Former MP Dawn Black elected NDP MLA for New Westminster

Dawn Black’s transition to provincial politics is looking like a smooth ride as she looks poised to win her seat.

Black resigned her seat as the federal NDP’s New Westminster-Coquitlam MP to seek the provincial NDP’s nomination for New Westminster.

Black, who was a defence critic in Parliament, made this move after incumbent NDP New Westminster MLA Chuck Puchmayr decided not to run for reelection as he recently had to go through a liver transplant operation.

As of 9:57 p.m., Dawn was coasting away with 3,220 votes compared to the 2,240 votes of her B.C. Liberal opponent Carole Dorothy Millar.

The Green party’s Matthew Laird was a distant third with only 532 votes.

Comments

1 Comments

RodSmelser

May 13, 2009 at 9:29am

Black's move to provincial politics, in a BC election scheduled several years ago by legislation, and coming just seven months after her successful run for re-election in the October 14th Federal Election, will of course generate a federal byelection.

I expect to receive several messages asking for time and money for the NDP campaign in that byelection. The messages will tell me how urgent it is that the party hold this seat against against the Harper Conservatives.

I am reminded of Mark Rose's quite suddent and unexpected move to provincial politics in 1983, which generated a byelection in which former MIssion Mayor Sophie Weremchuk, having just lost a close provincial election to Socred F. C. Austin Pelton, was asked to run again in September. She lost to Gerry St. Germain, with the result that come the following provincial election in 1986 the local media were able to portray her as a perennial candidate, never quite successful.

Rod Smelser