Former BC Liberal candidate Laurie Throness says he’ll sit as Independent if he wins

FORMER BC Liberal candidate Laurie Throness said on Friday that he is still running for re-election in the riding of Chilliwack-Kent and will sit as an Independent in the House if he wins.

Throness resigned from the BC Liberal Party on Thursday following a controversy about his remarks in a candidates debate on Wednesday in which he compared contraception to eugenics.

Throness wrote in a Facebook post: “This week I used an incorrect word to explain my concerns about an NDP platform proposal to provide free contraception. I want to apologize to all concerned for the damage done to my MLA colleagues and the Leader. Andrew Wilkinson is a good man who has dealt kindly with me on a personal basis throughout the summer and even yesterday. He should be our Premier.
“As MLA I have always sought to speak from my heart and my conscience. Now, a great many have reached out with messages of support, urging me to continue to do that.
“It is vital to deliver our riding for free enterprise. Moreover, Chilliwack-Kent voters deserve a viable small ‘c’ conservative MLA who is unafraid of the freedoms of speech and religion, who embraces the thousands of social conservatives in this riding as well as social liberals, and who advocates for free-market and affordable government solutions to public policy issues.
“So I will continue. I am still on the ballot as a BC Liberal. I will inform voters that if they vote for me, I will sit as an Independent in the House and continue to speak from my heart and my conscience.
“I’m in it to win it.”