Dix wants to face Christy Clark
By Jeremy Deutsch
STAFF REPORTER
jeremy@kamloopsthisweek.com
As the B.C. Liberal leadership race winds down, NDP leadership hopeful Adrian Dix said there is one Grit candidate he’d most like to square off against in an election — Christy Clark.
Dix said Clark, a former Liberal MLA, has one of the worst records of a cabinet minister the province has ever seen, arguing her polices as minister of education hurt the province.
He also criticized her time as minister of children and family development, saying the ministry was in “chaos” with her in charge.
“I think that record is something I’d very much like to run against,” Dix said.
The Vancouver-Kingsway MLA and health critic was in Kamloops on Tuesday, Jan. 25, to drum up support from NDP party members in both local constituencies.
It’s a pair of ridings Dix believes will swing back into NDP hands in the next election, in part because of a few key issues.
Dix said the government’s record on health care is “extremely poor” and argued the city is “ground zero” for the health-care debate.
He said Royal Inland Hospital has the longest wait times in the Interior Health Authority, if not the province, and criticized the government for not acting quickly to the sterilization problems at the hospital.
Dix also contends there is no other region in B.C. that feels more “betrayed” by its Liberal MLAs over the harmonized sales tax then Kamloops.
He pledged to get rid of the HST if he wins the race and the tax is in still in place.
Last fall, the political landscape in B.C was flipped on its head as both the Liberals and NDP saw their leaders step aside.
For the NDP, it was a bitter rift inside the party spurred by 13 dissident MLAs who forced the resignation of leader Carole James.
Dix, who supported James, said he doesn’t believe it will be a problem uniting the party.
He said he has spoken to all 13 MLAs who opposed James’ leadership, noting he would have no problem bringing them back into the fold.
Meanwhile, Dix shrugged off the recent controversy surrounding NDP party memberships.
Several NDP leadership candidates alleged Dix’s campaign violated party rules when bulk payments were made to accompany new mass party sign-ups.
However, he noted all the memberships were accepted and will be reviewed by the party.
Dix is one of six candidates running for the NDP leadership.
The others are MLAs Harry Lali, Mike Farnworth, John Horgan, Nicholas Simons and marijuana activist Dana Larsen.
The party will choose its new leader on April 17.
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