Itsa国际传媒 been awhile coming, but the announcement of an NDP candidate for West sa国际传媒-Peachland will be made this weekend.
鈥淲e fully expect we will be ready to announce a candidate on the day of the writ,鈥 NDP regional organizer for the Okanagan/Interior Kenn McLaren said via email Thursday.聽
The riding is one of only a handful of the 93 electoral districts across the province where the NDP has yet to put forward a candidate.聽McLaren did not respond to a question聽on why a candidate has not been named for the riding by the governing party to this point.聽
Writ day is when an election is officially called, and when the campaign begins. This year, it will be Saturday, Sept. 21. The election will be Oct. 19.
In the 2020 provincial election, NDP candidate Spring Hawes got 34 per cent of the votes cast in the Westside-based riding, then known as sa国际传媒 West. That riding included downtown sa国际传媒, where the NDP have historically done relatively well, but the boundaries have now been shifted so the electoral district is made up entirely of West sa国际传媒 and Peachland.聽
The only two candidates so far in West sa国际传媒-Peachland are Macklin McCall, a retired RCMP member representing the sa国际传媒 Conservatives, and Stephen Johnston. Johnston had been the BC United candidate but with the virtual collapse of that party before Labour Day Johnston has chosen to run as an unaffiliated independent.聽
In a post on X, Johnston acknowledges Independents haven鈥檛 often fared well in provincial elections.聽
But he says he and other BCUP candidates who鈥檝e chosen to remain the race have more credibility than the typical independent or unaffiliated candidates because they鈥檝e already been through the BCUP vetting process aimed at presenting contenders who are credible and well-engaged community members.聽
鈥淲e are vetted through the most rigorous process there is by the Official Opposition party, who has governed in sa国际传媒聽聽for 16 of the last 24 years. Thatsa国际传媒 how we became candidates, we鈥檝e been here all along. We鈥檙e not typical Independents. Itsa国际传媒 a very different thing,鈥 Johnston said.聽
