The race to find a new leader for the B.C. Liberal Party has officially begun, with several people following the first announced candidate, former 91原创 mayor Sam Sullivan.
Soon after the announcement by Sullivan, an MLA since 2013, Dianne Watts took the plunge. Watts is the Conservative MP for Surrey-White Rock and was mayor of Surrey for nine years.
They were followed by ex-finance minister Mike de Jong, former advanced education minister Andrew Wilkinson, former education minister Mike Bernier and 91原创-Langara MLA Michael Lee.
Two more potential candidates are considering their options 鈥� Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone, who was transportation minister under former premier Christy Clark, and Terrace businesswoman Lucy Sager.
Their formal entry into the race will boost the regional representation of the candidates.
Of the six who have officially declared, only one is from outside the Lower Mainland: Bernier, who hails from Peace River country.
The concentration from the Lower Mainland is both a strength and a weakness.
Half of the province鈥檚 87 ridings are in and around Greater 91原创. The Liberals lost power because they underperformed in that region. It makes sense to select someone with strong name recognition in these battleground seats.
On the other hand, the party also needs to broaden its appeal. Of the 15 ridings on 91原创 Island, the Liberals hold only one. It would strengthen the party鈥檚 hand if a credible contender emerged from the Island.
That said, Watts is in some respects the most interesting candidate. She鈥檚 well regarded in Surrey, with its nine electoral ridings, and she won her third mayoral race there with 80 per cent of the vote.
More important, she鈥檚 a new face, something the Liberals desperately need if they鈥檙e to remake the party. Most of the other prominent candidates were cabinet ministers under Clark.
Watts won鈥檛 have an easy path, though. Her announcement that she intended to run brought a withering broadside from de Jong.
Referring to the provincial election, he asked: 鈥淲here was Dianne Watts when we really needed help? 鈥� She was silent when we were fighting for our political lives.鈥�
That鈥檚 a curious attitude. If Watts could have helped the Liberals last May, presumably she still could. But it speaks to an underlying sentiment.
Watts has rebuffed previous efforts by the Liberals to recruit her. Apparently, some hard feelings remain.
Yet there is a lesson to be learned from Clark鈥檚 last throne speech, in which she tried to engineer an alliance with the Greens by adopting many of their policies. It didn鈥檛 work, but it did illustrate a basic reality.
The business of politics has become intensely personal. When a party has held office for 16 years, and its leaders abruptly try to change course, their credibility suffers.
Voters associate policies with the people who enact them. They place as much importance on the singer as the song.
That doesn鈥檛 mean the next leader has to be a newcomer. It does mean, however, that candidates who held senior cabinet positions under Clark have their work cut out for them.
De Jong, in particular, will have to shed the reputation for excessive penny-pinching he acquired as finance minister.
Nevertheless, this is a strong field. The recent federal Conservative leadership race was a complete snooze. Likewise, the federal NDP has struggled to gain attention for its leadership campaign, which concludes next month.
But B.C. is no stranger to political drama, heightened in this case by the possibility of a snap election if the current minority government falters.
With the Liberal convention set for Feb. 3, the candidates have five months to fine-tune their message and sharpen their barbs. Let the fireworks begin.
