The main thing is, the NDP is having a contest and the party will have a new person to lead it into battle next election.
Just who of the six candidates it should be isn’t important for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows constituency president Craig Speirs, nor for MLA Michael Sather. Neither are endorsing, yet, any of the six candidates who hope to be named party leader April 17 in the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Sather was one of 13 MLAs who led the campaign last fall that eventually led to Carole James’s resignation as leader.
The contest is rejuvenating the party and spurring membership which is exactly what their goal was, said Speirs, also a Maple Ridge councillor.
“We got what we wanted.”
It was never about one person, Speirs added, saying he supports anybody who has put their name forward.
Vancouver-Kingsway MLA Adrian Dix was the last to enter the leadership race Monday.
Also running for the NDP leadership are Port Coquitlam MLA Mike Farnworth, Juan de Fuca MLA John Horgan, Fraser-Nicola MLA Harry Lali, Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons and North Vancouver marijuana activist Dana Larsen.
The contest has been “an incredibly positive outcome after all the angst,” involving James’s departure, Speirs said Tuesday.
“Because it was never about Carole. It was about her leadership.” He didn’t feel she could win an election, he added.