BC Liberal Party leadership candidate Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Andrew Wilkinson returned to the East Kootenayyesterday (Jan. 15) to meet with party members and regional residents.

No stranger to the region, having travelled here numerous times while heading ministerial portfolios in the previous government, as well as personal and party business stops, Wilkinson addressed about 70 party supporters, including Kootenay East MLA Tom Shypitka Jan. 15 at Cranbrook’s Heritage Inn.

Shypitka replaced Bill Bennett as riding MLA, who retired last year and soon after became Wilkinson’s leadership campaign manager.

Bennett said the former Minister of Advanced Education, Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General was a hit. “People really like him,” he said.

Wilkinson isn’t your ordinary sort, in that not only did he attain lofty heights in the previous BC Liberal governments, he did so after first becoming a medical doctor and then later a lawyer, earning a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford in the process.

The father of three is one of six candidates vying for party leadership, including Mike de Jong, Todd Stone, Michael Lee, Dianne Watts and Sam Sullivan.

The BC Liberal Party will elects its new leader Feb. 1 to 3.

Lead image: Kootenay East MLA Tom Shypitka, right, with Vancouver-Quilchena MLA and Liberal Party leadership candidate Andrew Wilkinson. Photos submitted

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