Seven candidates for the Oct. 24 B.C. provincial election were announced by the NDP on Thursday, including one in the province’s Southern Interior.
The NDP said Roly Russell will be the party’s candidate for Boundary-Similkameen, a riding that will be up for grabs, as the current MLA won’t be seeking re-election.
Last year, Linda Larson of the BC Liberals announced she was retiring from provincial politics after winning two terms.
In the 2017 election, Larson won the riding by capturing 42.8 per cent of the vote (9,513 votes), with the NDP and then-candidate Colleen Ross placing second wat 32.73 per cent (7,275 votes).
Independent Peter Entwistle was third at 14.24 per cent, with Vonnie Lavers of the Green Party in fourth at 10.23 per cent.
According to the NDP, Russell won a nomination contest over Aimee Grice, a town councillor in Oliver.
Russell is a regional district director for Area D in the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB).
The NDP says he’s served on the RDKB board since 2013, including two terms as chairperson, and that he’s currently the president of the Association of Kootenay Boundary Local Governments and chair of the Grand Forks Credit Union board of directors.
“This place is my home – I was born here – and I am passionate about making sure that we sustain and keep this a beautiful and sustainable region to earn a living and raise our families,” Russell said in a press release.
The other NDP candidates are:
- Cowichan Valley: Rob Douglas
- New Westminster: Jennifer Whiteside
- Oak Bay-Gordon Head: Murray Rankin
- Vancouver-False Creek: Brenda Bailey
- Vancouver-Hastings: Niki Sharma
- Victoria-Beacon Hill: Grace Lore
In the 2013 election, Larson placed first with 46.59 per cent of the votes (8,499), outdistancing second-place finisher Sam Hancheroff of the NDP at 38.99 per cent (7,113).
Earlier this week, for the 2020 election, the BC Liberals announced Oliver councillor Petra Veintimilla as the party’s new candidate for the riding.
Comments