B.C. Liberals will nominate former city councillor and school trustee Cheryl Ashlie in Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows

by Charlie Smith on January 10th, 2020 at 12:42 PM

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B.C. elections are often won and lost in the outer suburbs of Metro Vancouver.

Today, the B.C. Liberals announced who will be running in one of those swing seats in the next campaign.

Cheryl Ashlie, a former Maple Ridge councillor and school trustee, will be nominated on February 1 in Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows.

Ashlie is president of the Alouette River Management Society, as well as a former constituency assistant to the former B.C. Liberal MLA Doug Bing, who held the seat from 2013 to 2017.

In the 2017 election, New Democrat Lisa Beare defeated Bing by 1,617 votes.

Premier John Horgan appointed Beare as the minister of minister of tourism, arts, and culture in the first B.C. NDP cabinet since 2001.

"I want to congratulate Cheryl Ashlie on her candidacy. She is very well respected and I look forward to debating issues that matter to Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows," Beare said in a statement today. "We have addressed many of the problems that the Liberals were not able to solve while they were in government. Whether it is eliminating tolls on the Golden Ears Bridge, bringing an end to MSP or establishing a new urgent primary health care centre to serve the medical needs of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, I am proud of the work that we have accomplished while recognizing that we have more to do."

Lisa Beare became B.C.'s minister of tourism, arts, and culture after being elected in Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows in 2017.

Ashlie was raised in East Vancouver and lived on a sailboat with her husband for 14 years, according to a biography on her website. In the past, she worked at Vancouver General Hospital.

“I can’t wait to start knocking on doors, listening to voters, and sharing our positive B.C. Liberal vision for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows,” Ashlie said in a party news release. “We deserve a government that will stand up for local residents, fight for more affordable auto insurance and lower taxes, and invest in the services our community needs.”

In a previous newspaper column, Ashlie called for giving local homebuyers priority access over international buyers—and "restrictions when there isn't enough stock for the locals".

The two books that have most influenced her are Naomi A Hintze's novel The Stone Carnation and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning.