Categories: Capital Read, Inside the Queensway

Go, West: NDP candidate quits Saanich Gulf Islands race

by kadyomalley on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 1:59pm - 30 Comments

NDP candidate West quits over skinny-dipping brouhaha

NDP candidate Julian West has resigned from the election race after being dogged by controversy over a skinny-dipping incident 12 years ago. [...The hopeful in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding announced his decision to drop out Tuesday morning, saying he did "not want my candidacy to detract from the campaign or from the issues that should be front and centre in this campaign."

He said he had already informed the party of his decision.
Julian West: NDP Saanich-Gulf Islands candidate resigned from federal election campaign

"I'm going to return to my private life now, and I sincerely hope the campaign will be focused on the issues," he said in a statement. [...]

Full story available here.

Tags: bc is just weird people, gary lunn must be pinching himself, naked went the candidate, NDP, saanich gulf islands

More by kadyomalley

Riley Hennessey

Not the Whole Story,

I laughed out loud. A partial erection? Come on this is so silly. I also note that a “high ranking Liberal” emailed CTV with the scoop.

Liberals and NDP are the new PC and Alliance.
Cael

Barring the nomination of another NDP candidate, I would have to say that this is bad news for Gary Lunn. The Reform/Conservative candidate in the riding usually pulls 25k votes maximum, and even given a 50/50% green/lib split (highly unlikely) there would be enough to take the seat.

Lunn is a very polarizing figure in the constituency, so I would expect to see significant levels of strategic voting. I suspect enough votes would migrate to Briony Penn for her to win the riding, leading to a real possibility that the Conservatives will be shut out of Greater Victoria. Denise Savoie should be re-elected handily in Victoria, and the re-nomination of Troy de Souza in Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca has spoiled any chances of success for the Tories there.
T. Thwim

S’okay, Cael. I’m sure Mr. Harper will appoint someone to the senate to represent Greater Victoria.

Probably the Naked Mayor,Sharon Smith. Considering that even when she wasn’t elected, she was who the Conservatives said represented that riding to the government. (Democracy? What is this strange word you keep talking about?)
Alta Vista Dude

I lived in this riding for 25 years. BC is not like Eastern Canada. The NDP votes will not go to the Liberals (who are polling 11 percent in BC right now). Most of the NDP votes will go to the Greens. Lunn will also pick up some votes based on the fact he is a Minister.

This riding has a strong Conservative base ever since George Pearkes. If I recall correctly, Lunn used to get higher percentage in past elections before 2006. He has the potential to win over 40 percent of the vote, which will ensure a victory given the split between the Liberals and the Greens.

Lunn will win.
Sunny12

Although West has pulled out, his name will actually still be on the ballot, so he’ll still pull in a number of votes (just based on the NDP name alone). Lunn will likely still benefit from a good split.

As someone who actually knows West, this is a bit unfortunate. I’d like to think that one incident (especially 12 years ago) does not make for a whole profile, though there was more than skinny dipping happening.