Board set, choosing candidate is next step
By the end of spring, B.C. Conservatives in the Kamloops-North Thompson riding should be on the hunt for a candidate to back in next year’s provincial election.
About two-dozen people turned out in Rayleigh on Saturday, March 31, to elect a new board of directors for the constituency association, which will be registered with Elections BC in the coming weeks.
After that, the new board will set a date for open nominations, said BC Conservative regional director Alan Forseth.
The Kamloops-South Thompson riding association is set to go through the same steps in May.
So far, a couple of people are thinking about seeking the nomination in Kamloops-North Thompson, Forseth said, and one person has spoken with party leader John Cummins about the Kamloops-South Thompson nomination.
The association is up to about 75 members, with about six more signing on in the past few days.
“It’s a steady growing momentum for the party and for the local region,” Forseth said.
The party is also claiming a 400-member bump provincially since last week, when Abbotsford-South MLA John van Dongen quit the B.C. Liberals and defected to the B.C. Conservatives.
An Angus Reid poll this week has the party tied with the Liberals, with support from 23 per cent of respondents.
Going forward, Forseth said the challenge will be to present the party as a viable alternative for voters, “instead of voting against something they don’t want to get.”
He also shrugged off suggestions the party will simply split the free-enterprise vote in the next election, allowing for an NDP victory — an argument Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Terry Lake and other BC Liberals have made in recent weeks.
“I find that a rather sad and pathetic comment on the part of the B.C. Liberal Party,” Forseth said.
“Is the only option they have to present that they are not the NDP?”
The new Kamloops-North Thompson constituency association board includes president Ed Fehr, a former Saskatchewan Party riding association vice-president, and vice-president Ron Anderson.
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