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Federal politics

Will Mark Carney’s success increase popularity of Liberals in northern BC?

Mar 10, 2025 | 2:48 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — With Mark Carney elected Liberal leader over the weekend, a Prince George political analyst says there may be renewed interested locally in running for the party.

CNC Political Science Instructor Chris Beach says any time you have a more competitive election, where either party could win, you’re generally going to have more people interested along with people who have higher profiles.

“Often when a party doesn’t have a chance, that’s when you might get somebody very young, doesn’t have a lot of experience, work experience on their resume, no political experience, that type of thing. But when you have a party that has a chance, you get a higher quality candidate.”

It would still be an uphill battle for the Liberals in Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies and in Cariboo-Prince George though, where the Conservatives have never lost.

The closest race was in 2015, when Conservative Todd Doherty defeated Liberal candidate Tracy Calogheros. In that election, Doherty earned 19,688 votes with Calogheros claiming second spot with 16,921 votes. The NDP’s Trent Derrick finished in third with 13,879 votes.