Iain Currie in 2015 (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Federal Election

Prominent Kamloops lawyer Currie to seek Green Party nomination

Jun 5, 2019 | 11:11 AM

KAMLOOPS — A well-known Kamloops lawyer has decided to throw his hat in the political ring.

Iain Currie has announced he is seeking the federal Green Party nomination in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding ahead of the October 21 federal election.

Currie posted this video to his Facebook page:

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Currie became well-known as a high profile Crown prosecutor based in Kamloops. He left the Crown office in 2017, joining Cundari & Seibel LLP in Kamloops as a civil litigator.

Currie says he became interested in environmental politics about 10 years ago, but found it difficult to express that as a government employee with a public profile.

“I had a busy practice with the Crown and it’s difficult to be politically active when you’re a government employee and in a job like I had,” said Currie. “So that sort of fell to the wayside for a while.”

“I left the Crown a couple of years ago and… after a little while of just being super busy trying to learn this area of law, I realized that I missed that sense of serving the public.”

While the Green Party has a platform on a variety of different issues, Currie says the party’s signature environmental emphasis is what attracted him.

“People are seeing climate change in particular as being a more important issue. I think lots of people are getting the message that it’s perhaps the most important issue, not just in this election, but for the future of the country and the world,” said Currie.

The Green Party has seen breakthroughs in recent votes across Canada. Paul Manly was recently elected in a Vancouver Island federal by-election, joining Elizabeth May as a second Green MP. Provincially, the Greens received the second-most votes and seats in an April election in Prince Edward Island. The Greens hold the balance of power with three MLAs in B.C.

Currie says that momentum gives him optimism heading into the federal vote.

“I’m in a bit of an echo chamber now, but it certainly seems to me that lots of people are talking about environmental issues, talking about climate change. That’s going to be top of mind,” said Currie. “And I think people are tired of politics as usual, and tired of the same old parties trying to fight partisan battles over the same old turf.”

The Green Party will select its candidate for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo at a nomination meeting planned for the latter part of June.

The Conservatives, Liberals and NDP already have their candidates in place in the riding. The People’s Party of Canada is expected to unveil a candidate shortly.