JENNIFER Whiteside was on Thursday chosen as the new interim leader of the BC NDP. She repalces David Eby who had announced his resignation on Saturday night after his party had been decimated.
Mike Farnworth will be House Leader and Niki Sharma will be Caucus Chair.
The BC NDP caucus now has a paltry 28 members. It had 47 MLAs before last Saturday’s election.
Whiteside, who was re-elected MLA for New Westminster-Coquitlam, is a former labour leader. Fomer NDP MP Bonita Zarrillo congratulated Whiteside and noted: “Your leadership is a connection to workers that is longstanding and necessary. I know you and your MLAs will be holding the line for BCers.”
Whiteside was first elected as the MLA for New Westminster (now New Westminster-Coquitlam) in 2020.
She was appointed the Minister of Labour in November 2024. She previously served as Minister of Education, and most recently as Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.
Jennifer was the chief spokesperson and lead negotiator for the Hospital Employees’ Union, where she fought for strong public healthcare and healthcare workers’ rights.
Whiteside has worked for community organizations and labour unions at the provincial and national level, and in those roles has championed a wide range of social justice issues from accessible post-secondary education and affordable public childcare to Medicare and health equity.
She was born and raised in New Westminster, and holds a degree in History from Simon Fraser University.
READ ALSO:
