Ed Mayne becomes sixth candidate in B.C. Liberal leadership race

Ed Mayne has officially become the sixth candidate to enter the B.C. Leadership contest.

Mayne resigned as mayor of Parksville today (January 4) and formally announced his candidacy at a news conference.

On his website, Mayne indicated he supports the HST, but wants to keep the provincewide referendum held in September. He also supports a two-term maximum for the premiership of the province.

“There’s only two issues that should be talked about in this leadership race – the first one is leadership itself, and how you’re going to run the party, and secondly, the HST. The rest of it is just window dressing,” Mayne told the Straight by phone today.

Mayne said voters need to regain confidence in government and the Liberal party, which he said has been “decimated pretty bad”.

“People are tired of the old political systems of back room deals and from the premier’s office down, dictation of policy,” he said. “I think people want to see it from the constituencies up, and we’re not seeing that.”

Mayne said he would like to see free votes in the legislature on everything except confidence votes.

“I will encourage the MLAs to vote the way the constituents want them, not the way that the premier’s office wants them to vote,” he said. “Until we do that, we’re not going to get back the credibility that we need.”

Mayne sees the fact that he’s unknown compared to some of the participants in the provincial Liberal leadership race as a potential advantage.

“I’m the only candidate that’s different,” he told the Straight. “The rest of them all have ties back to government. I’m not carrying any of the baggage of the decisions that have been made over the last while.”

Mayne was elected as mayor of Parksville in November 2008. Previously he worked as vice-president of Tim Hortons and Wendy’s restaurants.

On his website, Mayne describes himself as “a businessman, not a politician”.

“In business, you’re always looking ahead to the future,” Mayne said on his site.

“Where the company will be in five and ten years. We need to look at British Columbia in the same way, with forethought and a long term economic plan that serves British Columbians now and in generations to come.”

Mayne joins candidates Christy Clark, Moira Stilwell, Kevin Falcon, Mike de Jong and George Abbott in the leadership race.

B.C. Liberal party members will vote on a new leader on February 26.

You can follow Yolande Cole on Twitter at twitter.com/yolandecole.