PROVINCIAL Liberals chose the executive for their Skeena constituency association July 22 and Donny van Dyk is once again president.
Nearly 25 people attended the annual general meeting where they listened to guest speaker Nechako Lakes Liberal MLA John Rustad.
There were some changes to the executive this year from last year, including the naming of Terrace city counsellor Brian Downie as policy chair and former Terrace city counsellor Linda Hawes as secretary.
Speaking last week, van Dyk said the association focussed on recent growth in party membership in the riding and the acceptance of a motion by the party provincially for a feasibility study on a rail connection into the far northwest.
“From roughly 250 members we shot up to 480,” said van Dyk. “No doubt that was in large part due to the leadership race. The job now is to keep them in the party, keep them engaged.”
The rail feasibility study, developed by local party member Glenn Martin, was adopted by the whole party at its recent Penticton convention.
Also passed at that convention was a motion supporting running a power line up Hwy 37 North, a more or less moot point now that BC Hydro has started work on the project.
While it may seem odd to hold a constituency association’s annual general meeting in the summer, van Dyk said local Liberals wanted to clear the decks for what could be an early fall election call by Premier Christy Clark.
“Doing both in the fall would have been difficult,” he added.
As well as being president of the local BC Liberals, van Dyk was elected as chair of the party’s provincial council.
“It’s made up of all of the riding presidents, and members of the executive and MLAs,” he explained. “It might best be described as a Senate-like body. It ratifies decisions made by the provincial executive.”
The council generally meets four times a year.