Outgoing Port Moody mayor Joe Trasolini will run for the B.C. NDP in the riding of Port Mood–Coquitlam when a byelection is called in the recently vacated riding, he confirmed on Wednesday morning.

Trasolini was first elected mayor of Port Moody in 1999, but did not run for re-election in the 2011 civic election on Saturday.

He said once he made the decision not to run for mayor again, he was courted by virtually all the political parties, including both the federal and provincial Liberals.

"Over the months, everybody has approached me. You name a party, and I'll tell you if they've approached me," he said following the announcement at Port Moody City Hall.

But in the end, Trasolini chose to run for the NDP because he believes it to be more inclusive than the others.

"They go around and talk to people. They try to address their issues, instead of saying, 'They are marginal people, and therefore their issues cannot be addressed.' You don't go on and do things without consulting with residents of the province," he said.

The four-term mayor said he'll bring a track record of business success and fiscal responsibility to the NDP. In 2009, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities named Port Moody the most fiscally prudent municipality in the province.

Signing up the popular mayor is clearly to be seen as a coup for the NDP in more ways than one. The Port Moody area has been a Liberal stronghold in recent years.

The seat has been vacant since former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister Iain Black left politics to take a job at the Vancouver Board of Trade. Black held the seat since 2005, when he was first elected as the MLA for Port Moody–Westwood, under the previous riding boundaries.

Before that, the seat was held by Christy Clark, now B.C.'s premier, who first won the seat in 1996 when it was the riding of Port Moody–Burnaby Mountain.

The Liberals have yet to unveil who their candidate will be and Clark has not set a date for the byelection.

But NDP leader Adrian Dix now said the premier needs to call one soon

"Right now they are the only community in the legislature that doesn't have an MLA. It's not a question of saving money. There has to be a byelection. So the premier should proceed with that."