The absence of Bob Simpson’s candidacy as an independent this time around changes the dynamic in a significant way. He finished second in 2013, garnering 5.264 votes (37.2 per cent). Which party will those voters turn to now is a key question.
In 2013: BC Liberal Coralee Oakes narrowly won this riding from the Independent incumbent Bob Simpson.
In 2009: NDP MLA Bob Simpson, won his second straight close election over a Liberal candidate, defeating Bruce Ernst by 503 votes, 50-46 per cent. Simpson later left the party to sit and run as an Independent.
History & Geography: Centred around Highway 97 between Williams Lake and Prince George, Cariboo North spans from Tweedsmuir Provincial Park in the west to Wells Gray Provincial Park in the east. The centre of the old Cariboo riding that the Social Credit party won every election between 1956 and 1991. The riding has voted NDP in three of the last five elections, with most of their support coming from Quesnel and First Nations reserves.
Candidates
BC Liberals’ Coralee Oakes: Minister of Small Business, Red-Tape Reduction and Minister Responsible for the Liquor Distribution Branch, you’ve seen her at any of the innumerable Friday events trumpeting the province’s ‘modernization’ of liquor rules.
A Quesnel councillor from 2005-2011, her family has lived in the Quesnel area for four generations.
NDP’s Scott Elliott is a two-term Quesnel City Councillor, Government Liquor store employee and fly-fishing guide.
Richard Jaques with the Greens is a First Nations candidate. Jaques spent years in First Nations policing.
In 2002, Jaques was a founding member of the Sacred Wolf Native Friendship Centre in Port Hardy. He is currently completing his Teacher Certification through UBC.
BC Conservatives – Tony Goulet: The BC. Conservatives are a mere shadow of the party from the 2013 campaign, when they fielded 56 candidates. In 2017 there are five. It’s a small-government, right-of-centre party.
2017 Stats: Cariboo North
Population (2014): 29,542 (83rd)
Population Deviation from Average: -44.4 per cent
Area: 38,579 sq km (7th)
Pop Density: 0.8 (82nd)
Average Age: 44.4 years (23rd)
English as Second Language: 8.21 per cent (84th)
Top 3 Second Languages:
German – 1.92 per cent
Panjabi (Punjabi) – 1.32 per cent
Dutch – 0.38 per cent
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