December 23, 2010

By Brent Hodson

 

Peace River North MLA Pat Pimm, Senator Richard Neufeld, and now Marc Dalton, MLA for Maple Ridge – Mission, announced last week that they are supporting the former Health Services Minister Kevin Falcon for his run at the BC Liberal Party leadership. Neufeld who is a former MLA for Peace River North had handled the Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources portfolio as Minister for the Province. He was appointed to the Canadian Senate on January 2, 2009 and Neufeld and Kevin Falcon were B.C. Cabinet colleagues for eight years.

 

“Kevin Falcon is the best candidate to lead B.C. and the most progressive candidate for the North,” said Senator Neufeld. “He has a proven record of understanding the needs of Northern B.C. and investing in rural transportation and infrastructure. From the outset, he has always been responsive and has looked out for the needs of people in Northern communities.”

 

MLA Pat Pimm had said that this decision would be a hard decision for him and after hosting MLA Surrey-Cloverdale, Kevin Falcon, MLA Shuswap, George Abbott and Abbotsford-West MLA, Mike de Jong in town, he chose then to support Falcon.

 

“I have been impressed by Kevin’s dedication toward listening and learning about Northern and resource issues, especially the perspective of our local communities,” said Pimm. “He consulted me closely on the creation of his ‘Northern Prosperity Agenda’ and accepted specific local input. That is the style of leadership we need in B.C. now.”

 

Falcon’s Northern Prosperity Agenda consisted of these main goals: to extend and increase the investment in the Interior and Rural Side Roads Program beyond 2013; to renew the three-year Oil and Gas Road Improvement Program beyond 2011 to support private sector investment in oil and gas exploration; to make B.C. public lands available for lease to enable privately funded workforce housing projects necessary to support resource and infrastructure development; and to reduce the onerous Agriculture Land Reserve processes on Northeastern farmland.

 

“I am really pleased that Richard and Pat have endorsed my candidacy and thank them for joining my campaign. I welcome their support and advice,” said Falcon. “They both have a wealth of political experience that will be invaluable to my leadership effort. I look forward to working with them on the Northern Prosperity Agenda and other B.C. issues.”

 

Marc Dalton is the latest MLA to declare his support for Kevin Falcon’s B.C. Liberal Party leadership campaign.

 

“I have always been impressed with Kevin’s willingness to listen and act upon the issues that I have brought to him on behalf of my constituents.  He is a man of action and his track record in each of his different ministries, including Deregulation, Transportation and most recently Health, is impressive,” said Dalton, a former teacher in the Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows School District.  

“Kevin also has a young family, so I know that our education system is a priority for him, particularly as we prepare our children for the challenges and opportunities of our fast-changing world.”

“I’m looking forward to working with Kevin on issues of importance to British Columbians, including law and order, supporting families and seeing everyone benefit from a prosperous economy.  There’s a lot of work to do in the challenging years ahead.  Kevin Falcon is the right person at this time in our province’s history to keep our free enterprise coalition working together for the good of all British Columbians. I know he’ll make a great leader of our B.C. Liberal Party, and a thoughtful and energetic Premier for British Columbia,” concluded Dalton.

 

Kevin Falcon now has been endorsed by three BC senators and 12 MLAs. 

 

The B.C. Liberal Party leadership vote will take place on February 26, 2011.