Who will be the BC NDP candidate for Powell River-Sunshine Coast in the next election? Five people have told the local riding association that they're interested in seeking the nomination for the 2024 provincial election – all of them from the lower Sunshine Coast, association president Bill Forst told Coast Reporter in a Feb. 2 email.
The hopefuls who have stepped forward so far are:
- Amanda Amaral, the current School District 46 Board of Trustees chair, who is serving her second term on the board;
- Randene Neill, a former Global BC journalist and Garden Bay resident;
- Jäger Rosenberg, a Chatelech Secondary School student and air cadet;
- Jacquie Shields, president of the Sunshine Coast Teachers Association;
- Darnelda Siegers, a previous mayor of Sechelt and previous Sunshine Coast Regional District chair.
“With such a richness of potential candidates, we will be taking great care to ensure that the nomination process is as fair and representative as possible," said Forst in the email.
He added that they will have no authorized nominees until the BC NDP confirm the nomination candidates, likely in mid-March.
"This will be followed by a campaign within our Association membership, and a final nominating meeting in early June, after which our BC NDP candidate for MLA will be announced,” Forst wrote.
Interested BC NDP members can apply for nomination candidacy up to 28 days before the nomination meeting, which is tentatively set for June 8, Forst said in a followup email. This means that interested parties can apply as late as May 10, though Forst indicated that they're not thinking that individuals will wait until the last minute to put their names forward.
Only residents who live in the riding and have been NDP members 90 days prior to the nomination meeting can vote for a candidate at the nomination event.
The riding will be selecting a new member of the legislative assembly when B.C. voters are called to the polls. Incumbent Nicholas Simons of the NDP who has represented the area for the past five terms announced in 2023 that he would not be running again.
The proposed date of the next provincial election is Oct. 19, and to be on the ballot candidates are required to be registered with Elections BC by Sept. 28.
The only party to have confirmed its Powell River-Sunshine Coast candidate is BC United. At this point, Chris Moore is slated to be on the ballot for that party locally.
