No Date For Conservative Nomination

Saturday, November 27, 2010 04:32 AM

Prince George, B.C. - While six candidates have publicly declared their intent to seek the Conservative Party nomination in the Prince George-Peace River riding, there's no word yet on when the official nomination process will begin.

Conservative MP, Jay Hill, announced his retirement over the summer and stepped down on October 25th. The list of people hoping to represent the party and, ideally, continue the conservative lock on the riding includes:

Fort St. John Councillor Dan Davies
Fort St. John Councillor Don Irwin
Former Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley
Tumbler Ridge District Councillor Jerrilyn Schembri
Prince George City Councillor Cameron Stolz, and
Fort St. John teacher Bob Zimmer

The Prime Minister's Office has yet to announce a by-election and the Conservative Party's national office in Ottawa has yet to set the formal nomination process in motion.

The President of the Prince George-Peace River Conservative District Electoral Association says there are two components to the six-week process. Chad Anderson says when the nomination opens, those interested in running have three weeks to submit their applications to the candidate nomination committee in the riding, as well as the national office. "Shortly after we receive their application, the candidate nomination committee meets with the applicants and then the national office rules on whether the applicant will be allowed as a contestant into the nomination race."

"At the end of that three week period, the nominations close and it's at that point that we have our full list of contestants in the race established, so that no one else will be entering the race at that point and that just gives us time to prepare the ballots and get ready for the nomination meetings which would happen within the next three week period." It's at those nomination meetings that party members will have the opportunity to vote on Hill's successor.

When asked if the party would look to avoid launching the process over the winter months, Anderson would only speculate that reports in the media of a possible election over the spring budget, might mean it occurs before the warmer weather hits.

And he says the 'unofficial' candidates are already hard at work, "All those that have expressed an interest are actively out building support around the riding and selling memberships, getting new people involved in the party and...anybody can still buy a membership and vote for the next Conservative candidate in Prince George-Peace River, so they're certainly out there trying to bring more folks onto their respective teams." (New members have until the end of the first three weeks in the nomination period for party headquarters to receive their membership.)

Anderson says the local Electoral District Association is pleased the nomination race will be a well contested one. "I think we know quite well that Jay Hill has left some very big shoes to fill," he says. "It makes it a good process where lots of folks throughout the riding will have the opportunity to make a good selection from a good variety of candidates -- I think that's a good thing for democracy, we wouldn't want to see a job of this importance receiving no interest."

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Posted on Saturday, November 27, 2010 04:32 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Andyfreeze on November 27 2010 7:26 AM

My guess when it happens...Kinsley get's the nod.

Posted by: gimmeabreak on November 27 2010 9:17 AM

Kinsley has always placed the North first in all the politics he has done. He will do a good job as the MP......and DON'T fall for the "age" card, Colin has more left in him than most 45 yr olds.

Posted by: apoliticalgeek on November 27 2010 8:53 PM

Well, if you believe a shill for big business (Enbridge) would support the little people Colin would be a great choice. I'm quite certain he would be an 'honest politician'. But really, same old, same old.

Posted by: Palopu on November 27 2010 9:49 PM

All the Politics that Kinsley has done in the North is to be Mayor of Prince George. Of course he would place the North first. What else would he do??

Hopefully someone North of Prince George will get the nomination. Ft St John or Tumbler Ridge. Thats where the riding really is. All Pr George has is the Hart Highway and North Nechako. Prince George doesnt need any more high flying politicians. Less is better.

Posted by: supertech on November 27 2010 9:59 PM

We need new faces in Ottawa--not old faces with big egos. We need new politicians with small egos. Go away Colin, please.

Posted by: gimmeabreak on November 27 2010 11:41 PM

apolitikalgeek.....Oh yes Big Business... BAD. Jobs provided by Big Business...BAD. Taxes paid by people employed by Big Business...BAD. Taxes paid by Big Business...BAD. Charity donations made by Big Business....BAD. Social programs paid for by Big Business taxes...BAD.

I could go on all day long with this, but I dont think "apolitikalgeek" gets it even when reality smacks him in the butt.

Ah yes.....Experience representing constituents.....jeez that must be BAD too.

Posted by: gus on November 28 2010 11:52 AM

apoliticalgeek's post was about Enbridge specifically and Kinsley's role in promoting that pipeline.

Enbridge is no doubt big business. But as far as Enbridge's proposing doing business in these parts, it is hardly big.

1. we do not have the oil being transported - that gain goes to Alberta and the Feds.

2. We do not mine the oil sands and process it - that gain goes to Alberta and the Feds.

3. We do not make the pipe and some of the pumping and regulating stations for the line - that gain likely goes to countries other than Canada, certainly not BC.

4. We may have some welders, but likely many will be imported from other parts of the country, as will inspection crews and their equipment.

5. We may not even have the ATCO units which will house some of the equipment, offices and people.

In short, the actual dollars spent in the communities along the line during the construction is going to be miniscule when compared to the 30+ year lifetime of the project.

There will be some new permanent residual jobs which will be primarily at the port end of the project.

So, the project is large from a company point of view. If you have an idea of waht percetnage of the project cost will be spent in local communities in this federal riding as a proportion of the money spent on the total project and the details surrounding that, let me know. So far it is all airy fairy without factual backup.

Posted by: gus on November 28 2010 12:07 PM

BTW, we do not have to guess about the benefit of the pipeline to the communities it will skirt by. We have experience.

I see that we have about 580,000 kilometres of pipeline in Canada. We have many decades of experience in constructing them and operating them. We should also have that much experience in knowing the temporary as well as long term benefits the pipelines have provided to communities that are neither at the production end of the line or the delivery end of the line.

Economic and social benefit analysis is not rocket science. It is easy to see the BS "facts" provided by many project proponents.