Kevin Acton (submitted photo/Facebook)

By Pete McIntyre

B.C. politics

Acton running for BC United ticket in Vernon-Lumby

Aug 17, 2023 | 12:00 PM

A long-time local politician is the first candidate for BC United in the newly-named provincial riding of Vernon-Lumby.

Kevin Acton, mayor of Lumby since 2009, and the current chair of the Regional District of North Okanagan board of directors, announced his plans on social media.

“Today, I’m proud to announce my candidacy for the nomination for the BC United Party for Vernon-Lumby. Together we can forge change through hard work to Revitalize, Reclaim and Rise!,” Acton said on Facebook.

Acton, who is also a massage therapist at Bloom Wellness Centre in Lumby, spoke to Vernon Matters about his decision to run for BC United.

“I’ve had 16 years in local government and I have an intimate relationship with the provincial and federal governments. I see some places were I think we can make some improvements and I’d like to be a part of that,” Acton said.

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Acton said he is aligned with the BC United Party because of their take on free enterprise and business.

“I think hard work and risk deserves reward, and I think people need to be able to choose where they spend their money, so less pressure on the taxpayers and allow them to invest in what they believe in,” Acton added.

The currently-named Vernon-Monashee riding, which will change to Vernon-Lumby for the next B.C. election scheduled for October 19, 2024, had been a right-wing stronghold for three decades under BC Liberal and Social Credit-Reform candidates, but in 2020, Vernon nurse Harwinder Sandhu of the New Democratic Party, defeated three-term Liberal Eric Foster in a close race.

Sandhu has told Vernon Matters she plans to seek a second term.

Acton said BC United has “a lot of work to do” to get the word out on its new name, but he believes the current NDP riding could be ready to return to a right-of-centre party.

“I believe that the Okanagan, the rural communities, the rural feel here, is very business orientated and sometimes I think the NDP government misses that part a little bit. Not even misses, [but], it’s a bit of an imbalance between the big city and centralized government and rural government. So, I’m really looking for an opportunity to try and support this community and this riding, and I think the potential is there for it to come back to BC United.”

Acton said he can maintain his role as Lumby’s mayor throughout the nomination process, and if he wins that, he would have to take a leave of absence as mayor when the B.C. election writ was dropped.

He would be allowed to retain his seat as mayor if he was not successful in becoming the MLA.

Eric Foster, the former Liberal MLA for the riding, is the president of the Vernon-Lumby BC United Riding Association.

He said he’s not able to give out names of any other potential candidates at this point as the candidates have to go through “a fairly stringent vetting process” first, but they can go public on social media with their intentions before the process has been completed.

He said a date for a nomination meeting has not been set yet.