New Westminster MLA says he has liver cancer

Chuck Puchmayr, NDP member of the B.C. legislature for New Westminster, said Sunday he is battling liver cancer and will not run again in the May provincial election.

"I have been diagnosed with liver cancer and it has become clear in the past few days that I must dedicate all of my energy in the coming weeks and months to this battle," he said in a statement.

Puchmayr, the opposition critic for labour, spent nine years as a city councillor in New Westminster before being elected to the legislature in 2005.

He is also a founding organizer of the New Westminster Food Bank and Unemployment Action Centre.