MLA in Coquitlam-Maillardville · BC provincial 2026
Jennifer Blatherwick
Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity, running again for the BC NDP in Coquitlam-Maillardville.
Jennifer Blatherwick was elected MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville in 2024 and named Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity that November. In 2026 she spoke in the legislature on the budget, gender-based violence, youth mental health and a required course for new MLAs.
A researched record of Jennifer Blatherwick's 18 commitments, 15 dated actions and 18 public statements, with 2 news items. Most come from the legislature record and government releases from 2026.
On dates without a confirmed appearance the public schedule is unknown; the candidate may still have activities that day. This static page changes only when its research is updated.
01 / Introduction
About Jennifer Blatherwick
Jennifer Blatherwick is the BC NDP candidate in Coquitlam-Maillardville on Elections BC's list for the general election of October 24, 2026. She won the district in 2024 with 11,972 votes, 51.80% of the valid vote, according to the Elections BC statement of votes.
The provincial government's page says she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity in November 2024, and that she was a two-term trustee for School District 43 and a past executive director of the Access Youth Outreach Services Society. In the legislature she said she served six years as a school trustee.
In 2026 she spoke for the budget bill and the civil forfeiture bill, moved an amendment that the House approved on a course for new MLAs, and presented a committee report on the 2024 election. Government releases quote her on gender-based violence, women's health, a youth mental health centre and seniors' housing in Coquitlam.
Her campaign page says she raised five children in Coquitlam and is focused on more doctors, more daycare spaces and more schools. Those are the campaign's own statements.
Published positions and selected commitments, separated by election cycle. Status labels describe the evidence reviewed, not a numerical score or a complete audit of the platform. Council approval is different from delivery.
18 commitments shown · Checked Sep 30
2026 · Public servicesCampaign pledge
Keep connecting people to family doctors
In the Bill 2 budget debate on March 5, 2026, Blatherwick said the government will keep connecting people to family doctors and nurse practitioners, and that the budget directs over $2.8 billion in new funding over three years to health care. Her campaign page says she is focused on hiring more doctors.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
She names the budget amount and its three-year span. She gives no target for the number of people to be connected.
What still needs checking
How many more people would be connected to a family doctor in a new term?
Mental health and addictions care, including Foundry centres for youth
In the Bill 2 debate she said $131 million of the health funding goes to mental health and addictions services. On April 20, 2026 she spoke in the legislature for the Foundry youth centres, and a government release of March 13, 2026 quotes her at the opening of Foundry Tri-Cities in Port Coquitlam.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
She names the budget amount. The release says the centre serves young people 12 to 24 with provincial funding. She gives no target or date of her own for more centres.
What still needs checking
Does the funding for Foundry Tri-Cities continue past the first year?
In a statement in the legislature on March 9, 2026, Blatherwick described the free prescription birth control and cervix self-screening programs and said the Province can do more. A government release the same day quotes her on access to reproductive care.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
A statement of approach. The programs she describes already exist. She names no new measure, cost or date.
What still needs checking
Which new women's health measure, if any, would she support in a new term?
More teachers, counsellors and psychologists in schools
In the Bill 2 debate she said the budget spends $634 million over three years on K to 12 education, hiring more classroom teachers, special education teachers, counsellors and psychologists. Her campaign page says she is focused on building more schools.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
She names the budget amount and the kinds of staff. She gives no number of staff or schools.
What still needs checking
How many teachers and new schools does the $634 million pay for in School District 43?
In the Bill 2 debate she said the budget commits $330 million to keep child care fees affordable and to support operators and educators. Her campaign page says she is focused on creating more daycare spots.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
She names the budget amount. She gives no number of new spaces or a date.
What still needs checking
How many new child care spaces would open in Coquitlam-Maillardville in a new term?
Act on repeat violent offending and property crime
In the Bill 2 debate she said the budget commits $139 million over three years to repeat violent offending and property crime, including a new program for chronic property offenders and more resources for the provincial forensic firearms lab.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
She names the budget amount and the programs. She gives no target for fewer offences.
