And they’re off!
The provincial election campaign officially got underway Tuesday with the dropping of the writ, which begins a 28-day race to find a new representative for Delta South.
Two-term independent MLA Vicki Huntington announced earlier this year she wouldn’t run again to focus on her health. At this point, four candidates are looking to become her successor: Liberal Ian Paton, New Democrat Bruce Reid, Green Larry Colero and independent Nicolas Wong.
Anyone else wanting to join the four has until next Tuesday to file with Elections B.C.
First elected as a municipal councillor in 2010, Paton is an East Ladner farmer and auctioneer. He won the Liberal nomination last September and has been pounding the pavement hoping to win back disaffected Liberal voters in the traditional right-wing stronghold.
Prior to Huntington’s victory in 2009, the Liberals had held Delta South since the riding was created in 1991.
The NDP got just 15 per cent of the popular vote in the last election due in part to many supporters strategically parking their votes with Huntington. Reid, a Delta school board trustee who recently beat fellow trustee Rhiannon Bennett for the party nod, is hoping to get those votes back and more. A Tsawwassen resident, Reid, who was first elected to the school board in 2014, is a teacher and counsellor in the Richmond School District.
Born and raised in Delta, Wong, who works in software development and project management, has Huntington’s endorsement and the backing of her constituency association. He ran for Delta council in 2014 and was also involved with the community group that campaigned for better surgical services at Delta Hospital.
The Greens didn’t run a candidate in the last election out of respect for Huntington but fielded Colero, also a local resident, when she bowed out. Colero is currently on retainer at UBC as a policy advisor to the Institute of Advanced Financial Planners for assignments in regulatory affairs, trademark issues and professional ethics. He had moved to White Rock for a while and ran for the Greens there in a couple of federal elections.
The election takes place May 9.
