Like snowdrops in winter, candidates are beginning to pop up for political parties seeking votes in the Oct. 21 federal election.

Tonight the Green Party will be discussing potential candidates for the two Tri-City ridings at a meeting at Mariner Brewing in Coquitlam and earlier this week one Conservative candidate announced his intention to seek the Tory nomination in Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam.

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Coquitlam resident Nicholas Insley has declared his intention to run in Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam while two people have signaled their intentions to run for the Conservative nomination in Port Moody-Coquitlam, according to a spokesperson.

However, nominating meeting dates have not yet been been set.

Still, the Green Party hopes to have candidates up and running in the two Tri-City ridings by February, according to organizer and former Green candidate Ian Soutar.

“We’ve got a couple of people interested in being candidates. I’m assuming we’ll be able to get them vetted and on the ballot by the end of the month,” said Soutar, who previously ran for the Greens provincially and for Coquitlam council.

He will also shortly move to Ottawa for a job working for the Green Party there, said Soutar who said the Green’s political fortunes are riding on the coattails of the federal NDP.

“If the NDP can’t keep their momentum up in the ridings they have traditionally held, that sounds to me that there’s room for another progressive choice,” said Soutar, suggesting that gains the Green Party made provincially may possibly translate to the federal arena.

Meanwhile, the NDP Electoral District Association (EDA) is waiting to firm up candidates before announcing nomination meetings.

“We do not have a date yet because we don’t set a date until we’ve had candidates approved, all of that is a process that we are still going through,” said Anne Ladouceur, president of the Port Moody-Coquitlam EDA.

In Port Moody-Coquitlam, the champion will have to follow in the footsteps of popular NDP MP Fin Donnelly.

Meetings have yet to be set to choose a candidate to run for the Liberals in the riding of Port Moody-Coquitlam while in Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam, a nomination meeting has yet to be posted but door knocking with Team Ron is set for Saturday, Jan. 26.

In October, Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam Liberal MP Ron McKinnon announced via social media he is running for re-election.