The BC Liberal leadership race has entered the home stretch, with the period to sign up new memberships now closed.
Global BC Chief Political Correspondent Keith Baldrey has confirmed the party has signed up about 30,000 new members.
That nearly doubles the party’s membership, which stood at about 32,000 in August.
All six leadership candidates have managed to produce the final candidacy fee of $25,000, meaning they will all appear on the February ballot, Baldrey said.
Mike de Jong, Andrew Wilkinson, Michael Lee, Sam Sullivan, Dianne Watts and Todd Stone are the remaining candidates for leader.
You can learn more about each candidate here.
BC Liberal leadership candidates debate
Because the vote is held according to a peferential ballot system, Baldrey says the final month of campaigning will focus heavily on lobbying other candidates’ supporters, even if it is just for second place support.
“There’s going to be a lot of phone calls behind the scenes. Each candidate is going to be holding a lot of what they call town hall meetings and trying to woo supporters from other people’s camps.”
Baldrey said there will likely be one more leadership debate, and with just a month to go, the race may begin to garner more public attention — though he said it’s unlikely to reach the same level as in the last campaign.
“There was a lot of interest in the last Liberal leadership race because the winner was going to be the premier of B.C. In this case, the winner is just going to be the opposition leader. Which is a big step below being premier,” he said.
As for who has the edge going into the home stretch, Baldrey said there are many factors at play.
WACH: BC Liberal Leadership candidates throw their names into the race.
He said former Conservative MP Dianne Watts may have had the best chance to sign up new members because she is not a sitting MLA and would have had more time to campaign.
That could be crucial for her, considering her outsider status and the ranked ballot system.
“There seems to be a common wisdom, and who knows if this is true or not, that Watts, because she’s new to the party, she’s unlikely to be many people’s second choice. So a lot of people think she’s almost got to win it on the first ballot.”
Baldrey said it’s also worth watching how candidates performed when signing up new members in various minority communities.
He said there was a concerted drive to sign up members in the South Asian community and at religious temples, and that new MLA Micheal Lee may also surprise some with the strength of his membership drive in the Chinese Canadian community.
The BC Liberals will begin voting on February 1, and select a permanent replacement for Christy Clark on February 3.
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