Dale Boyd
Local Journalism Initiative
Former Mayor of Oliver, Ron Hovanes, is again expressing his intent to run for the BC Liberals following the announcement of the snap election by Premier John Horgan Monday.
“I really don’t know what is happening. I just know they just called an election,” Hovanes told the Times-Chronicle Monday afternoon. “I let it be known a long time ago that I’ve been waiting for a nomination meeting and I would probably seek the nomination to be the candidate for the Boundary-Similkameen.”
“I don’t know what is going to happen at this stage of the game, whether (the BC Liberals) are going to have a nomination meeting this close to an election. I’d still be interested in a nomination meeting if it was to be held. I would seek the nomination, yes.”
Uncertainty is abound in a few ridings across the province as of Monday, and Hovanes noted BC Liberal party bylaws require two weeks notice for a nomination meeting.
“I doubt that’s going to happen when we are only four weeks away from an actual election, right? I have the feeling the party is going to choose somebody and we’ll see what happens,” Hovanes said. “The notice has gone out that all of the sitting MLAs who are not resigning are deemed the candidate in their riding.”
With seven BC Liberal MLAs not returning to the ballot (as well as seven now-open NDP seats in the legislature), Hovanes said there are only a few ridings in B.C. where a candidate will need to be nominated by the BC Liberals, including the Boundary-Similkameen stretching west to Princeton and east to Grand Forks.
Hovanes said there will likely be either “a quick and dirty meeting,” or the Liberals will appoint a candidate.
“We will see what happens over the next day or so,” he said.
Hovanes is the former mayor of Oliver, and sat on Oliver town council for 16 years prior to being defeated in the 2018 municipal election by current Mayor Martin Johansen by less than 200 votes.
