CV Political Scuttlebut #3

Well, there are 4 people fighting to be the BC Liberal candidate for Comox Valley in the May election. You can read more about the individuals here. I want to make an informed decision at the vote on Thursday. Jon Toogood did not have any campaign events (at least that I heard about). I did go to hear the rest of them speak. Here's my impressions:

1. Roberta Stevenson has the potential to be a strong candidate. She has a varied and strong background. Her presentation was just ok. She is obviously new at the game. She is good at 'one on one' and making people feel welcome and included. At the event that I went to, there were about 60 people at it. I saw several federal Conservatives there to support, back and mentor her. I don't know if she has the political connections or the profile to take her over the top.

2. Don McRae performed very well at his 'meet and greet'. There were 170 or 180 people at it. The people at it are 'well connected' people. Paul Ives, mayor of Comox; Starr Winchester and Ron Webber, former mayors of Courtenay; Murray Presley, Courtenay Councillor; Ken Grant, Comox Councillor and some prominent developers and business people. I did notice that although the majority were definitely 'gray heads', there were a lot more younger people there (under 40 seems to be 'young' in politics). I think Don has a great profile of 7 years as Courtenay councillor, growing up and working in the Valley as a teacher. Don also spoke very well and seemed to have a good grasp of the issues without appearing like a 'know-it-all'. I think that he is the one to beat.

3. Shawn Wilson. Shawn had about 50 people at this event. He came into the race later for some reason. Shawn has a good business background as well as a solid reputation and fairly good visibility around town. I think that Shawn may also be able to appeal to some of the undecided that are more 'socially minded' than people think the BC Liberals generally are. Shawn seemed comfortable speaking with people. His talk, although clearly showing knowledge, unfortunately. didn't project a lot of passion. He did talk a lot about working to attract business and investment to our Valley, which is something that I'd like to see.

4. Jon Toogood - no speeches, no newspaper ads, no website, no news conference - makes it hard to judge anything (positions, approach, ideas, etc.) beyond what I know personally of Jon. I don't know Jon well, but I have observed that Jon's a guy that wants to contribute and is a 'get it done' kind of guy.

I think that this is Don's to lose. Roberta, with the backing she has, should be 2nd. However, with the preferential style ballot, Shawn could benefit. If he is the 2nd choice of a lot of people, he could come up the middle as the winner. If you want to understand how the preferential ballot works, look for a post later today or tomorrow.