New Westminster-Coquitlam has been in the NDP’s column since 2006 and it is up to Fin Donnelly to make sure it doesn’t swing the other way on Nov. 9.

The two-term Coquitlam councillor is making his pitch to voters playing up his environmental credentials and his party’s opposition to the HST. Donnelly has been telling voters on the doorsteps that he wants to champion causes he has supported locally at the federal level.

“I really feel like I know this riding and the issues people are facing here,” he said during an interview at his New Westminster campaign office. “This is an opportunity to have the chance to serve and raise issues I have been working on locally and bring to Ottawa.”

One of the common elements between New Westminster and Coquitlam is the Fraser River, a waterway that Donnelly is quite familiar with.

He twice swam the length of the Fraser to raise issues of salmon protection and sustainability, and every year he hosts the Sustainable Living Leadership Program. That initiative takes 25 young people on a three-week canoe trip from Mount Robson in the B.C. Interior and ends at Jericho Beach in Vancouver, making many stops along the way.

Because of his socially-minded background he said he is a natural fit to run under the NDP banner.

However there are still some issues where Donnelly is at odds with his party. He has long been in support of a carbon tax, while the NDP prefers a cap and trade policy.

Donnelly reconciles the differences by saying the goals of reducing carbon emissions are the same and he plans to work with caucus to find the best way of achieving those ends.

The party, Donnelly added, recognizes a target of reducing greenhouse gases 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, a goal he vigorously supports.

“What tools we use to make a cap realistic, we need to explore that,” he said. “It is a tall order to try and change an economy.”

On the door steps Donnelly said he is hearing a lot of negative reaction to the Harmonized Sales Tax, which was introduced by the provincial government after last spring’s election.

But despite the fact the HST was brought forward by the BC Liberals and Premier Gordon Campbell, Donnelly said it is the Conservatives in Ottawa who are really to blame.

“People don’t know this is a federal issue,” he said. “This is something the Harper Conservatives have been working on for a long time. Believe me — they want to see the HST go forward.”

He listed off numerous products and services, previously exempt from provincial sales tax, that will now be impacted by the HST.

During the campaign Donnelly has also called for an affordable housing strategy, something he said the NDP will push for in Ottawa.

But one of the biggest challenges Donnelly will face if he is elected is navigating the Ottawa political scene.

On council he is one voice of eight and a mayor and it is easy for him to have his say on an issue. If the voters of New Westminster-Coquitlam send him to Ottawa he will be one of 308 MPs sitting in the House of Commons.

But Donnelly said he has no fear of being drowned out and believes with the NDP caucus he can be an effective representative for the riding.

“You can’t accomplish everything on your own,” he said. “You need a great team and I think we will have that.”