Christy Clark kicks-off her campaign in West Kelowna

Premier Christy Clark will be sharing her second home in Kelowna with her son Hamish Marissen-Clark.

(JULIE WHITTET / iNFOnews.ca)

June 22, 2013 - 12:13 PM

B.C. Premier Christy Clark is officially a registered candidate for the Westside-Kelowna by-election.

Former Liberal MLA elect Ben Stewart will be working alongside Clark as her campaign chair, joining her today for door-knocking with volunteers who will be hitting Lake View Heights, West Kelowna Estates and Shannon Lake. Stewart says their objective is to re-confirm the voters who supported the Liberal Party in the May provincial election.

Clark says her second home in Kelowna will fall inside the boundaries of her riding and likely be a small condo shared with her son Hamish Marissen-Clark who was at the campaign launch today.

Among her pledges to the crowd of volunteers and supporters Clark assured her abilities and experience as Premier should help fast-track a number of projects on Kelowna's wishlist.

“One of the things I will be able to bring to it though is an ability to move some things up the agenda... my hope is that at the end of the four years people will say Christy Clark really delivered a lot of benefits for our community.”

Among those benefits Clark says she will help move along the revitalization of downtown Kelowna, particularly through the expansion of the Interior Health administration buildings.

“I've committed to do everything I can to move that forward... health care facilities are a huge economic boost in a community,” she says.

A second bridge crossing on Okanagan Lake is another hefty project she plans to kick-start.

“We need to start thinking about what that second crossing would look like, where it would go.” Clark says it would be at least another five years before the project is underway.

“You don't want to start thinking about a second crossing ten years from now when it's so chock-a-block across the bridge that it's 24 hours a day gridlock – you don't want the Port Mann bridge across the Lake Okanagan,” she says.

But it's something she will have to juggle with the George Massey Tunnel upgrade in the Lower Mainland, a project she says is far more complex.

Other byelection candidates competing against Clark's weighty promises include the NDP's Carole Gordon, Sean Upshaw for the B.C. Conservatives and announced just today, independent candidate Dayleen Van Ryswyk.

Westside-Kelowna constituents will be able to cast their vote on July 10.