Wilkinson elected B.C. Liberal leader
Doctor, lawyer, scholar pushes to widen party support
British Columbia’s Liberals turned to a former cabinet minister with a blue blood intellectual pedigree and deep rural roots to lead them Saturday night, as Andrew Wilkinson appealed to his caucus colleagues to help him expand and broaden the party’s membership.
Wilkinson, 60, a doctor, lawyer and Rhodes Scholar, said leadership candidates who pushed the party to widen its support should be listened to after losing its 16-year grip on power last year.
“Take those Liberal values, build out this party,” he said after defeating former Conservative MP Dianne Watts in a fifth round of vote counting.
He stood on the stage after
his victory with his wife Barbara Grantham, members of the Liberal caucus and Watts, who resigned as a federal Conservative MP to seek the party leadership in a field of six candidates.
Wilkinson said the Liberals must unite as a party and get back to the days and values of former Liberal premiers Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell.
“We have to respect that work and understand those values that got us here,” he said. “We are the party that doesn’t spend our children’s money.”
He also began to galvanize the party to fight a referendum this fall on proportional representation, saying it would benefit the NDP and Greens who support changing the province’s voting system.
“So let’s get ourselves organized because we have work to do this summer,” he said. “We have a challenge in front of us.”
Prior to his political career, Wilkinson worked as a lawyer in Vancouver and before that he was a doctor.