BC NDP ministers Bains, Ralston, and Fleming won’t seek re-election
Posted July 4, 2024 11:41 am.
Last Updated July 5, 2024 11:56 am.
Three provincial New Democrat ministers have announced they won’t seek re-election in British Columbia’s fall election.
Harry Bains, Bruce Ralston, and Rob Fleming have all served five terms in the legislature, but say in statements and social media posts that they will not stand in the Oct. 19 vote.
Bains, who represents the Surrey-Newton riding, says in a statement it was the honour of a lifetime to represent his constituents and serve as B.C.’s labour minister.
Fleming, who is currently the minister of transportation and infrastructure, says it’s been a privilege to have served the constituents of Victoria-Swan Lake for “the better part of two decades.”
Meanwhile, Ralston, who represents Surrey-Whalley and is B.C.’s forests minister, has confirmed on social media he won’t seek a sixth term.
The three ministers join at least eight other NDP MLAs who have said they will not seek re-election.
Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at UBC, says the latest moves could signal opportunity for the ruling party’s current challenger, and it shows that the party is in a real “dog fight” with the BC Conservatives.
“The possibility of challenging the NDP in areas where they would have had incumbents, and now are going to have green candidates coming in, is yet another reason for optimism within that BC Conservative Party,” said Prest.
“The fact that the margins have tightened so much, I think, suggests that the the NDP cannot count on victory.”
Prest didn’t suggest any names of potential candidates, but he does say the party may have a gender in mind.
“The NDP has a policy where they really try to encourage a diverse caucus by replacing male candidates with female candidates, to try to encourage different forms of representation.”
