The leader of a movement to change the provincial government's plans for the Sea to Sky Highway at Horseshoe Bay hopes to make the jump to provincial politics - as do a Squamish-based writer and a Bowen Island resident.
Dennis Perry announced Wednesday (March 23) his intention to step down as president of the Coalition for the Save the Eagleridge Bluffs to seek the Green Party nomination in West Vancouver-Garibaldi.
The nomination meeting for the Green Party candidate in West Vancouver Garibaldi will be held at the West Vancouver Memorial Library on Tuesday (March 29) at 7 p.m.
Perry will be competing with Silvaine Zimmermann of Bowen Island and Squamish resident Lee White, a writer and worker with Outward Bound.
Perry says he plans to continue campaigning strongly for a tunnel at the start of Hwy. 99 as opposed to the government's proposed overland route.
"As president of the Coalition it has become painfully evident that our present government has no interest in working with this community," Perry said in a press release. "The Liberal tactics of dishonesty, heavy handedness and stonewalling on the tunnel are used because they think this riding will easily provide another caucus member. The crucial need for a strong voice to represent West Vancouver-Garibaldi in Victoria has led me into the provincial political arena."
Perry, who recently retired after 35 years in the investment industry working for major investment banking organizations in Vancouver, Toronto and New York, calls himself "a green conservative at heart.
"The Green Party is moderate and centrist, and that is what we need in British Columbia rather than the destructive swings between left and right," he said.
"We have a unique opportunity in British Columbia to send a strong message to the world about our commitment to a sustainable 2010 Olympics by electing a Green Party member in the Olympic venue riding."
White said Thursday (March 24) he put his name forward for the local nomination in December. At the time, he said, there were no known candidates coming forward for the party.
"That was one of my motivations to enter," he said.
White has spent much of his career in outdoor education, working with Outward Bound in South Africa and in Canada since 1993 administering the group's community programs.
White also sees "much relevance" in the Green Party platform for West Vancouver-Garibaldi. "I see a lot of transfer from a resource-based economy to a more diverse economy," citing the Land Resource Management Plan process with localized input into planning as "very progressive."
When asked about the party's chances in the riding, White said: "I think the Green Party would be a solid second. It's a Liberal stronghold, and that's largely determined by West Van and influenced by Whistler."
The Greens placed second overall in West-Vancouver Garibaldi in the 2001 provincial election, with 17 per cent of the vote to the NDP's 11 per cent and the Liberals' 68 per cent.
