The NDP has named its candidate ahead of the Oct. 21 federal election: lawyer Judith Wilson.
Wilson is a longtime New Democrat and a current resident of the Langdale area who practices family law.
She ran for the NDP in the 2006 federal election, taking 20 per cent of the vote in a third-place bid.
Her interest in politics extends back to the early '80s, when she took a leadership role in fighting fish farms on the Sechelt Inlet.
She has also served as a school trustee for School District 46.
Wilson said she entered the candidate search process when a couple of other candidates didn't pan out.
With no one else in the running, Wilson was acclaimed as the NDP candidate.
"I thought, you know, I did run one time before, and in this election I think it's really important that we have a good, strong NDP presence, so I decided I would go for it," she said.
"I've been involved with the NDP for a very, very long time, so it's not like something new to me. I think this time it's kind of a different campaign simply because in this riding the incumbent didn't run again, and there's a sense of, 'how's it going to go this time?'
"It seems like there's more of an opportunity in this riding for the NDP than there has been in the past."
Though her campaign is just beginning, Wilson said she's already heard from several people in the riding with concerns about housing.
"I was expecting there to be, especially in this part of the riding, maybe a bigger presence for climate change issues, and for almost everyone I spoke to it was something that was important to them but it wasn't their top issue by a long shot," she said.
"People were really concerned about medicare, people were really concerned about transit—they're concerned about sort of pocket book issues, which you always hear about being important, but it's interesting to get it first hand from people."
As for how to address those issues in the Sea to Sky, Wilson referred to the NDP's national party platform, and things like a pledge to create 500,000 units of affordable housing in the next 10 years.
"As a candidate, basically I'm putting forward that platform," she said.
"The fact of the matter is that for each of the issues that I've been asked directly about, the NDP does have significant policy initiatives in those areas."
Read more about the platform at www.ndp.ca/commitments.
"I'm feeling quite confident that the party's platform is taking us to a good place, and able to speak to issues that people think are important," Wilson said.
"But I also know that I don't know everything, and so I'm just taking it one step at a time, and if I don't know the answer to a question I'm going to go look it up."
Wilson joins the Liberals' Patrick Weiler, the Conservative Party's Gabrielle Loren, the Green Party's Dana Taylor and the People's Party's Robert (Doug) Bebb on the ballot for Sea to Sky voters in 2019.
An all-candidates meeting is set for Wednesday, Oct. 9 at the Maury Young Arts Centre.
Advance voting takes place from Oct. 11 to 14 (location to be determined).
Election day is Monday, Oct. 21.
