The Parksville-Qualicum ballot is starting to fill with some familiar names.
Historically, the battle to represent this region in the Legislature has seen candidates from the B.C. Liberal Party and the NDP finish one-two. When local residents head to the polls in the provincial election May 9, 2017, women’s names will be carrying the banners of those parties.
A Parksville-Qualicum NDP Constituency Association source indicated last week that Parksville city councillor Sue Powell will be acclaimed as the party’s candidate at a general meeting of the association this Sunday in Nanoose, where the guest speaker will be NDP MLA Leonard Krog.
Powell had previously announced her intention to seek the NDP nod, but it was not known until last week whether anyone was going to challenge her for the spot.
The B.C. Liberal Party will be represented by incumbent MLA and cabinet Minister Michelle Stilwell.
The Green Party of B.C. will be represented by Glenn Sollitt, who ran for the federal Green Party in last year’s federal election.
The B.C. Conservative Party has yet to name a candidate for the provincial election.
In 2013, Stilwell won Parksville-Qualicum constituency with more than 50 per cent of the vote (14,518 votes). The NDP’s Barry Avis had 10,732 and B.C. Conservative Dr. David Coupland 3,710.