LET THE 28-DAY SPRINT BEGIN
By Nelson Daily Staff
Tuesday marked the start of the 28-day sprint to assume the top job in Victoria as current B.C. Premier Christy Clark asked Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon to dissolve parliament, marking the start of the provincial election campaign.
“British Columbia is at a crossroads with two very different choices in front of us in this most important election in modern history,” Clark said as she left Government House in Victoria Tuesday morning.
B.C. voters go to the polls on Tuesday, May 14th.
In Nelson/Creston the three candidates — incumbent Michelle Mungall of the NDP, Greg Garbula of the B.C. Liberals and Green Party Sjeng Derkx — started the day off running.
Mungall, literally, as the current MLA began her quest to make a trip back to Victoria running down Baker Street, complete with supporters Tuesday morning.
Garbula, who has been in election mode since being nominated in February, was out in full force driving in stakes and erecting signs with campaign supporters.
Derkx, thought to a dark horse to unseat Mungall, has also been pounding the pavement going door to door to build support.
On the provincial scene NDP leader Adrian Dix was already doing damage control as the opposition leader was forced to ask for the resignation of Kelowna-Mission NDP candidate Dayleen van Ryswyk.
Van Ryswyk resigned after it was revealed she’d posted online comments three years ago criticizing compensation being paid out to First Nations.
‘Earlier today, I was made aware of unacceptable comments made by Kelowna-Mission NDP candidate Dayleen van Ryswyk,” Dix said in a prepared statement.
“I have accepted Ms. van Ryswyk’s resignation. A new BC NDP candidate will be announced shortly.”
Clark had scheduled campaign stops in Victoria-Swan Lake, a riding currently held by the New Democrats, Tuesday afternoon and a rally in Burnaby in the evening.
Dix, meanwhile, kicked off his election campaign in Clark’s Vancouver-Point Grey riding with an event at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology.
Dix has events slated around Vancouver and Burnaby before attending the official campaign launch Tuesday night in downtown Vancouver.
Conservative Leader John Cummins will participate in an all-candidates debate Tuesday evening in his Langley riding.
The fourth party in this election is the Green Party leader, led by leader Jane Sterk.
