Rachel Enns will run for the Conservative nomination in the Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee federal riding. (submitted photo)

By Pete McIntyre

federal election

Business owner and life-long Conservative to seek nomination

May 24, 2024 | 11:00 AM

The list of candidates is growing for the Conservative Party of Canada nomination for the Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee riding.

Rachel Enns is the third person to announce they will seek the position for the 2025 federal election.

Enns, who has run a forestry seedling nursery business (Landing Nursery) with her husband, Josh, for 21 years, describes herself as a ‘life-long Conservative voter.”

She began volunteering for the North Okanagan Shuswap Conservative Association to re-elect Conservative MP Mel Arnold in 2019.

In 2021, Enns served as the assistant campaign manager for Arnold’s re-election campaign, managing the Vernon campaign office.

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In a statement posted on her Facebook page, Enns said she has always been interested in politics.

“As a young child, when people asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?,'”Rachel would reply, “I want to be Prime Minister of Canada,” the posting stated.

“She grew up watching the examples of her great-uncle, the Right Honourable Alvin Hamilton, who served as Agriculture Minister for Prime Minister Diefenbaker, and her mother, who volunteered in local election campaigns. As her children grew more independent, she was available to spend time working towards electing Conservative MPs and crafting policy to benefit Canadians.”

Enns said her primary reason for running to be the Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee candidate is to pursue legislation that will bring more accountability and transparency to the federal government.

Current Vernon city councillor Teresa Durning and former city councillor Scott Anderson are the others that have said they will be seek the Conservative nomination in the Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee riding.

The electoral district is a right-wing stronghold electing right of centre candidates since 1993 including Darrel Stinson, Colin Mayes and current three-term MP Mel Arnold who plans to run in the new Kamloops-Shuswap-Central Rockies riding, which includes his hometown of Salmon Arm.