What still needs checking
Does the government report results from the chronic property offending program?
Prevent gender-based violence and support survivors
As Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity, Blatherwick said in a government statement of July 16, 2026 that the Province spends more than $60 million a year on 475 victim services and violence against women programs. In other 2026 statements she named the provincial Gender-Based Violence Action Plan as the main tool.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
She names a yearly amount the Province already spends. She gives no new target or date.
What still needs checking
Would the yearly amount for victim services rise in a new term?
Indigenous-led action on violence against Indigenous women and girls
On Red Dress Day, May 5, 2026, she said in the legislature that the Province will continue to support the B.C. First Nations Justice Council's Indigenous women's justice plan and to fund the First Peoples' Cultural Council. A government release of June 3, 2026 quotes her on new funding for Indigenous-led violence prevention.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
She names the bodies the Province funds. She gives no amount or date of her own.
What still needs checking
What amount goes to the Indigenous women's justice plan in the next budget?
A government release of June 29, 2026 quotes Blatherwick on 158 affordable rental homes for adults 55 and over under construction in two Coquitlam buildings, one of them in Maillardville.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The release gives the number of homes and the fund that pays for them. It gives no opening date.
What still needs checking
When do the homes at 290 Laval Square and 443 Clayton St. open?
In the Bill 2 debate she supported the budget plan to charge PST on some professional services from October 1, 2026. Freshet News reported on March 13, 2026 that she defended the change at a Chamber of Commerce lunch. On September 18, 2026 the government paused the expansion.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The government release says the expansion that was due on October 1, 2026 is paused. voche.me found no statement by her on the pause.
What still needs checking
Does she support bringing the expansion back after the election?
Small rise in the first income tax bracket, with more benefits for low incomes
In the Bill 2 debate she supported raising the first income tax bracket rate by half a cent per dollar, with higher benefits for low-income people. The vote index shows she voted yes at third reading of Bill 2.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
She gives no dollar figure for the added revenue or the benefits.
In the debate on Bill M237 on April 20, 2026, she said changes to ICBC's enhanced care model should go through the special committee that reviews the Insurance (Vehicle) Act, and said she would not support the bill.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
She names the committee as the way to act. She names no change, cost or date.
What still needs checking
What does the special committee recommend, and does she support it?
A required course for new MLAs on science, reconciliation and human rights
On April 27, 2026 she moved an amendment to Motion M205 that adds evidence-based science, truth and reconciliation, and human rights to a required orientation course for newly elected MLAs. The House approved her amendment 46 to 45 on May 4, 2026, and the amended motion 48 to 40 on May 25, 2026.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The motion asks the Legislative Assembly Management Committee to set up the course. It gives no cost or date.
What still needs checking
Does the course run for the members elected on October 24, 2026?
On May 20, 2026 she presented and moved adoption of the report of the Special Committee on Democratic and Electoral Reform on the 2024 election. She said the committee made 48 recommendations.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The recommendations belong to the committee. voche.me did not open the report or check which recommendations became law.
What still needs checking
Which of the 48 recommendations have been adopted?
$10 million toward the Burke Mountain recreation centre
In October 2024 the BC NDP said that, if re-elected, it would give the City of Coquitlam $10 million for the Burke Mountain recreation centre. The release quotes Blatherwick and Jodie Wickens. Freshet News reported on September 9, 2026 that the provincial government is providing $10 million for the build.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
A 2024 party pledge. A city recreation centre is outside the scored provincial issues.
What still needs checking
Is the provincial money paid in full before the centre opens, set for 2029?
Recorded votes, motions and government programs where an official source names her. A government program is the government's; it is listed here only where the release quotes her.
Recorded vote, yes
Voted yes on the 2026 budget motion
The recorded vote index lists Blatherwick voting yes on the budget motion.
A government release quotes Blatherwick, as Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity, on new parental leave standards for mayors, councillors and other local officials.
Scope, limits and sources
The bill is the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs'. voche.me did not check whether it passed.
Read original statements and reporting, or open the publisher’s video. A summary of a speech is labelled separately from a full recording.
Speech
Speech for the Civil Forfeiture Amendment Act (Bill 8)
She spoke for the bill and described grants from the civil forfeiture office for gender-based violence, crime prevention and Indigenous healing projects.
Records are labelled by type, including official findings, civil proceedings and political disputes where applicable. Each entry identifies the response found in the sources and the latest status verified for this page.
No reviewed entries have been added to this section yet. This is a research gap, not a finding about the candidate.
News coverage / Original publishers
Read the reporting
A dated reading list from independent publishers. The headings below are voche.me summaries; follow each link for the original article, context and any corrections.
Reporting
Freshet News · Janis Cleugh
Tri-City MLAs speak at a Chamber of Commerce lunch
Reports the event and her comment on the PST change for businesses.
Sources checked September 30, 2026. Official records establish decisions; campaign material establishes stated positions; reporting adds investigation and context. None alone establishes every claim.
Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada · September 8, 2026
Her X, Facebook and Instagram pages showed a sign-in page with no readable posts, so nothing from them is used. Her campaign page lists no events and no platform of her own. No 2026 all-candidates meeting for Coquitlam-Maillardville was found. The legislature member file used by voche.me lists no role for her; her title as Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity comes from the provincial government's page. Her school board service (the government page says two terms with School District 43; she said six years in the legislature) and her past post as executive director of ACCESS Youth Outreach Services Society were not checked against School District 43 or the society's records. The report of the Special Committee on Democratic and Electoral Reform was not opened, and it is not confirmed that she chaired the committee. Votes are taken from the vote index; most transcripts of those votes were not opened. Statements she made on topics such as veterans and local sport teams were not read. The Frequency interview was read only as the site's written summary; the video was not watched. A Vancouver Is Awesome page with her 2024 questionnaire answered HTTP 403 and was not used. Campaign finances and endorsements were not reviewed. The questionnaire has not been sent.
Research status
What voche.me has checked
Evidence reviewed on 2026-09-30: the Elections BC candidate list and 2024 statement of votes, the legislature's 2026 speech and vote indexes, 14 transcripts from 2026 where she spoke or a vote on her motion was recorded, 12 government releases and pages that quote or describe her, the release that paused the PST expansion, her campaign page, the BC NDP platform and releases pages, and reports from Freshet News and Frequency.
Her commitments on this page come mostly from what she said in the legislature and in government releases in 2026. Her campaign page names three aims in one sentence and no measures of its own. Sections with no entry record that voche.me found nothing on this date.
Proposed questions for a future interview. They have not been sent to the candidate, and no answers have been supplied.
No questions and answers have been supplied.
Have your own question?
Ask Jennifer Blatherwick directly. We send it to the campaign, and publish the reply here if we get one.
05 / About this page
Questions about this page
Facts voche.me can state about Jennifer Blatherwick's page itself, answered directly rather than left blank.
Is this an official page for Jennifer Blatherwick?
No. This page is researched by voche.me from public sources, listed below, and is separate from Jennifer Blatherwick's own campaign.
What party is Jennifer Blatherwick running with?
Jennifer Blatherwick is running for MLA with BC NDP.
Does Jennifer Blatherwick currently hold public office?
Yes. Jennifer Blatherwick currently serves as Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity; MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville.
How many sources does this Jennifer Blatherwick profile cite?
This profile lists 5 sourced references, each with the date voche.me checked it, in the Sources section below.
Why do some questions on Jennifer Blatherwick's page show no answer?
The "Questions & answers" section on this page lists questions voche.me would put to Jennifer Blatherwick in a future interview. They have not been sent yet, so the page says plainly that no answer has been supplied instead of leaving the section blank.
When is the election Jennifer Blatherwick is running in?
The 2026 British Columbia election, including the MLA race, is decided on October 24, 2026.
06 / Candidate contributions
Space for campaign updates
No campaign updates yet
Announcements, event details and messages can be added here, with their source and publication date. No campaign submission has been added.
