NDP leadership hopeful Adrian Dix reached into the party’s past Thursday to enlist the endorsement of former cabinet minister Joy MacPhail.
“It’s an easy choice to endorse Adrian Dix,” she told a Vancouver news conference. “He has advocated for vulnerable children and seniors waiting for surgeries.
“He is the best choice to be the next NDP leader – and the next premier of B.C.,” she said.
Dix said MacPhail was a “legend in our party” who changed B.C. in her work during the 1990s as health and finance ministers.
Dix, meanwhile, dismissed a recent Ipsos Reid poll which said his approval rating had dropped since his campaign was accused of submitting bulk memberships to NDP headquarters on Jan. 17 and producing money to pay for them in separate bags. Only party members will vote for leader when the choice is made on April 17.
“I’m proud of what people in our campaign have done. They have followed the rules . . . Many things that have been said were not correct. I’m not going to engage in a negative campaign towards anyone else in the leadership race,” he said.
The objections to the memberships were first raised by fellow candidate Harry Lali.
The online survey conducted for Global BC found that Mike Farnworth’s lead has increased since news of the membership controversy came out.
Twenty-seven per cent of British Columbians said he was the candidate who could most likely persuade them to vote NDP.
Only nine per cent of respondents said Dix was the candidate who could prompt them to vote for a New Democrat.
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