Surrey mayor Dianne Watts decides not to seek B.C. Liberal leadership

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      Dianne Watts has announced she will not run for the leadership of the B.C. Liberal Party.

      After much media speculation, the Surrey mayor issued a statement on Sunday (November 14), saying she doesn’t plan to enter provincial politics at this time.

      This morning (November 15), Watts told CBC Radio One’s The Early Edition that she wanted to be able to spend time with her family, as well as to maintain “stability” for investors in the city.

      Watts noted the “political environment” in Victoria also factored in to her decision not to seek Premier Gordon Campbell’s job.

      “When you look at what goes on over there and how people are treated, it’s an environment that one would have to walk into with eyes open wide,” Watts said. “And we’ve had a number of the cabinet ministers around the cabinet table—well, actually all of them have been there for 10 years. And I think that there comes a time when you need to stand up and be accountable for the decisions, the mandate, and the vision that you’ve undertaken.”

      She added, “I wasn’t part of that process, and so to look at that and try and make that mine was something that was not in the cards either.”

      Watts said she isn’t ruling out getting into provincial or federal politics in the future.

      You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenhui.

      Comments

      4 Comments

      ernie57

      Nov 15, 2010 at 3:58pm

      That's a good thing because she's doing a crappy job in Surrey, with the siding of certain groups of people here . Just look at all the illegal suites and the monster homes to start with ,and all the green space torn down to build all this.The roads are the worst I've ever seen in the 28yrs I have lived here Hate to see what she would do to this province

      glen p robbins

      Nov 15, 2010 at 5:50pm

      Dianne Watts is a hot political commodity. Her success in Surrey politically is predicated on her and her colleagues ability to get past the type of dictatorial problems we see in provincial politics - to get things done. I have watched Surrey over 20 years - played a little rugby there- and admittedly McCallum was doing pretty good - but Watts is bringing Surrey to an entirely new level. Ernie is partly right - there is more improvement required - and that is why Mrs. Watts wants another term as mayor. Its a big job--any objective such as building a city with a growing diverse population in the largest area in the country takes at least a decade in my opinion.

      White Snake

      Nov 15, 2010 at 9:38pm

      Dianne must have been the hottest heavy metal rocker chic back in 1980.

      glen p robbins

      Nov 17, 2010 at 12:52pm

      White Snake - Indeed