JUST this morning (Tuesday), The VOICE announced on this website:

“Sources tell The VOICE that [Rich] Coleman has decided not to run in the civic election now because of “problems.” This newspaper was the first to report that Coleman could be planning to run for the mayor’s seat (April 26 story titled, “Is Rich Coleman ready to run for Mayor of Surrey?”). The Province newspaper carried the same story on June 10. In fact, this newspaper had given a hint about this on April 10 that “the buzz was that a former B.C. Liberal minister would be quitting provincial politics to run for mayor in Surrey.” But since then Coleman has been under severe attack because of the casinos’ scandal.”

This afternoon, Coleman, who is MLA for Langley East, released the following statement:

“For the past several weeks, many people have asked me to consider a new act in my political life. The support was overwhelming and, as I’ve done throughout my career, I wanted to take the time to make the right decision.

“After careful consideration and many family discussions, I will not be leaving the arena of provincial politics.

“For more than 20 years, I’ve been proud to serve the residents of Langley and I will continue to fight for them as MLA. The NDP are going down a path that we’ve seen before – one that is costly to us as a province and to each British Columbian personally – and I will devote my energy and experience into making sure my grandkids have the future they deserve.”

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