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Squamish's Ana Santos aims for NDP nomination

Only challenger to Liberal's Jordan Sturdy so far
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WE HAVE RACE Ana Santos, a former leader of the Climate Action Network in Squamish, hopes to become the NDP candidate for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky and take on Liberal Party candidate Jordan Sturdy in the next provincial election.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) constituency association in the Sea to Sky corridor has set a nomination meeting date and at least one person is interested in taking on Liberal candidate Jordan Sturdy.

NDP faithful will gather to name their candidate for the May 14 election at a meeting set for Sunday, April 7. Association organizer Lyle Fenton reported that one person has expressed an interest in running in the election under the NDP banner. He confirmed that Ana Santos has submitted nomination papers. He added that if any other member of the party wants to bid for the nomination to give Santos competition, nomination papers have to be handed in soon.

A day after making her intentions public Santos said that she believes she has a realistic chance against Sturdy, who is currently the mayor of Pemberton.

"It may be the time that people are looking for a change," said Santos. "It may be the time that people are looking for something different, that they are willing to give a try, something that perhaps they can relate to better."

Provincial polls suggest political change may be in the future with the BC NDP polling ahead of the ruling BC Liberals.

"One of my strengths is my ability to connect people with each other, to bring people together to work on things regardless of their background, their education, their occupation, their age," Santos said. "I think I have been very successful in that manner."

Santos came to Squamish in 2004 from northern Spain and has been a Canadian citizen since 2010.

One of her focuses is creating what she called real collaboration amongst the communities in the riding of West Vancouver-Sea to Sky. She added that transportation issues in the riding are a top concern of hers.

Just a day into her campaign to represent the NDP in the next election she said she has met with forestry workers and hospital workers. She added that she's willing to meet with other groups in the days ahead as she prepares for the NDP nomination meeting next month.