By Jeremy Deutsch
Kamloops This Week
It will now be well into summer before the B.C. NDP has a candidate in place for the Kamloops-North Thompson riding.
The constituency association had planned to hold a nomination meeting on June 26, but it has been postponed by officials with the provincial party.
But, when the party eventually does decide to hold the meeting, it could be quite the race.
As it stands, NDP supporters in the north will likely have at least a pair of candidates to choose from as Cecile McVittie and Kathy Kendall have put their names forward as candidates.
However, local FightHST organizer Chad Moats is another person who has been approached by NDP members.
Moats told KTW he is considering a run, but noted for now he is busy with the harmonized sales tax referendum, which begins in June via a mail-out.
He said joining the race will also depend on when the party decides to hold its nomination meeting.
“If I do decide to do it, I wouldn’t want to do both at the same time,” Moats said.
“It would be somewhat of a conflict, I think.”
Kamloops-North Thompson NDP president Rick Turner said a nomination meeting won’t likely take place until July or August.
Turner blamed himself for the delay, noting as president, he hadn’t gone through the proper process needed to get approval from the provincial party for a nomination meeting.
“There’s a lot involved. I had no idea how much was involved,” he said, adding the association has asked the party to hold the two Kamloops constituency nomination meetings together to generate more interest in the race.
He said the association is now waiting on word from the party to set the nomination date.
The delay also opens up the possibility for more candidates to put their names forward.
The nomination deadline was set for May 25, but party rules allow the date to be moved, along with the nomination meeting.
Meanwhile, Tom Friedman, who ran as a candidate in the last provincial election for the NDP, has indicated he intends to put his name forward again in the Kamloops-South Thompson riding.