LOCAL B.C. Liberals will more than likely be choosing their candidate for the next provincial election in early fall.
And two people have already filled out a lengthy questionnaire leading to a background check needed in order to become a nomination hopeful, says Donny van Dyk, the president of the Skeena provincial Liberal consituency association.
“It's a pretty thorough document,” said van Dyk of the questionnaire which runs to more than 40 pages.
No deadline has been set for interested people to fill out nomination papers.
An exact nomination date has yet to be set but it will be ahead of the provincial Liberal convention taking place Oct. 26-27 in Whistler, he said.
“What we'd really like to do is make this an event and have a level of excitement,” said van Dyk of the planned nomination meeting.
Local Liberals have already passed one hurdle and that is having more than enough members required by the party to hold a nomination meeting.
The party requirement is one per cent of a constituency's registered voter total, which is 220 for the Skeena riding, and the riding membership stands at more than 400, said van Dyk.
He attributed some of that number to candidates signing up supporters during the leadership race of late 2010 and early 2011.
And some of those members would have been signed up when van Dyk ran for the Skeena nomination in the lead-up to the 2009 provincial election.
That's because Liberal party memberships last for four years.
Van Dyk said he won't be a candidate for the party, saying he's quite happy in his current party role which is chair of its provincial executive.
And although local Liberals have yet to debate any policy measures or resolutions they wish to be adopted at the Whistler convention, van Dyk said a provincial Liberal website created to spark discussion is gaining popularity.
“It's called the Ideas Lab and it's generating a lot of discussion,” said van Dyk.
“As a matter of fact, the top topic right now is whether we should repeal the bicycle helmet law,” he added.
The site's other popular topics at the moment include regulating and taxing cannabis, scrapping the provincial government's carbon tax and banning oil tanker traffic on the north coast.