipalities – with a strategic location in Metro Vancouver, well-established neighbourhoods, new commercial and industrial areas, a vibrant cultural scene, a historic downtown core, a tradition of community pride and involvement, and 271 hectares of parkland including the 25-km Traboulay PoCo Trail, a regional attraction.

The city continues to grow, with more than $100 million in new development and renovations in 2012 – the bulk coming from mixed use (residential and commercial), institutional, single-family and multi-family projects. More than 3,200 business licences were issued in 2012, with manufacturing and general contractors consistently ranking among the top business sectors.

Residential growth also continues, with an 8.6 per cent increase in the number of private dwellings from 2006 to 2011, based on recent census data. The average single-family home in Port Coquitlam was valued at $526,175 in 2012. The city’s enduring tradition of community spirit can be seen in this year’s centennial celebrations, which have attracted involvement from all facets of the community.

For information about Port Coquitlam’s centennial events and projects, visit www.portcoquitlam.ca/100. City photos are available at www.portcoquitlam.ca/photogallery.  

Although we are celebrating the centennial birthday for our City we must acknowledge we were not the first settlers to this area. The Kwikwetlem First Nation have called this area home for thousands of years.  We are proud to share this land and our history with them.

In 1853 Alexander McLean and his family were the first white settlers to this area.  Over the next 60 years more people migrated to our area.  In 1911 the Coquitlam Star newspaper headline was "What Pittsburgh is to the United States, so will [Port] Coquitlam be to Canada".  (INSERT PICTURE)

In 1912 the Mayor of Coquitlam, James Mars and Council applied to the Provincial Government to incorporate Port Coquitlam and on March 7th 2013 they were granted their request.  Mayor Mars resigned his post in Coquitlam and became the first Mayor of Port Coquitlam.  With the about 1500 people living in PoCo at that time and the CP Rail being built there were great hopes for our community.  In fact, on Inauguration Day Mayor Mars predicted the population of Port Coquitlam would be 10,000 people in 3 years.

Our early history is filled with pioneer families such as McLean, Atkins, Chambers, Black, Kelly, Mars, Rowland, Welcher, Hawthorne, Routley, Galer, Greer, Leigh, Kilmer, Milne, MacKenzie and of course Forrest.

However, over the next decade our city went through tough times, the Great War, a major fire, flood, influenza and the great depression. Port Coquitlam struggled for many years, in 1942 we still only had 1500 people live here. Then in the 50s, Port Coquitlam began the growth its forefathers predicted.  In fact, PoCo was the fastest growing community in Southwestern BC in the 50s.  In 1961 the population was 8,111.

Industry was coming to Port Coquitlam, creating jobs and fuelling a building boom.  In 1962 Council spent $450,000 and opened the Shaughnessy Underpass to connect North and South Port Coquitlam.

In 1970 the PoCo Trail Blazers started our crown jewel, the Traboulay PoCo Trail, which thousands of residents enjoy every month.   And in 1972, we opened the Port Coquitlam Recreation Complex, with one sheet of ice.  In 1971 our population was 19,500.

We continued to grow and urbanize over the next two decades; in 1986 we were 29,115 people, the Mary Hill Bypass opened, which opened up a major industrial growth in the Mary Hill Industrial Park that brought thousands of new residents to Port Coquitlam.

Today, over 56,000 people call Port Coquitlam home, we recently completed the Coast Meridian Overpass, connecting North and South Port Coquitlam. Port Coquitlam has one of the youngest average age in BC with the average age of our residents at just over 40 years-old.

Over the past 100 years sport, religion and culture have been major pillars of our community. We love our small town charm and tonight’s celebration is an example of just that.

I am honoured to be the Mayor of my hometown and look forward to continually work with our community to make it even better. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PORT COQUITLAM!!

One final note: I want to thank the members of our Spirit Committee Task Force who have worked very hard to organize the Centennial celebrations.  I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our City staff, who for the past 100 years have built our community and continue to serve with great pride.

In January, our church Riverside Community Church served at the Hope for Freedom MAT program located at Northside Church, Kingsway Campus. This is the 5th year Hope for Freedom has offered this program with support from the community. However, this is the first year the program has stayed at one church.

Here are some interesting facts from January:

Volunteering

• 132 volunteers plus shoppers / prayer team
• Each night there were on average 6 volunteers
• Each morning there were on average 5 volunteers
• Total of 927 hrs of volunteering

Food Facts

• Meals: 1165
• Average: 19 per meal night
• 50 4 litres milk
• 1440 eggs
• 600 drink boxes
• 600 sandwiches
• 600 fruit/pudding cups
• 2232 cups of coffee

The success of this program is based on a non-profit organization (Hope for Freedom) partnering with the community. We are all in this together, this is not a government issue or a NGO issues - it is a community issue. I am proud of our community in the Tri-Cities to come together and make a difference. We are leading the way in BC on reducing the number of people living on the streets. We should be proud of the love we are demonstrating through our actions but we are not done - we need to continually keep working until there is no one living on the street.