After months of drama, Cowichan Valley New Democrats elected their candidate for the May 9 provincial election Sunday afternoon.
Lori Iannidinardo, a longtime local politician and resident, will be on the ballot with the Green Party’s Sonia Furstenau and Liberal candidate Steve Housser.
“I’m just starting to digest my win but will go on doing what I’ve always done, work hard and advocate for the people here,” said Iannidinardo, who is also the Cowichan Valley Regional District director for Cowichan Bay.
About 300 people at Cowichan Secondary School heard speeches by candidates Iannidinardo, Hannah Seymour and Leanne Finlayson before voting. They also paid tribute to MLA Bill Routley, who decided not to run in the next election. Routley was elected in 2009 and again in 2013.
The past few months have put the riding, an NDP stronghold, on shaky ground after complaints about party policy and management were played out in public.
They started in September when Georgia Collins, a community activist who intended to run for the nomination, said her complaints about being harassed by a campaign member were being ignored by the party. She also said she was experiencing unrelated harassment online and that a fire was set near her home.
On Dec. 28, Collins announced on Facebook that she was withdrawing from the nomination race. She wrote: “I wish I could say that my decision is unrelated to sexism and harassment that I experienced during my campaign, but that would be untrue. I wish I could say that I was not disappointed by the party’s capacity to respond to such concerns, but that would also be untrue.”
Last week Cowichan Valley NDP riding president Ian Morrison quit, saying he wanted to run to replace Routley but was prevented from doing so by the party’s equity policy. The policy, adopted in 2011, states retiring white male MLAs should be replaced by a candidate that is a woman or member of an equity-seeking group, such as LGBTQ or a visible minority. Morrison said he intends to run as an independent.
Iannidinardo said she’s keen to move on from the drama and start her party’s campaign.
“It’s difficult. Democracy is messy and a lot of topsy-turvy things have happened. But it’s time to rise above,” she said. “The Liberals may have the money but we have the people on the ground.”
