Dan Brooks.
(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
September 12, 2013 - 12:06 PM
KAMLOOPS – Dan Brooks has thrown his hat into the ring to become the new leader of the B.C. Conservative Party following the resignation of John Cummins in July.
Brooks was one of 56 candidates for the party in the 2013 election and came fifth among all Conservatives with 12.6 per cent of the popular vote as a candidate in the Nechako Lakes riding.
The Vanderhoof native will be moving his campaign office to Kamloops, a location he says is more central to the parts of B.C. that need the most focus, including rural B.C. and the Interior.
“We need to rebuild rural B.C., we need to rebuild the rural B.C. quality of life and we need the rural economy to be thriving,” he said during his candidacy announcement Thursday morning.
Brooks recognizes the battle ahead of him if elected leader, but he hopes as a younger leader he would draw support from the younger generation of voters.
“We as Conservatives have a bigger mountain to climb,” he said. “I am not going to pretend we don't face certain challenges. We don't have elected MLAs who are paid, we don't have paid staffers.”
Brooks is the first candidate to announce candidacy for party leadership. The party will hold a leadership convention on April 11, 2014.
In the May election 56 Conservative candidates ran and while none won their seats the party did receive 4.76 per cent of the vote, an increase over the previous election.
B.C. NDP leader Adrian Dix has not yet announced whether he will stay on as the party leader following a devastating loss to the B.C. Liberal Party in the election.
To contact a reporter for this story, email jstahn@infotelnews.ca, call (250)819-3723 or tweet @JennStahn.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013