Why would a Tsawwassenite run in Delta North when we're having a perfectly good provincial election here in Delta South at the same time?
I posed that rather rhetorical question earlier this week to Sylvia Bishop, the first-term municipal councillor who announced last week she would be seeking the NDP nomination in Delta North for next spring's provincial election.
Bishop, who I've known since she ran provincially more than a quarter of a century ago (Boy, that makes us both sound old, doesn't it?), wasn't taking the bait, instead offering a couple of pretty logical reasons why she'd seek provincial office in that other half of Delta.
First off, she says, the New Democrats already have a candidate in Delta South in the form of Nic Slater, who received the nomination before she says she was even considering entering provincial politics. Bishop didn't mention the part about Delta North having been far kinder to NDP candidates over the years than Delta South, although something tells me she's acutely aware of that little nugget.
The official line, should you need to repeat it to family or friends, is that Delta South has a candidate and Delta North, thanks to Guy Gentner's recent retirement announcement, doesn't. When she puts it that way, it's hard to argue.
Secondly, she says she already represents North Deltans at the Delta council table, so it wouldn't be a stretch to continue to do so at the provincial level. If she gets the nomination, I suspect political opponents will try to characterize her as a parachute candidate, but that could prove difficult given her grasp of the issues that confront the riding.
Where there might be some vulnerability is the fact that a Bishop victory triggers a costly municipal by-election. She reminds me not to get ahead of myself, and that she hasn't won anything yet, but when pressed about the possibility of forcing a civic vote, she says it's an unfortunate consequence of different levels of government holding elections at different times. She says she hasn't heard any concerns on that front yet, although I'm not so sure it will stay that way.
There's little doubt Bishop, who has done well in North Delta in recent municipal elections, gives the NDP a strong chance to retain the seat Gentner has held for the past two terms. Who knows, we might actually see a New Democrat from Tsawwassen - which can be a rather rare breed - get elected to the provincial legislature.
Yes, she'd have to venture to North Delta to make it happen, but it would be quite the accomplishment nonetheless.
