Adrian Dix announces Carole Gordon to run for NDP in Kelowna by-election

Adrian Dix and Carole Gordon described how the NDP will strategize against Premier Christy Clark in the by-election for Kelowna's Westside riding.

(JULIE WHITTET / iNFOnews.ca)

June 11, 2013 - 2:24 PM

Residents of Kelowna's Westside riding will be able to cast their vote for NDP candidate Carole Gordon in the by-election this July. Gordon will be competing against Premier Christy Clark in the traditionally B.C. Liberal stronghold.

Adrian Dix announced Gordon's candidacy this afternoon on Kelowna's downtown waterfront.

“People are going to vote for their local representative who is actually a local representive,” he says.

Gordon has lived in Kelowna for 40 years and teaches at Bankhead Elementary School in West Kelowna.

"I'm a five minute walk into the constituency as opposed to a five hour drive,” Gordon says.
“I was prepared immediately to step up,” she says, adding that her campaign posters are ready to go.

Top issues she will be campaigning on are agriculture issues for local tree fruit growers and transportation, namely Westside Road.

“Westside road has been voted the worst road in British Columbia and that's been a huge issue," Gordon says. With major attractions like Bear Creek and Fintry Park the road is not only a safety risk to locals but tourists as well," Gordon says.

"We continue to see every month some kind of accident that happens along that road and we need to ensure constituents are safe...we need to make sure that everyone's safe.”

How does Gordon plan on upping her game after losing once already to the Liberals in the May election?

“I need to get out to more doors,” she says. Dix says she can expect some company. He plans to be in Kelowna for the by-election and says, “I'm going to knock on a few doors myself.”

Having a summer election is a good thing, Dix says.

“What's exciting about a summer election is that the days are longer – it's more opportunity to canvass, get out and meet people...it's going to be beautiful here in Kelowna,” he says.

Despite a Liberal victory in the provincial election Clark lost her own seat as MLA of Vancouver-Point Grey, “a constituency that hasn't voted anything but Liberal for the last 20 years,” Dix says. Since her re-election Dix says Clark has raised salaries for her political staff and introduced new costs for senior's care including a $300 annual fee for wheelchair users.