Kamloops This Week
Bill Sundhu is the new president of the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo NDP riding association.
Sundhu, who was the NDP’s candidate in the 2015 federal election — finishing second to Conservative MP Cathy McLeod with 21,466 votes — was elected, along with a new executive committee, at the riding’s annual general meeting.
Sundhu will not be seeking the party’s nomination in the October 2019 federal election.
“I have undertaken significant personal and professional responsibilities and it seemed unfair if I were unable to not fulfil them,” said Sundhu, a Kamloops lawyer who practises criminal justice and international human rights law. “The needs of running an effective campaign cannot accommodate both.”
Sundhu also serves on the board of governors of UBC.
The new executive includes Sandra Bandura (vice-president), Inga Thomson Hilton (secretary) and Michael Crawford (financial agent).
The 2019 NDP candidate will be chosen in the new year. “
“This is a winnable riding,” Sundhu said. “The lustre has worn off Justin Trudeau, who said he’d do things differently. Instead, he’s broken many promises.”
The 2015 results in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo saw Mcleod win with 24,595 votes, followed by Sundhu’s 21,466 votes, Liberal Steve Powrie’s 21,215 votes and Green Matt Greenwoood’s 2,489 votes.
Voter turnout was 73.4 per cent.
Sundhu said the NDP’s focus is on introducing policies focused on families and workers: national Pharmacare, a national industrial strategy to avoid the boom-and-bust cycle and GM-style plant closings, reducing student debt, universal child care, closing tax loopholes and going after off-shore tax havens and money-laundering and getting infrastructure projects and affordable housing projects off the ground.