TAX BATTLE: Revelstoke Chamber disappointed by council tax increase - 3
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Weds., April 17, 2013 www.revelstoketimesreview.com Vol. 116, No. 16
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TIMESReview
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Four new businesses open – 2
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Unterberger finishes on top
Liberals, Conservatives face uphill battle to unseat NDP’s Macdonald Alex Cooper
reporter@revelstoketimesreview.com
Revelstoke’s Dominic Unterberger capped off his first season with the BC Alpine ski team with a win in the slalom at the Okanagan Zone finals at Revelstoke Mountain Resort on Sunday, Apr. 14. He has been invited to the team’s selection in Whistler this week, along with his sister Emily and Revelstoke Ski Club racers Max Scharf and Mitch Smith. For more coverage of last weekend’s race, see page 14. Alex Cooper/Revelstoke Times Review
The last two times Norm Macdonald ran for to be the MLA for Columbia River–Revelstoke, he was running as someone who was likely to be an opposition member. Now, running for the third time, he is someone who is likely to be a major player in a potential NDP government. With the election campaign officially underway, polls have the NDP looking at a comfortable majority, and Macdonald is expected to win his seat. Eric Grenier, who runs the political website threehundredeight. com, gives the NDP a 92 per cent chance of winning the election, and has Macdonald polling at 52.8 per cent. “I can’t speak to that riding specifically, but given how well the NDP is doing in the polls and how badly the Liberals are faring, it seems extremely unlikely that any NDP incumbent who won by a good margin in 2009 will be in any danger, particularly in a riding like Columbia River–Revelstoke where a Conservative will be on the ballot,” he told the Times Review in an e-mail. His view was echoed by two other pundits contacted by the Times Review. Alice Funke, who runs the website PunditsGuide. ca, said she has not seen Columbia River–Revelstoke mentioned as a swing seat in any election coverage nor by her political contacts. Sacha Peter, who runs the website BC2013.com, said it take a “province-wide monumental catastrophe for the BC NDP” for Macdonald to lose his seat. “[In 2005 and 2009] it was clear to most people that they were electing an opposition member,” Macdonald said in an inter-
view last week. “I think it’s fair to say at this time that most would be expecting to elect a member of an NDP government. I think that changes the campaign somewhat. What is important to me is to make sure its absolutely clear during the election exactly what I intend to do and what the NDP intend to do.” Macdonald’s main rival in the campaign will be Doug Clovechok of the BC Liberal Party. Clovechok, was an educator and administrator in Calgary’s public education system and is now the manager of the Invermere campus of the College of the Rockies. He has been criss-crossing the riding in recent months trying to raise his profile and painting himself as someone who can get things done for his constituents. He has made a number of appearances alongside Liberal cabinet ministers, including Premier Christy Clark. He said he’s put 17,000 kilometres on a Toyota Prius that was donated to the campaign by a local car dealership. He was scheduled to be in Revelstoke to open his campaign on Tuesday, after press time, and will be here for several days talking to people and seeking votes. “My focus is going to be on the economy and the creation of jobs and what our party will be doing,” he said. “From a riding perspective I’m going to be talking about the need to generate a stronger economy.” Clovechok said that if elected, he plans on setting up advisory boards throughout the riding that would provide guidance to him as an MLA. He would also have members of each board meet several times a year so different communities know what’s going on throughout the riding. “The intent
Election, page 10
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