Premier Christy Clark has set May 11 for a by-election in Vancouver-Point Grey, the riding where she hopes to win the seat of former premier Gordon Campbell.
Candidates will have less than four weeks to campaign, a short timeline Clark said is needed so she can sit in the legislature’s coming spring session.
“That’s why I’m calling the by-election,” she said Wednesday. “I’ve been saying this for the last three months: I don’t think British Columbians want an unelected premier without a mandate.”
The riding has been held since 1996 by Campbell, who bested former NDP candidate Mel Lehan by about 2,000 votes in the 2009 election.
David Eby, the former director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, immediately announced that he would leave his job to seek the NDP nomination for the riding.
It appears Eby will run unopposed. Vancouver board of education chairwoman Patti Bacchus, who had been rumoured as a possible NDP candidate, told The Province she will not seek the nomination.
The B.C. Conservatives will decide on Wednesday whether they will run a candidate, said spokesman Keith Roy.
That party’s sole leadership candidate, John Cummins, will not run in the riding, Roy
added.
The by-election will overlap with the legislature’s spring session, set to run from April 27 to June 2. Clark can’t participate in the legislature until she has a seat.
That’s a fact not lost on interim NDP Leader Dawn Black.
“She had the opportunity to be there much sooner,” Black said. “I don’t understand why she played this game of hide and seek. I think she could have called the by-election much earlier.”
Speaking at the cabinet offices at Canada Place Wednesday, Clark reiterated her connection to the riding where her son attends school. She’s also a board member of the Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, but does not live in the area.
University of Victoria Prof. Norman Ruff said Clark, as the sitting premier, has the advantage in an Eby-Clark showdown. Eby’s strong public profile, however, makes him a serious candidate.
“If Eby does get the nomination it shows it’ll be a real contest,” Ruff said.
“The NDP is not just putting forward a token candidate.”
Ruff said there’s more to the byelection than just getting Clark a seat in the legislature.
“This may be seen as a referendum on the government,” he said.
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