Businessman and civic volunteer Mark Ziebarth of Summerland is seeking the nomination for the B.C. Liberal Party in the riding of Penticton. He declared his candidacy at a family picnic attended by friends and supporters Wednesday evening.
Ziebarth wants to help build the economic strength of British Columbia for coming generations.
“I am a fiscal and financial conservative. I believe the best, highest and most important role of an MLA is to strengthen the economic health of the province. Everything good stems from a good economy.”
Without a healthy economy, “there’s no money to pay for the hospitals, health care and roads.”
Ziebarth is president of Freemark Information Services, an advisory and consulting business. He is currently executive vice-president of ABK Restoration Services and an instructor at the Okanagan College School of Business. From 2003 to 2009 he was located at Penticton as president and chief executive at Bongarde Media.
Now a Canadian citizen, he is a graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Active in business, civic, church and political organizations in the South Okanagan, he was named Business Leader of the Year in 2008 by the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce. He is co-chairman of the Penticton B.C. Liberal Riding Association’s Free Enterprise Friday event series, and is secretary of the association. He is chairman of the Penticton Mayor’s Advisory Council for the South Okanagan Events Centre, and board treasurer of the South Okanagan Medical Foundation.
He and his wife Julia have four children.