Federal Liberals will acclaim candidate in Vancouver Kingsway

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      What was initially promised as a competitive selection of federal Liberal candidates for nomination isn’t going to happen in Vancouver Kingsway.

      The same thing occurred in Van­couver South and Vancouver Granville amid grumblings in those ridings about favouritism by party brass. These appear to contradict Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s promise of open nominations across Canada.

      Mary Pynenburg has dropped out of the race in Vancouver Kingsway, leaving only one contestant, who will be acclaimed on March 12. Shaun Govender, executive director of the Liberal Party in B.C., identified the remaining candidate as Steven Kou.

      Pynenburg, who’s president of the National Women’s Liberal Commission, declined to offer a reason for her decision. “It’s an internal party process,” Pynenburg told the Straight in a phone interview on March 3. “I have no comment.”

      John Bolduc Arthur started signing up Liberal members in Vancouver Kingsway in the fall of 2013. Last summer, the former military intelligence officer who served in Afghanistan folded up his campaign. “We didn’t have enough momentum to win,” Arthur told the Straight by phone.

      Govender told the Straight by phone that Kou’s background will be made available after he has been named as the party’s candidate.

      Comments

      8 Comments

      The Real MD

      Mar 4, 2015 at 12:14pm

      Remember David Emerson and Sophia Leung, Vancouver Kingsway; the Liberals have been running over your right to choose your own candidates for almost two decades now.

      Justin Trudeau - meet the new elitist Liberal, same as the old elitist Liberal

      Not Liberal This Time

      Mar 4, 2015 at 3:06pm

      If a party cannot keep its promise to run a fair and open nomination, how can we trust it to run a country?

      Craig

      Mar 4, 2015 at 4:50pm

      How do we know what happened in this nomination race without the details? I'm not going to jump to conclusions. All the parties are acclaiming candidates right now.

      So WTF

      Mar 4, 2015 at 6:46pm

      So what hardly the only party doing it. The Cons do it as do the NDP.

      Wong

      Mar 4, 2015 at 7:11pm

      Steve Kou is a 1%er

      Not Voting Pretty Boy

      Mar 4, 2015 at 8:56pm

      This back room politics is really just proof that the nothing has changed.. Sorry Justin - as much as I can't stand Harper I cannot stomach this crap you or your party brass is pulling off - Hello Green.

      Adam Tondowsky

      Mar 5, 2015 at 4:41am

      While I don't like engaging in rumor mongering, Mary Pynenburg was the 2004 and 2006 Federal Liberal nominee in New Westminster and stepped down from her position as Director of (City) Planning for New Westminster to run for office (I believe she stepped down anyway).

      She later was employed as Director of (city) Planning for some city in the Interior but either resigned or was fired after just a few months on the job. While I gather she was 'green lit' by the Liberal Party to run for the nomination, I'm just speculating that maybe something new came to light as to why she left that position.

      Adam Tondowsky

      Mar 5, 2015 at 4:43am

      "This back room politics is really just proof that the nothing has changed.. Sorry Justin - as much as I can't stand Harper I cannot stomach this crap you or your party brass is pulling off - Hello Green."

      Green?

      New Democrat Don Davies is an excellent M.P for Vancouver-Kingsway. Why not vote for him?