Bonita Zarrillo

Bonita Zarrillo (born ) is a Canadian politician and is the Member of Parliament for Port Moody—Coquitlam elected in the 2021 Canadian federal election. She had previously narrowly lost the riding in 2019 to the Conservative Party's Nelly Shin. Zarrillo is a member of the New Democratic Party. Prior to her election to the House of Commons, she served as a city councillor for Coquitlam City Council.

Coquitlam City Council

Zarrillo served three terms on the Coquitlam City Council, first elected in 2013, having served eight years. Zarrillo's work as a councillor focused on a diverse set of issues, including campaigns to promote anti-vaping and anti cigarette butt causes, as well as gender equity. She had previously shot down the city advisory committee citizen appointment cohort due to only two of the eleven members being women, despite 7 having applied for the position. Zarrillo cited the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women's advisory statement regarding the minimum prequisite 30% of women needed for their voice to be heard. Zarrillo also stated she intended to extend a municipal ban of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, such as Brodifacoum, onto developers following a unanimous motion to ban the use of them on city property.

During her time as a city councillor, Zarrillo worked to bring to light issues of housing affordability and management of public works. She was critical of the proposed developments in Burquitlam, stating that the developments resembled "lifeless" developments in Eastern Canada which caused disconnects between the public and public spaces taken over by entities, highlighting concerns regarding housing affordability. On greenlighting the City Centre Area Plan (CCAP), Zarrillo stated her concerns on the displacement of low income housing and single-family housing pockets and stating that "e arenot opening up these neighbourhoods to real estate agents."

Zarrillo was the subject of criticism following Zarrillo's decision to leave a city council meeting to attend a National Day of Action Against Anti-Asian Racism rally at Lincoln station. Zarrillo left the meeting without prior notice, which was her second incident in 2021. She stated she wanted to stand up for Coquitlam's Asian community, following a recent report stating the city of Vancouver “Anti-Asian Hate Crime Capital of North America” and a recent incident regarding the racially-motivated harassment of a Chinese-Canadian Coquitlam resident. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Zarrillo publicly expressed her discomfort with the city council's lack of transparency during city council meetings which were held in a hybrid format. She stated that the format "hangedthe meeting dynamics and doesn't provide for equal access" and that she was "uncomfortable" with several city council members who attended the meeting in-person who were unmasked in their cubicles, raising public health concerns. In a post on Facebook, Zarrillo raised her discomfort with the fact that of the 24 members attending, only two were masked. Zarrillo's husband furthered the comments, stating that the councillors were " anti-maskers." Coquitlam was one of the few cities within Metro Vancouver to have in-person city council meetings during the pandemic. Zarrillo pushed for special notation to indicate which members were attending the meeting in person and which were attending virtually.

Zarrillo gained a reputation as a dissenting voice during her three term tenure as a councilor. Her work on the Coquitlam City Council resulted in a position on the board of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Federal politics

2019 Election

Zarrillo was selected as the New Democratic Party's candidate to replace outgoing MP Fin Donnelly's seat, who had held the seat prior for a decade. Zarrillo announced her campaign for the seat on International Women's Day, and five weeks after winning a second term on the Coquitlam City Council. The final result was a three-way split between the Liberal, Conservative, and New Democratic Party. Zarrillo lost to Shin by 153 votes, falling under the 0.01% needed to trigger a judicial recount. Zarrillo filed for a recount citing concerns of "administrative mistakes", which was later terminated at Zarrillo's request. She stated that she wanted to "give confidence to the community that every vote had been counted." Zarrillo was endorsed by outgoing MP Fin Donnelly, Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Selina Robinson, Kwikwetlem First Nation Chief Ed Hall, the New Westminster and District Labour Council, and Unifor Local 2000. As she was a sitting city councilmember, she returned to her work following her loss.

2021 Election

Zarrillo ran again in the 2021 election in a rematch against Shin, who had defeated her in the 2019 election by 157 votes. The Port Moody-Coquitlam riding was targeted by the three major parties due to its close 2019 result, and New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh visited the riding twice during his national campaign tour. Zarrillo's campaign for election was endorsed by former MP Fin Donnelly, Amy Lubik of Port Moody City Council, Chris Wilson of the Coquitlam City Council, and Chief Ed Hall of the Kwikwetlem First Nation.

Zarrillo won in her rematch against Shin, with 62.2 percent of voter turnout in the riding, flipping the seat back to the New Democratic Party. Zarrillo was confirmed to have been elected four days following the election, after mail-in ballots had been counted. She resigned from her city council seat on October 1, 2021. Coquitlam City Council subsequently unanimously voted to file a request to the Minister of Municipal Affairs Josie Osborne to not hold a mandated byelection for her seat, citing concerns as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and that the replacement would only serve an estimated less than eight months on the council.

Policy positions

Zarrillo previously was known for her work as an advocate for green jobs and affordable housing. She also focused on investment in transportation infrastructure. During an election debate, Zarrillo stated that municipalities were "desperate" for stable federal funding in regards to transit infrastructure. She criticized the Coquitlam City Council's lack of action in regards to funding transit. Zarrillo praised outgoing MP Fin Donnelly's work in regards to implementing Canada's ban on shark finning and closed containment aquaculture.

Climate

She opposes the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, stating the need for urgent climate action. Zarrillo stated the importance of transitioning away from fossil fuels, and her view that the city of Coquitlam did not need a secondary pipeline running through the city to deliver an additional 900,000 barrels of oil. Zarrillo stated the proposed expansion was "unreasonable and unrealistic based on what the future needs to look like.” As a member of Coquitlam's City Council, she put forth a motion for the city of Coquitlam to apply, joining the neighboring city of Port Moody, to be an intervenor during the National Energy Board hearings regarding the issue. The motion was subsequently unanimously endorsed by the City Council.

Housing

Zarrillo's work as a Coquitlam City Councillor focused on the issues of housing affordability. Zarrillo stated that of the available housing inventory, too much was going towards luxury homebuyers, highlighting the plan for half a million units of affordable housing offered by the NDP. To alleviate the housing crisis, Zarrillo proposed the construction of purpose-built housing, either through housing cooperatives, or exemptions on the GST to housing developers and potential renovators. She discussed displacement of homeowners as a direct result of a lack of housing affordability and as a visible result of the housing crisis within the local community.

Personal life

Zarrillo was born in Saskatoon and graduated from the University of Manitoba

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