BC LIBERALS
Watts leads, but former MLA looks elsewhere — A3
Dianne Watts holds a commanding lead in the race to become the new leader of the BC Liberal Party, according to poll results released this week.
Main Street Research puts the former Surrey mayor at 30 per cent support, followed by former cabinet ministers Andrew Wilkinson (21 per cent) and Todd Stone (20 per cent).
Further down the list were Mike de Jong (16 per cent), Michael Lee (11 per cent) and Sam Sullivan (2 per cent).
“The BC Liberal race appears to be one that will be hard to call, with many strong candidates in the field,” Main Street president Quito Maggi said in a press release.
“While we do not have a complete membership list, we think that this leadership race will see a multi-ballot scenario determining the winner.”
The poll, which questioned 340 people earlier this month, used lists of federal Conservative and Liberal voters to come up with the sample. It is considered accurate within 5.3 per cent 19 times out of 20.
And on Tuesday, former Okanagan Westside MLA Rick Thorpe and his wife, Yasmin John Thorpe, came out in support of Mike de Jong and Andrew Wilkinson — but not in any particular order — stating in an email to friends they’re the “only two candidates who have the proven records to meet the challenges we face.”
“Yasmin and I are not suggesting who should be your No. 1 and No. 2 vote, we are only expressing to you who we believe are the two best candidates who can do the job at hand today and who can handle the challenges ahead for British Columbia, and defeat the NDP-Green coalition.
De Jong and Wilkinson already have a deal to encourage their supporters to make the other man their No. 2 choice on the preferential ballot.
BC Liberals will vote for their new leader Feb. 1-3.