Tourism business operator Darren DeLuca will be the B.C. Liberal candidate in Alberni-Pacific Rim in the May 14 election.
"Our community is ready for change, for a vision of prosperity and jobs, and that's what I will commit to do," DeLuca said. "NDP candidate Scott Fraser has not done the job and it's time for him to go."
De Luca owns Vancouver Island Guide Outfitters, a big-game guiding company. He is also a director of the Port Alberni Junior Hockey Society and helped spearhead a drive to make the Alberni Valley Bulldogs community owned. He is also a director of the Port Alberni Port Authority and co-chair of the Alberni Clayoquot Transportation Committee.
"At this crucial moment, when the forest industry is finally ready to invest in jobs and infrastructure, it is the height of irresponsibility for Scott Fraser to call for the banning of old-growth logging," DeLuca said. "Our union millworkers and loggers would be laid off instantly."
One of his priorities, he said, is improved highway infrastructure.
"For too long the local economy has been constrained by lack of access," he said. "Better roads and infrastructure in any area of Alberni-Pacific rim would be good news for the tourist industry as well as for economic development. A lot of constituents depend on tourism and it needs all the help it can get."
DeLuca is also a realtor and he supports the efforts of the Port Alberni Port Authority to develop a trans-shipping centre near Coleman Creek in the Alberni Inlet.