NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
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VOL. 47 ISSUE 5
page
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2013
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entertainment High Hopes for band
hitting The Elite tonight
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destinations Wine industry pioneer Harry McWatters honoured
BREAKING RANKS
John Slater vows to run as an independent after being forced from B.C. Liberals
NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
Steve Kidd
Western News Staff
Mark Brett/Western News
HOUSE CALL — Team North America skip Heath McCormick shouts instructions to his sweepers as Team World opponents Fredrik Lindberg (left) and Viktor Kjall watch the progress of the shot during the men’s skins event of the WFG Continental Cup Sunday at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Team North America prevailed with a 37-23 win.
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After announcing his resignation from the B.C. Liberal caucus Monday, Boundary-Similkameen MLA John Slater has confirmed his intention to run as an independent candidate in the May 2013 provincial election. Slater announced his resignation suddenly Monday, tweeting that effective immediately, he was resigning from the majority B.C. Liberals and would be sitting as an independent for the remainder of his term. Slater had expected to represent the Liberals in 2013, but said that the party had refused to endorse his candidacy papers, which were filed in September. B.C. Liberal president Sharon White confirmed Slater will not be the party’s candidate in Boundary-Similkameen for the next election. In a press release issued within an hour of Slater’s announcement, White said that last month Slater “informed colleagues that he would not seek re-election,” but had reconsidered in the past week. “The party sought a co-operative solution through discussions with John. This is not a decision taken lightly and is fully considered,” said White. Slater denied that discussions had taken place, saying instead, party officials had misled him into agreeing to step down in December. “I was told a bunch of untruths. They said ‘We’ve done polls and John, you have no chance of winning this riding,’” said Slater. “Then I found out from some other party members that’s not true, they didn’t do any polling, they wanted to force you out.” Slater, with the support of his riding executive, decided to give the provincial executive a deadline to endorse him. The party’s response, however, was negative. “They said ‘No, we have no intention of
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letting you run,’” said Slater. The Liberal party press release gives no reason for their not endorsing Slater, stating only that his “candidacy is not being approved due to personal issues John Slater that, in our view, impact his ability to represent the party.” Zach Poturica, the Liberal riding president for Boundary-Similkameen, confirmed that the executive was in support of Slater. Poturica, who has resigned in protest of the Liberal party’s treatment of Slater, said the executive never considered replacing Slater and had been working to get the party to endorse him after the papers were filed in September. The riding executive, Poturica said, was told approval would take two to three weeks. They had hoped to have it dealt with for the B.C. Liberal party convention, where Poturica notes Slater was treated as a regular candidate. “Rich Coleman gave John a jersey, a team jersey, had him on stage as part of the 2013 election team,” said Poturica, who announced his resignation shortly after Slater and, in a series of tweets, has said other members of the executive intended to do the same. “I’m not alone, 3-4 other members of my riding executive are stepping down too, I’m disappointed in the way this party misled us,” reads one of Poturica’s messages. Later, he posted that the riding vice-president and secretary had joined him. Even before Slater’s papers were filed in September, Poturica said the party had started a smear campaign, suggesting Slater was planning to join the B.C. Conservatives or the NDP. “That was what was being passed around at the provincial executive level,” said Poturica. When attending meetings, Poturica said that was often the first question he was asked from all levels of the party. Slater has been, at times, publicly critical of party policies, such as during the HST debate, and he feels that may have been a factor.
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