Parksville mayor enters Liberal leadership race
Posted January 4, 2011 7:32 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
PARKSVILLE (NEWS1130) – You’ll be forgiven if you never heard of the latest candidate entering the Liberal leadership race. But Parksville Mayor Ed Mayne is hoping to capitalize on his outsider status.
Most people outside of Vancouver Island are probably saying, ” Ed who?” But the mayor says the fact he is a little known quantity is as much a plus as it is a minus.
“It works both sides, doesn’t it? I mean the reality is, is the disadvantage is that people don’t know me, right out of the chute. The advantage is, is that I don’t have that baggage to carry with me.”
Mayne has a few ideas of his own, including allowing free votes in the legislature on everything that isn’t a matter of confidence.
“I can bring different things to the table they haven’t been able to bring; I’m not going to be painted with the HST and all the other issues that have come along with previous government.”
And he’s joining the race now, because had he declared his candidacy before the end of 2010, it would have forced a civic by-election at a cost of about $30,000 for taxpayers.
Good intentions aside, experts say without cash, name-recognition, and a support base, it would be a stretch to even call him a long shot.
