THEN there will be two?
Juan de Fuca MLA John Horgan will make an announcement regarding his bid for the B.C. NDP leadership race on Monday in his home riding.
Team Horgan’s Shamus Reid wouldn’t tell The VOICE if Horgan would announce his bid for the leadership and kept repeating the line ‘he will make an announcement on B.C. NDP leadership race.’
But his email ‘@teamhorgan.ca’ told the story loud and clear!
The announcement will be made at 7 p.m. on Monday at Isabelle Reader Theatre, Spencer Middle School, 1026 Goldstream Avenue, Langford, B.C.
TWO weeks ago, Mike Farnworth, MLA for Port Coquitlam and Opposition Critic for Finance, officially announced his candidacy.
Last January, the NDP announced that their new leader would be announced at an event on September 28 in Vancouver following a four-day voting period.
“We have set in place rules for a modern, fair, one-member one-vote leadership election,” said BC NDP President Craig Keating.
Leadership voting will take place from September 24-27, with party members voting by preferential ballot ahead of September 28. The party’s chief electoral officer will tabulate the results on September 28, and the winner will be announced at an event that evening. Members will cast their ballots using a telephone and Internet voting system.
The deadline to become a member of the BC NDP in order to vote is June 26. British Columbians can join the party by visiting bcndp.ca/join.
NDP MLAs have told me that they will decide who to support after looking at “what it takes to win the next election.”
Farnworth was blindsided in the last leadership contest because of mass sign-ups by Adrian Dix’s camp.
Polls during the last contest showed that Farnworth had the most support among voters and if he had been elected the leader instead of Dix, many believe he would have been the premier today.
In the last leadership contest, Farnworth had the support of South Asian MLAs Harry Lali and Jagrup Brar, while Dix had the backing of Harry Bains. MLA Raj Chouhan remained neutral.
Horgan made a surprisingly strong show in the last leadership election and those who don’t like Farnworth have been pressuring him to run.
