With just over one month go to until the May 14 provincial election, the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky riding has a grand total of two declared candidates.
The crickets can be heard chirping from Pemberton all the way down to West Vancouver.
Sunday (April 7) saw the official confirmation of Ana Santos as the NDP representative. She joins Pemberton Mayor Jordan Sturdy as the only two to have thrown their names into the hat to represent this region provincially.
On the surface, the duo look like reasonable candidates. Sturdy has been running Pemberton since 2005 and has a wealth of experience on the SLRD board. Santos created the Squamish Climate Action Network and has helped spread environmental awareness throughout the Sea to Sky Corridor.
The only problem I see for both candidates is the looming uncertainty to the south. Both Santos and Sturdy might be seen as outsiders to the area with the biggest voting population in the riding - West Vancouver. Just how well known is the Pemberton mayor in West Van or even in Squamish for that matter? And how far does Santos' scope truly reach? This election will answer those lingering questions.
A total of 18,397 votes were tabulated in the 2009 provincial election, a 53 per cent turnout. There were about 6,000 votes counted in '09 from Bowen Island and West Vancouver and it may be these people, who likely have no idea who Santos or Sturdy are, that could determine the outcome.
It's a fact that seems puzzling to me why the Green and Conservative parties haven't announced who (if any) will represent them in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky. Time is of utmost importance to any election and Santos and Sturdy already have a considerable lead over any other candidate in the time race.
If I was running the Green or Conservative parties, it might make a good strategy to try to find an established, recognizable name to represent them in this riding. Get the West Vancouver vote energized and try to bank on name recognition in Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton.
As for Squamish, we had around 4,500 votes cast in our area back in 2009 and this riding has been represented by a Liberal since 1991. Will all of the negative hype around the Liberals be the party's undoing? Strap in your seatbelts for the next month. It could get ugly.
But let's just hope there's more then two names to sort out when it's time to hit the ballot box.
