Transportation company president John Wilson will represent the B.C. Conservatives in the race for Esquimalt-Colwood, rounding out a full slate of candidates representing the major parties.
The deadline for nominations is 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28.
In late August, BC United candidate Meagan Brame, a former Esquimalt councillor and daycare operator, turned down an offer to join the B.C. Conservatives when BC United leader Kevin Falcon announced suspension of the party’s campaign to avoid a right-wing vote split.
Within days of Brame stepping away from the race, NDP cabinet minister Mitzi Dean, who has represented the riding since 2017, stepped down from her ministerial duties and as a candidate, citing “personal challenges.”
That left the NDP scrambling for a candidate. For a time, it also meant the B.C. Greens’ Camille Currie — a small-business owner who established B.C. Health Care Matters, a community patient group that has raised awareness of the family-doctor shortage — was the only candidate in the riding.
The NDP have since named Darlene Rotchford, who works in mental health and addictions, as their candidate.
As for Currie, she picked up an official endorsement from Brame on Wednesday.
“Her endorsement is a significant step forward in our mission to deliver the progress that Esquimalt-Colwood deserves,” the B.C. Greens said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Herb Haldane, BC United’s former candidate in Juan de Fuca-Malahat, endorsed NDP candidate Dana Lejeunesse, calling him “hardworking and honest.”
Haldane, a former two-term Sooke councillor, rejected his party’s suggestion that former BC United candidates support their Conservative counterparts.
The provincial election is set for Oct. 19.
