Members of the Parksville-Qualicum Liberal Constituency Association say they are still in shock about the announcement this week that MLA Ron Cantelon won’t run in the next election.
Association president Bruce Cownden said he’s anticipating some expressions of interest to replace Cantelon within the next week or so.
“Five people ran last time,” he said. “I think everybody is a little bit shocked at the moment, but I hope in the next week or so we’ll have some people coming forward.”
Although the association has a board meeting slated for Monday, Cownden stressed the setting of a nomination meeting is beyond their purview.
“Candidate selection meetings go through the party itself,” he said. “They are doing lots of them now around the province. Ron caught us a little off guard and it was not slated in anywhere. That will be up to the party to set the date.”
What they can do locally, he added, is to put feelers out in the community to see who might be ready to run for the nomination.