As the federal election continues to roll along on the national level, the local campaign to replace out-going Conservative MP Stockwell Day in Ottawa has entered a new phase.
Federal Liberals in Okanagan-Coquihalla completed the line-up of names appearing on local ballots May 2 when they elected John Kidder of Ashcroft as their candidate.
Also running for the open seat are Conservative Dan Albas of Penticton, as well as New Democrat David Finnis and Green Dan Bouchard, both of Summerland.
The nomination of Kidder — who beat out previously declared candidates Shan Lavell and Gordon Wiebe — took place Monday evening at the Cove Resort in West Kelowna after the local constituency association had organized travelling polls in Penticton and Merrit in its search for a candidate.
This selection process became necessary after the party’s initial candidate for the riding, Olympic Gold medalist Ross Rebagliati had withdrawn from the position, citing personal reasons.
Kidder’s official biography released after he had claimed the party’s nomination identifies him as a semi-retired independent businessman, whose family has resided in Ashcroft since the 1930s.
Kidder — who once participated in the provincial Green politics — has held various roles in the Liberal Party of Canada over 30 years of involvement.
According to his biography, Kidder grew up in the Northwest Territories, Quebec, Ontario and Labrador.
He worked as cowboy, miner and fish worker in his youth before entering range management, agricultural economics, software and fibre optic technology development and governance.
While this riding has not traditionally elected federal Liberals, Kidder believes that his party can win this riding by reaching out to eligible voters who have stayed away from the polls over the years, younger voters, First Nations and its own base — Liberals “hiding in the hills.”
The coming race — in which the federal Liberals plan to highlight what they call ethical lapses and unjustified spending by the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper — promises to be one of the most competitive ones in recent memory after Day’s seemingly sudden departure from the political scene.
Kidder acknowledged that Day’s departure gives his party a higher probability of success.
But Kidder stressed that the party would have run the same campaign with or without Day in the race.
Kidder, speaking by phone from his newly established constituency office in Penticton, said he is exciting about the coming campaign and its local debates.
Taking Day’s spot on the ballot and the debate podium will be Penticton entrepreneur, current city councillor, and former Conservative riding president, Dan Albas.
He won his party’s nomination March 22 ahead of Penticton real estate agent and Day’s former parliamentary assistant Marshal Neufeld and West Kelowna entrepreneur Rudy Ensign, who like Neufeld and Albas belong to the inner circle of the local Conservative constituency.
Accusations of irregularities have surrounded Albas’ nomination after three would-be candidates have accused the party of having rigged what they claimed was a compressed nomination process.
Albas has rejected those allegations, adding that he had no prior knowledge of Day’s retirement that would have given him head start on the nomination process, as said critics have claimed.
Day has since come to defend Albas.
“Hard-working volunteers are the ones who run the (nomination process,) not the party brass,” said Day in the Penticton Western News. “I feel bad that their actions are now being questioned.”
The controversy though has earned national coverage and led to the resignation of at least one local Conservative fundraiser, Mischa Popoff.
“Make no mistake, this will hurt the Conservative Party of Canada more than anything the opposition might try to throw at us,” he wrote in his resignation letter. “After all, democracy itself is at stake.”