Matthew Laird - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Matthew Laird is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

academic, activist and politician. Having helped lead numerous political campaigns he continues to work with community groups on social and environmental issues.

Laird was born and raised in Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, earning a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia. After spending some years in the private sector as a software developer he returned to academia to work in bioinformatic research at Simon Fraser University. He currently resides in New Westminster's Quayside area.

Environmentalism

Laird has talked about being raised around recycling and green ideas as the basis for his environmental activism. While involved with transportation and sustainability advocacy most of his life he became most involved after moving to New Westminster in 2003.

He was a founding member of New Westminster Environmental Partners, a New Westminster focused non-partisan sustainability advocacy group. Some notable accomplishments while working with NWEP are the implementation of an anti-idling bylaw, a cosmetic pesticide ban, pedestrian safety improvements at New Westminster

New Westminster Station

New Westminster Station is located at Columbia Street and 8th Street in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, and was the original eastern terminus of SkyTrain until 1989 prior to the partial completion and opening of the phase two extension of SkyTrain to Surrey.-History:The station was...

SkyTrain

SkyTrain (Vancouver)

SkyTrain is a light rapid transit system in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. SkyTrain has of track and uses fully automated trains on grade-separated tracks, running mostly on elevated guideways, which helps SkyTrain to hold consistently high on-time reliability...

Station and a Sustainability Documentary Film Festival. Laird was also a proponent for New Westminster's Royal City Farmers Market and has served on the board of directors for three years.

Always an advocate for transit and sustainable transportation, Laird is a member of the Livable Region Coalition. In conjunction with his NWEP work, Laird was a leader of the campaign to stop TransLink's United Boulevard Extension project. He's a motorman on Vancouver's Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway and was a driver on Bombardier's Olympic Line during the 2010 Winter Olympics

2010 Winter Olympics

The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...

Politics

Laird was the co-founder of RecallBC, a non-partisan organization which failed in a number of attempts to recall

Recall election

A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended...

BC Liberal

British Columbia Liberal Party

The British Columbia Liberal Party is the governing political party in British Columbia, Canada. First elected for government in 1916, the party went into decline after 1952, with its rump caucus merging with the Social Credit Party for the 1975 election...

MLAs

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....

.

Laird was elected leader of the short-lived Moderate Democratic Movement

British Columbia Moderate Democratic Movement

The British Columbia Moderate Democratic Movement is a minor political party in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. Its current status is unclear:...

political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

in 2003. He led the party into the British Columbia Democratic Coalition

British Columbia Democratic Coalition

The British Columbia Democratic Coalition was a short-lived coalition of minor political parties in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in September 2004 to bring together four minor parties: the British Columbia Democratic Alliance, the British Columbia Moderate Democratic Movement, the...

which eventually became the Democratic Reform British Columbia

Democratic Reform British Columbia

Democratic Reform British Columbia is a progressive–centrist political party in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.-Formation of the party:...

party, serving as the new party's first president. Laird was DRBC's organizational chair and was the candidate in riding of Burnaby North

Burnaby North

Burnaby North is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.- Demographics :- Member of Legislative Assembly :...

during the May 2005 general election.

As founding member of DRBC, Laird was the main author of the party's constitution and co-author of the party platform. After the founding of the new party, Laird remained the party's chief organizer, chairing the founding convention and AGM in 2005. He was the party's provincial campaign chair during the 2005 provincial election

British Columbia general election, 2005

The 38th British Columbia general election was held on May 17, 2005, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia , Canada. The BC Liberal Party formed the government of the province prior to this general election under the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell...

. Laird also served the party's main public relations coordinator, penning most releases and maintaining the party infrastructure such as the website, e-mail, and phone system.

In the 2005 B.C. General Election

British Columbia general election, 2005

Laird ran in the Burnaby North

Burnaby North

Burnaby North is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.- Demographics :- Member of Legislative Assembly :...

riding for Democratic Reform British Columbia

Democratic Reform British Columbia

Democratic Reform British Columbia is a progressive–centrist political party in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.-Formation of the party:...

. He finished last in a field of four candidates with 316 votes (1.38% of total valid votes).

Laird later ran for New Westminster city council in November 2005, receiving 1010 votes (lowest vote count receiving a seat was 3432).

In March 2006, Laird released the Democratic Reform British Columbia

Democratic Reform British Columbia

Democratic Reform British Columbia is a progressive–centrist political party in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.-Formation of the party:...

Gateway Strategy, of which he was the main author. The report was an alternative vision to the BC Liberal plan for Greater Vancouver long term transportation planning.

A year later in March 2007, Laird released the Democratic Reform British Columbia

Democratic Reform British Columbia

Democratic Reform British Columbia is a progressive–centrist political party in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.-Formation of the party:...

Sustainable Energy Platform, detailing the party vision for renewable energy production and conservation for the province.

Laird resigned from DRBC in late 2008 to accept an invitation to join the Green Party

Green Party of British Columbia

The Green Party of British Columbia is a political party in British Columbia, Canada. It is led by former Esquimalt municipal councillor, university professor and businessperson Jane Sterk, she was elected by the party in 2007. Penticton realtor and columnist Julius Bloomfield serves as the deputy...

. He accepted the nomination to run for the party in the May 2009 Provincial

British Columbia general election, 2009

The 39th British Columbia general election was held on May 12, 2009 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The BC Liberal Party formed the government of the province prior to this general election under the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell...

Election in New Westminster. He was also appointed as the party's Higher Education Critic.

At the civic level, Laird served as the president of the Quayside Community Board in 2010, a New Westminster resident's association representing 4,000 condo and townhouse owners.

Electoral Record

|-

|New Democrat

New Democratic Party of British Columbia

The New Democratic Party of British Columbia is a social-democratic political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the official opposition to the governing British Columbia Liberal Party following the 2009 provincial election in British Columbia.The BC NDP is the provincial...

|Dawn Black

Dawn Black

Dawn Black is a politician in British Columbia, Canada.Born Dawn Whitty, Black became involved in politics from a young age, she became an assistant to New Democratic Party Member of Parliament Pauline Jewett.-Member of Parliament:...

British Columbia Liberal Party

Green Party of British Columbia

|Matthew Laird

Matthew Laird

Matthew Laird is a Canadian academic, activist and politician. Having helped lead numerous political campaigns he continues to work with community groups on social and environmental issues....

|align="right"|2,151
|align="right"|
|align="right"|
|- bgcolor="white"
!align="left" colspan=3|Total valid votes
!align="right"|23,809
!align="right"|
!align="right"|
|}
|-

|BC Liberal

British Columbia Liberal Party

|Richard T. Lee
|align="right"|10,421
|align="right"|45.59%
|align="right"|
|align="right"|
|-

|NDP

New Democratic Party of British Columbia

|Pietro Calendino

Pietro Calendino

Pietro Calendino is a Canadian provincial and municipal politician currently serving as a City Councillor in Burnaby, British Columbia.Calendino was born in Calabria, Italy but emigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1959. He received an Honours B.A. and a M.A. from the University of...

Green Party of British Columbia

Democratic Reform British Columbia

Democratic Reform British Columbia is a progressive–centrist political party in the Province of British Columbia, Canada.-Formation of the party:...

|Matthew Laird

Matthew Laird

Matthew Laird is a Canadian academic, activist and politician. Having helped lead numerous political campaigns he continues to work with community groups on social and environmental issues....

Election	Type	Total votes
New Westminster City council 2005	Municipal General	1010
New Westminster City council 2008	Municipal General	1923

External links

http://matthewlaird.ca
PubMed search results for Laird MR

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