Kelowna MLA Renee Merrifield could be next BC Liberal Party leader

If the stars align, Kelowna-Mission MLA Renee Merrifield could be the next leader of the BC Liberal Party.

“I feel in my heart I want to win,” said Merrifield with a laugh.

“But, there’s been no significant polling, so it’s almost impossible to call.”

Merrifield is also one of Kelowna’s first female developers and has been CEO of Troika Developments for over 20 years.

</who>Kelowna Mission MLA Renee Merrifield is one of seven vying for the leadership of the BC Liberal Party in a membership vote this weekend.” class=”img-responsive” src=”https://www.kamloopsbcnow.com/files/files /images/Renee%20Merrifield%204%20(copy)(3).jpg” style=”margin: 5px;”/></p> <p>There are seven in the race to replace interim leader and Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond, who took over after Andrew Wilkinson stepped down after the Liberals were pummeled in the October 2020 provincial election.</p> <p>Merrifield feels Skeena MLA and former Haisla Nation Chief Councilor Ellis Ross is the current frontrunner.</p> <p>Many others put former deputy premier and former Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Kevin Falcon as the likely winner.</p> <p>Merrifield considers herself as a “strong 3rd, possible 2nd” in the race.</p> <p>That position could serve her well because the party is using an online-and-phone voting process for members tomorrow, Friday and Saturday with a ranked ballot.</p> <p>That means party members vote for their first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh choices for leader on one ballot.</p> <p>If there isn’t a clear winner when all the first choices are counted, second, third, fourth, etc. choices are taken into consideration.</p> <p>Merrifield speculates voting will go to at least a second or third ballot and possibly a fourth before a victor is announced Saturday night.</p> <p>If it goes to a third or fourth ballot, Merrifield forecasts she could be the winner.</p> <p>“I’m feeling great going into the vote,” said Merrifield.</p> <p>“I’ve been awed and overwhelmed and humbled by the overwhelming support I’ve received all over the province.”</p> </p> <p>The campaign for the leadership effectively started almost a year ago when Ross declared as the first candidate.</p> <p>It’s been a long 11 months since with COVID, heat dome, fires, atmospheric river, floods, highway damage and supply-chain disruptions making headlines, not the Liberal leadership race.</p> <p>Debates and events had to be held virtually because of the pandemic.</p> <p>Besides Merrifield, Ross and Falcon, the four others who want to be party leader are Vancouver-Langara MLA Michael Lee, 2016 Liberal Vancouver-Mt. Pleasant candidate Gavin Dew, former BC Chamber of Commerce CEO Val Litwin and Cielo Properties president Stan Sipos.</p> <p>Whoever becomes the next party leader will have to work hard to rebuild the party if they ever hope to be premier.</p> <p>After 16 years in power, the Liberals lost the last two provincial elections to the NDP and saw its 41 seats in the 87-seat legislature dwindle to 28 seats in the October 2020 election.</p> <p></p> </div> <footer> <div class=

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