Three days after winning the election as MLA for Boundary Similkameen, Donegal Wilson 鈥渋s still pinching myself.鈥
听
Wilson, the BC Conservative, beat NDP incumbent Roly Russell by six points, scoring 11,729 votes to Russellsa国际传媒 10,271. There was also a Green and independent candidate.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 feel like an underdog,鈥 she said in an interview with The Herald on Tuesday morning. 鈥淥bvioulsy, I don鈥檛 have the experience that Roly had, but he didn鈥檛 have that experience when he was first elected. I had worked with government before in my role with the Snowmobile Federation, but campaigning was new to me.鈥
Wilson said she worked full-time at her job as executive director of the Snowbile Federation throughout the campaign.
鈥淚 ran my campaign a little differently and I鈥檓 proud of the way I ran it. I have no regrets. It was literally getting to the doors, to the fall fairs and other community events, meeting one-on-one and really just listening.鈥
Healthcare, she said is the No. 1 issue in particular with the closures of emergency rooms in Oliver, Keremeos, Grand Forks and the possibility in Princeton.
It was also a race to the finish line as she wasn鈥檛 declared the candidate until Aug. 8.
鈥淎t first I was building the plane as opposed to flying it. I ended up with 24 volunteers that helped. We were able to raise all of our (campaign) money and builded the team in 10 weeks. All this time, I was working, so I had to utilize my time well.鈥
In addition to her job of overseeing 51 snowmobile associations in sa国际传媒, she does the administrative backside for her husbandsa国际传媒 small engine business, Direct Performance in Keremeos.
She and the five other Conservative MLAs from the Okanagan Valley will be involved with their first caucus meeting, Thursday in Vancouver.
The overall result of the election will be unknown until Monday after recounts in two ridings are held.
