The Honourable
Dan Coulter
MLA
Minister of State for Infrastructure and Transit of British Columbia
Assumed office
December 7, 2022
Preceded byBowinn Ma
Parliamentary Secretary for Accessibility of British Columbia
In office
November 26, 2020 – December 7, 2022
Preceded byPosition created
Succeeded bySusie Chant
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for Chilliwack
Assumed office
October 24, 2020
Preceded byJohn Martin
Personal details
Political partyNew Democratic
Residence(s)Chilliwack, British Columbia

Dan Coulter (born 1975) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2020 British Columbia general election. He represents the electoral district of Chilliwack as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party caucus.[1] He defeated John Martin; prior to the 2020 election, Chilliwack had been considered a BC Liberal stronghold.[2]

In addition to serving as MLA for Chilliwack, Coulter is Minister of State for Infrastructure and Transit, working within the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure in the Eby ministry.

Coulter was previously Parliamentary Secretary for Accessibility [3] under the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction in the Horgan ministry, where his mandate included consulting with advocates, communities and businesses to ensure that the new Accessible British Columbia Act would be effective and well understood and working with the Attorney General and Minister responsible for Housing to work on BC Building Code changes to make new buildings more accessible.[4]

Background

Coulter was born in 1975 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He grew up in Edmonton and Abbotsford. After graduating from high school in 1993, he worked as a welder and then became a certified Millwright with the Red Seal Program in 1999.[5] Coulter was severely injured in a workplace accident in 1999 and is a wheelchair user.[6] After his accident, he attended the University of the Fraser Valley[6]

In 2011, Coulter ran for school trustee in Chilliwack. He was unsuccessful, coming in 8th place and falling short of the 7th board seat by 384 votes.[7] Coulter ran for school trustee again in the 2013 byelection and was successful.[8] Coulter was re-elected in the 2014 general municipal election and received the third highest number of votes.[9]

In October 2017, fellow Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld made a Facebook post in which he called supporting transgender children in their gender identity child abuse, cited the American College of Pediatricians (an anti-LGBTQ organization) and said that he belonged "in a country like Russia, or Paraguay, which recently had the guts to stand up to these radical cultural nihilists.”[10] Coulter immediately took a stand for LGBTQ+ people and said, "I have friends that are Trans and I know students that are too. This hatred is aimed straight at who they are. It tries to make their existence illegitimate. It pisses me off! Our students and staff need to feel safe in our schools and a valued part of the school community – because they are!”[11] In November 2017, Coulter called on Barry Neufeld to resign.[12]

Coulter was reelected to the Chilliwack Board of education in 2018 with the highest number of votes.[13] He served as board chair from November 2018[14] to November 2020.[15] He resigned from the Chilliwack Board of Education on November 25, 2020, after being sworn in as MLA for Chilliwack.[16]

Coulter lives in Chilliwack with his wife, Rebecca, and their dogs, Spencer and Anna-Bella.[17]

Electoral record

2020 British Columbia general election: Chilliwack
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
New Democratic Dan Coulter 7,349 41.56 +9.18 $5,919.34
Liberal John Martin 5,102 28.85 −19.57 $36,378.86
Conservative Diane Janzen 2,910 16.46 – $20,583.54
Green Tim Cooper 1,888 10.68 −6.42 $2,161.84
Independent Josue Anderson 257 1.45 – $2,965.16
Libertarian Andrew Coombes 177 1.00 – $0.00
Total valid votes 17,683 100.00 –
Total rejected ballots    
Turnout    
Registered voters
Source: Elections BC[18][19]

References

  1. ^ "B.C. election 2020: NDP candidate Dan Coulter projected to win in Chilliwack". Global News. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  2. ^ "BC Liberal candidate John Martin trailing NDP's Dan Coulter in Chilliwack riding". Chilliwack Progress. 2020-10-24. Retrieved 2020-10-25.
  3. ^ "Executive Council & Parliamentary Secretaries of B.C. - Province of British Columbia".
  4. ^ https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/SDPR-Coulter-mandate.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  5. ^ Interview with Dan Coulter by editor July 2021
  6. ^ a b "Coulter first out of the gate in Chilliwack school board race". 23 September 2013.
  7. ^ "2011 Election Results - City of Chilliwack".
  8. ^ "2013 By-Election Results - City of Chilliwack".
  9. ^ "2014 Election Results - City of Chilliwack".
  10. ^ "School trustee: Allowing children to change gender is 'child abuse'". 24 October 2017.
  11. ^ "Educators speak out against Chilliwack school trustee's anti-LGBTQ post". 24 October 2017.
  12. ^ "Education minister blasts Chilliwack school trustee on gender issues". 22 November 2017.
  13. ^ "2018 Election Results - City of Chilliwack".
  14. ^ "New Chilliwack school board sworn in after divisive election". 13 November 2018.
  15. ^ "Reichelt earns Chilliwack school board chair role as positions change at table". November 2020.
  16. ^ "Chilliwack school trustee officially steps down to assume MLA role". 25 November 2020.
  17. ^ "Error".
  18. ^ "2020 Provincial General Election Final Voting Results". electionsbcenr.blob.core.windows.net. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  19. ^ "Election Financing Reports". Elections BC. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
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