Victoria NDP MP Murray Rankin was sworn in to office today in Ottawa.

Rankin was elected on Nov. 26 in a tight race against Green Party candidate Donald Galloway. Conservative candidate Dale Gann and Liberal Paul Summerville ran a distant third and fourth, respectively. Rankin, an environmental lawyer, succeeds NDP MP Denise Savoie who resigned in late August citing health reasons.

New Democrat leader Thomas Mulcair welcomed Rankin to his caucus this morning, saying the people of Victoria have sent a clear message to the Conservative government.

“They’ve had enough of their backwards environmental policies,”  Mulcair said, in a news release. “The NDP is the only party that can bring change. Murray Rankin is best positioned to represent the people of Victoria and fight for their priorities.”

Rankin was the only candidate to support going forth immediately with the Capital Regional District’s plan for a proposed $783-million secondary sewage plant for the region built at McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt – with funding from three levels of government.

The other candidates opposed the plan in varying degrees and even Rankin acknowledged the plan is not the best (the plan includes piping a liquefied sludge to a biosolids facility at Hartland Landfill in Saanich).

Rankin is currently the co-president of UVic’s Environmental Law Centre, a legal-aid clinic run by students. He made fighting Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat, B.C. a  top priority in his platform.

“I’m concerned about the direction Stephen Harper is taking with the environment,” Rankin said, in a news release. “The people of Victoria have had enough of cuts to important environmental protections and want the environment to be a fundamental priority of the government.”

ceharnett@timescolonist.com

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