Patti MacAhonic, Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce executive director, will announce her bid for the NDP nomination in the Chilliwack riding Monday.
MacAhonic, also a former executive director at the BC Wildlife Federation, will square off at an NDP nomination meeting Jan. 19 against Dennis Adamson, Yale electoral area director at the Fraser Valley Regional District.
Adamson announced his bid for the nomination back in August.
BC Liberals’ hold on the two Chilliwack ridings, long considered safe conservative seats, seemed to soften with Gwen O’Mahony’s byelection victory last April placing the Chilliwack-Hope riding in the NDP column for the first time in recent memory.
But as O’Mahony herself acknowledged, voting to send the government a message in a byelection is different matter than voting in a general election for who will govern the province.
But for now, at least, NDP fortunes in the Fraser Valley seem to be riding high.
Two strong NDP candidates are now vying for their party’s nomination in Chilliwack, while the BC Liberals have “acclaimed” two candidates following the departure of MLAs John Les and Barry Penner.
Penner’s decision to leave politics forced the Chilliwack-Hope byelection, and Les’s announcement in August that he will not run for re-election left open the Chilliwack riding.
John Martin, the BC Conservative candidate in the April byelection, switched parties to run as the BC Liberal candidate in the Chilliwack riding.
Laurie Throness, the BC Liberal candidate in the byelection, will take another run at O’Mahony in the Chilliwack-Hope riding.
The NDP nomination meeting starts at 3 p.m. at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre on Corbould Street
