THE BC NDP on Tuesday announced that it has nominated candidates in all 93 ridings contested in the 2024 BC general election.
It said that its slate, which is 60% women, is the most qualified, and most diverse, of all the party slates competing in the election. Drawing on the leading voices in healthcare, local government, the labour movement, the private sector, and law enforcement, Premier David Eby’s team is ready to take on the tough challenges facing British Columbia, and take action to build a province where everyone can get ahead, the NDP added.
“Our team is looking to represent British Columbia, so it’s only right that they reflect the people who make up our province,” said BC NDP campaign director Marie Della Mattia. “Our candidates have the experience to understand today’s challenges facing people in this province. They’re ready to take action for you on day one, to build a BC where you can afford a good home and get health care when and where you need it.”
Despite John Rustad bragging about having “more diversification than … any party has ever had from right across the whole spectrum” slate, roughly 75% of the BC Conservative candidates are men.
“John Rustad’s candidates don’t look like British Columbia, and they don’t think like British Columbia, either,” said Della Mattia. “Several of them – that we know of – hold extreme positions that are out of step with this province’s values.”
These include commentary about women’s bodies, about Black and Indigenous people’s alleged tendency to commit crimes, about the LGBTQ+ community, about abortion and reproductive choice, and about the far-right Freedom Convoy, which occupied the country’s capital, disrupting life for people and defacing a statue of Port Coquitlam hometown hero Terry Fox.
The NDP noted that Rustad has pledged to allow his candidates free votes on controversial issues, which means that, if elected, they would be free to use the power of their office to advance these extreme views, irrespective of the official position of the Conservative Party of BC. Under a Rustad government, reproductive freedom and other hard-won rights would be at risk, whatever he has to say about abortion today, the NDP said.
The 2024 BC NDP slate:
Abbotsford-Mission: Pam Alexis
Abbotsford-South: Sarah Kooner
Abbotsford West: Graeme Hutchison
Boundary-Similkameen: Roly Russell
Bulkley Valley-Stikine: Nathan Cullen
Burnaby Centre: Anne Kang
Burnaby East: Reah Arora
Burnaby-New Westminster: Raj Chouhan
Burnaby North: Janet Routledge
Burnaby South-Metrotown: Paul Choi
Cariboo-Chilcotin: Michael Moses
Chilliwack-Cultus Lake: Kelli Paddon
Chilliwack North: Dan Coulter
Columbia River-Revelstoke: Andrea Dunlop
Coquitlam-Burke Mountain: Jodie Wickens
Coquitlam-Maillardville: Jennifer Blatherwick
Courtenay-Comox: Ronna-Rae Leonard
Cowichan Valley: Debra Toporowski
Delta North: Ravi Kahlon
Delta South: Jason McCormick
Esquimalt-Colwood: Darlene Rotchford
Fraser-Nicola: Francyne Joe
Juan de Fuca-Malahat: Dana Lajeunesse
Kamloops Centre: Kamal Grewal
Kamloops-North Thompson: Maddi Genn
Kelowna Centre: Loyal Wooldridge
Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream: Anna Warwick Sears
Kelowna-Mission: Harpreet Badohal
Kootenay Central: Brittny Anderson
Kootenay-Monashee: Steve Morissette
Kootenay Rockies: Sam Atwal
Ladysmith-Oceanside: Stephanie Higginson
Langford-Highlands: Ravi Parmar
Langley-Abbotsford: John Aldag
Langley-Walnut Grove: Megan Dykeman
Langley-Willowbrook: Andrew Mercier
Maple Ridge East: Bob D’Eith
Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows: Lisa Beare
Mid Island-Pacific Rim: Josie Osborne
Nanaimo-Gabriola Island: Sheila Malcolmson
Nanaimo-Lantzville: George Anderson
Nechako Lakes: Murphy Abraham
New Westminster-Coquitlam: Jennifer Whiteside
North Coast-Haida Gwaii: Tamara Davidson
North Island: Michele Babchuk
North Vancouver-Lonsdale: Bowinn Ma
North Vancouver-Seymour: Susie Chant
Oak Bay-Gordon Head: Diana Gibson
Peace River North: Ian McMahon
Peace River South: Marshall Bigsby
Penticton-Summerland: Tina Lee
Port Coquitlam: Mike Farnworth
Port Moody-Burquitlam: Rick Glumac
Powell River-Sunshine Coast: Randene Neill
Prince George-Mackenzie: Shar McCrory
Prince George-North Cariboo: Denice Bardua
Prince George-Valemount: Clay Pountney
Richmond-Bridgeport: Linda Li
Richmond Centre: Henry Yao
Richmond-Queensborough: Aman Singh
Richmond-Steveston: Kelly Greene
Saanich North and the Islands: Sarah Riddell
Saanich South: Lana Popham
Salmon Arm-Shuswap: Sylvia Lindgren
Skeena: Sarah Zimmerman
Surrey City Centre: Amna Shah
Surrey-Cloverdale: Mike Starchuk
Surrey-Fleetwood: Jagrup Brar
Surrey-Guildford: Garry Begg
Surrey-Panorama: Jinny Sims
Surrey-Newton: Jessie Sunner
Surrey North: Rachna Singh
Surrey-Serpentine River: Baltej Dhillon
Surrey South: Haroon Ghaffar
Surrey-White Rock: Darryl Walker
Vancouver-Fraserview: George Chow
Vancouver-Hastings: Niki Sharma
Vancouver-Kensington: Mable Elmore
Vancouver-Langara: Sunita Dhir
Vancouver-Little Mountain: Christine Boyle
Vancouver-Point Grey: David Eby
Vancouver-Quilchena: Callista Ryan
Vancouver-Renfrew: Adrian Dix
Vancouver-South Granville: Brenda Bailey
Vancouver-Strathcona: Joan Phillip
Vancouver-West End: Spencer Chandra Herbert
Vancouver Yaletown: Terry Yung
Vernon-Lumby: Harwinder Sandhu
Victoria-Beacon Hill: Grace Lore
Victoria-Swan Lake: Nina Krieger
West Kelowna-Peachland: Krystal Smith
West Vancouver-Capilano: Sara Eftekhar
West Vancouver-Sea to Sky: Jen Ford