NDP leader John Horgan was in Williams Lake Saturday formally introducing the Cariboo-Chilcotin riding's new NDP candidate.
Sally Watson was acclaimed by party members on Sunday, Jan. 15, at a nomination meeting held in Williams Lake to run in 2017 provincial election.
"I am delighted to have Sally on the team," Horgan said. "She will bring the common sense values that people from the Cariboo Chilcotin want to see in the legislature."
Horgan had met Watson several times at Union of B.C. Municipalities and Southern Interior Local Government Association conferences, he said.
"The first time we met was in Kamloops when she cornered me about an economic development opportunity," he said.
Watson has lived in the 70 Mile House area since1986.
She was elected to the Thompson Nicola Regional District in 2002 and has held the position ever since, is a director on the Northern Development Initiative Trust and a former board member of the Southern Interior Beetle Action Coalition. Currently she is a mail carrier for Canada Post.
"I sincerely hope to bring the voice of the Cariboo-Chilcotin to the party and to the table," Watson said, noting the main issues for the region are mining, lumber, health care and education.
"I feel the voice has been coming from Victoria to the area, rather than from the area to Victoria," Watson said.
Watson said she was encouraged to run for the NDP by many people in the 70 Mile House and 100 Mile House area.
Former NDP MLA Charlie Wyse said Watson has lots of support from the Williams Lake area as well.
Raised on a dairy farm outside of Abbotsford, Watson is the seventh of eight children.
She said she was attracted to the spirit of the people and the natural environment of the Cariboo.
While in the lakecity, Horgan didn't pass up the opportunity to do some campaigning of his own. On his way into town from the airport, Horgan stopped to play a bit of pond hockey in Pine Valley before popping into the CNC Regionals at the Cariboo Memorial Complex to watch some figure skating and then held a meet and greet at the Laughing Loon.
He said the Softwood Lumber Agreement is more important in B.C. than anywhere else in the country, with 50 per cent of the softwood trade coming out of the province.
"An NDP government will not sit idly by and get pushed around by an American bully on a fundamental important issue for the B.C. economy," Horgan said. "We need to defend the jobs that we get from our forests. Allowing a few lumber interests in the US to take us to court one more time and take a whole bunch of money out of the industry is not something we can sustain."
B.C. has to prepare for the economic impacts of President Donald Trump, he added.
"We need to expand our markets, but we need to protect the ones we have," he said. "A number of jobs depend on accessing the United States market."
On Sunday Horgan visited Quesnel.