Posted on 4 November 2014

We’re in the middle of the election race for mayor, council, and school board all over British Columbia right now (hey, here’s Daybreak’s election page) but another big election is shaping up. Dick Harris, long-time MP for the Prince George region, recently announced his retirement after 21 years in office.
There are adults who have never known life without Harris is their MP, and for much of this time he went virtually unchallenged. For as long as I can remember this has been considered a “safe” riding for the Conservatives, to the point that sometimes candidates from the other parties didn’t even bother putting up a photo on their election website because they were there in name only, with no expectation of winning. Basically, if you are the Conservative candidate, you will be the MP.
Which makes the race to replace Harris an important one. If history repeats itself, whoever gets the nod could be the local MP for the next two decades. A lot can change, I know, but it does help place the importance of this race in perspective.
We plan to cover the nomination process for this fairly closely on Daybreak. The vote has been called for December 15, and November 13 is the last day people can put their names into the hat. So far the candidates are:

• Gerald Caron
• Todd Doherty
• Nick Fedorkiw
• T.J. Grewal

Outgoing Prince George mayor Shari Green is widely rumoured to be entering the race, as well. Just one day after her last night at city council she put out a release that she will be making an “announcement” about the Cariboo – Prince George riding tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Filed under: Prince George