Port Moody Coun. Shannon Watkins will not seek re-election in this November's municipal election.

Instead, Watkins said she intends to pursue the provincial NDP nomination for the realigned riding of Port Moody-Coquitlam.

"I have heard from a lot of frustrated members of the community who want a strong representative for the community and a strong voice [in the legislature], and we just haven't had that from our local representative," Watkins said of the incumbent, BC Liberal MLA Iain Black. "People deserve better."

Watkins said she decided to run for the nomination after much consideration and discussions with NDP leader Carole James, riding president Andre Isakov and the last NDP candidate, fellow PoMo Coun. Karen Rockwell.

"The last three years on council have been very rewarding but also very eye opening," Watkins said. "I have seen first-hand the effect provincial funding has on local government."

Watkins said Victoria handicaps municipal governments through actions such as providing one-time funding grants for programs one year, then withdrawing the grants in the next year, forcing city councils across the province to come up with the money to pay for services their constituents have come to count on.

"I think a lot of times, politicians act as if there is more than one taxpayer but there isn't. The different levels of government have to co-operate more to serve people's needs at maximum potential," she said.

Watkins said that she disagrees with many of the BC Liberal government's policies, singling out health care, education, transportation and affordable housing as issues she believes Port Moody-Coquitlam residents will consider when voting in the May 12, 2009 provincial election.

"There is a high level of frustration with [Premier] Gordon Campbell and his government. The NDP are standing up for the people of the province and I want to be a part of that," Watkins said.

At 23 years old, Watkins became in 2005 the youngest female councillor ever elected in Port Moody. She is currently completing a BA in political science at SFU, with a certificate in Spanish. Watkins has lived in the Pleasantside area of Port Moody her entire life.

bwalkinshaw@tricitynews.com