Ric McIver does about-face on PC candidate selection for Calgary-Greenway byelection
CBC News | Posted: February 25, 2016 2:04 PM | Last Updated: February 26, 2016
'We must admit when we’ve made a mistake,' says interim PC leader on Facebook
The PC party is reversing course after skipping the nomination process and appointing a candidate for the Calgary-Greenway byelection.
Interim leader Ric Mciver announced Wednesday on CBC that the local constituency had appointed a candidate, Prabhdeep Gill, to run for the seat left vacant after the death of Manmeet Bhullar in a highway collision in November.
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McIver said the association was entitled to make that choice.
But in a posting on Facebook on Wednesday night, McIver says he heard all day from people who were unhappy and wanted to be able to vote on the candidate.
"First of all, to the four Albertans who volunteered to be our candidate in this by-election, we apologize. To the volunteer board of Calgary-Greenway...we apologize. To Albertans, who need us to demonstrate that we have learned from the past, we are showing it today."
McIver says the party's board has listened and a nomination vote will be held after all.
"One of the big lessons from our May 5, 2015 general election loss is that the public must be respected and listened to, and that we must admit when we've made a mistake," he said on Facebook.
"This is a day where those lessons have come home to roost."
Dan Sidhu, Jamie Lall and Tushar Yadav had also been in the running prior to the decision to appoint Singh as the candidate.
The byelection is set for March 22.
The NDP has already selected its candidate, Roop Rai.
The Wildrose Party plans to hold its nomination on Friday, rescheduled from an original meeting date of March 5.
The Green Party's candidate is Thana Boonlert and the Liberals moved their candidate selection up to Wednesday, nominating Khalil Karbani.