File photo (Image credit: Vernon Matters).
B.C. Election

Four-person race for BC United nomination in Salmon Arm-Shuswap

Feb 22, 2024 | 7:00 AM

SALMON ARM, B.C. — Four candidates are seeking the BC United nomination in the Salmon Arm-Shuswap provincial riding.

The electoral district has been a stronghold for the BC Liberals (now BC United) since George Abbott won his first of four terms for the Liberals in 1996, followed by Greg Kyllo in 2013 who won three elections, but has announced he will not seek another term.

Linda Hawes, Allysa Hopkins, Greg McCune and Jay Simpson are running for the position.

Hawes, from Salmon Arm, is a former president of the party’s Shuswap riding association.

Hopkins, a Mara resident, is the Area F (rural Enderby) director, and the vice-chair, on the Regional District of North Okanagan board.

McCune is a business owner and former two-term mayor of Enderby, while Simpson has been the North Shuswap director (Area F) on the Columbia Shuswap Regional District board since 2018.

The party will hold its selection meeting March 9 at the Fifth Avenue Senior’s Activity Centre in Salmon Arm.

“Members of BC United as of Friday, Feb. 23 at 4:30 p.m. who are present at the meeting and have complied with the rules and procedures as set out in the BC United Constitution will be eligible to vote,” Lindsay Cote with BC United communications, told Vernon Matters.