Jordan Sturdy, MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky riding, is seeking a second term.
On June 9, the BC Liberals announced that Sturdy was acclaimed as the candidate and will once again be running in the riding when voters head to the polls in 2017.
Reached by phone on June 14, Sturdy said the decision was relatively easy.
"I really like the job. I mean, not every day," he laughed.
"But it's fascinating. It's great. It's always interesting, and I am the type of person who likes understanding these issues, and the range of issues."
Despite serving eight years in municipal politics as the mayor of Pemberton, Sturdy experienced a bit of a learning curve when making the jump to the provincial scene in 2013.
"When you're an elected official in a municipal government, at least in a small community anyway, you have a relatively homogeneous constituency... you build consensus on council and you deliver on really local services and issues, and can reflect your community relatively easily," Sturdy said.
"As you can imagine, the diversity of interests in the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky (riding) is enormous... yet your obligation or your responsibility is to serve all of them."
Sturdy credits his staff in the office and his family on the farm for empowering him to best serve the riding.
"I can't emphasize enough how important those people are to helping me do the job I need to do," he said.
Sturdy listed transportation and employment issues as two of his top priorities if re-elected, as well as continuing in his role with the Ministry of Environment and its Climate Leadership Plan.
"It's an incredibly complex and difficult task to ensure that the province continues to lead from an environmental perspective, but also maintains our competitiveness and finds that balance as we go forward," Sturdy said.
"Because this is not going to be a one-stop, one-fix solution as we put forward a climate plan. The issues are evolving, the circumstances are evolving, and we're going to have to be able to respond to that, so that's a part that I certainly hope I am able to play a prominent role in as we go forward."
No other candidates have been confirmed at this point.
The provincial election is tentatively scheduled for May 9, 2017.
