Donna Barnett

Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett announces she will not run for re-election

Jan 30, 2020 | 7:20 PM

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — The provincial riding of Cariboo-Chilcotin will have a new MLA after the next provincial election.

Three-term B.C. Liberal MLA Donna Barnett announced late Thursday (Jan. 30) she will not seek re-election.

Barnett says she will serve out the remainder of her term.

The next election is slated for 2021, but with a minority government, one could come sooner in the event John Horgan’s NDP government is defeated in a confidence vote.

In a statement released by the B.C. Liberal Party, Barnett thanked her family, friends, constituents, colleagues and supporters, calling her time as MLA “an honour and a privilege.”

A former 100 Mile House mayor, Barnett was first elected to the B.C. Legislature in 2009, representing the newly-created riding of Cariboo-Chilcotin. Barnett defeated New Democrat Charlie Wyse, the incumbent MLA for Cariboo-South, by just 88 votes.

Barnett was re-elected in 2013 and 2017.