B.C. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson speaks during a drive-in car rally campaign stop at a tour bus operator, in Delta, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020. The B.C. Liberals lost seats in Langley, Chilliwack and the B.C. Interior to the NDP in the snap election held a week later. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C. Liberals must pick new leader by next February, party says

Andrew Wilkinson's resignation official after three months

The B.C. Liberal Party will set a date for a leadership convention by Feb. 16, 2022, after former leader Andrew Wilkinson made official the resignation he announced three months ago.

“Late yesterday Andrew Wilkinson delivered a letter of resignation as leader of the B.C. Liberal Party to me, as acting president of the party,” Don Silversides, a member of the leadership election organizing committee, said in a statement Feb. 17.

The committee has 28 days to meet and decide how it will work, “including preparing and enforcing a set of rules, determining timelines, establishing fees, deposits, revenue sharing arrangements and other matters required for the leadership vote within the perimeters set out by the party executive,” Silversides said.

Under interim leader Shirley Bond, the 28-MLA official opposition returns to the B.C. legislature when it opens March 1. The NDP majority government has its next budget set for April 20, two months later than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency and the unheard-of deficit spending that began just over a year ago.

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