Among the worst kept secrets is that new BC Liberal premier Christy Clark will be running in an (eventual) by-election in Vancouver Point-Grey.
This most likely means that less popular, but the safer riding held by former finance minister Colin Hansen (of the HST defender) won’t be available for her.
The article is a bit sketchier on the details about who the NDP will be represented by:
On Monday, Mel Lehan, the former NDP candidate for Vancouver-Point Grey, said his party has identified a new candidate for the riding, but will not announce who that is until a byelection is officially called. NDP spokesman Michael Roy said no nomination meeting has been scheduled.
I don’t know what Lehan’s talking about, but no candidate has been nominated here, unless of course the BC NDP decided to just appoint someone without notifying their members who live in the riding (i.e. the one’s who get to vote in the nomination meeting). I can understand that they want to pick the best candidate for the job, since this riding has been within striking distance in the past and a lost bid by Clark to gain a seat would embarrass the BC Liberals, but I do hope that the party still has some concern for its membership.
Nevertheless, one of the rumoured candidates looks pretty sharp on the surface to me:
David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, confirmed Monday he is considering seeking the NDP nomination in the riding, but will make no decision until a byelection is called.
The BCCLA is the premier defender of free speech and civil liberties in Canada, and while I don’t know Eby, I am interested in this possibility.
Of course, it’s also an option that if a byelection is planned far enough in the future that a Reason BC could make an appearance.
In political speak what Lehan and Roy are saying is that the party has found someone they think would be a good candidate, but for whatever reason they can’t announce their candidacy at this point. It probably has something to do with the candidates employment situation, maybe they have to take a leave once they announce they’re running. They’ll schedule a nomination meeting once the byelection is called but it will be clear who the party is pushing to be nominated.