Dear Editor:
Re: Crosty ponders run, The Record, Feb. 6. So James Crosty is considering running provincially as an independent this spring. In the process of pondering, he can't help but take a shot at NDP candidate Judy Darcy as having been "parachuted" into New Westminster. What a tired and parochial refrain.
I'm well acquainted with this accusation, having been subjected to it myself 17 years ago (where has the time gone?) when I ran for and was elected MLA for New Westminster in 1996.
Back then there was a whisper campaign suggesting that I was just a parachute candidate.
The difference between then and now is that back then no candidate was dumb enough to say it so directly and publicly - perhaps because they knew it was unbecoming.
As for the accusation that I was some kind of interloper, a temporary resident of political convenience, well, I've now lived here for 18 years.
The idea that there should be some kind of long-term residency requirement that one must meet before running for office in New Westminster is absurd.
There are lots of good people in this community, and I have never distinguished between them by their New Westminster ancestry.
Mr. Crosty's parochialism is politically unwise - he would do well to ask himself how many people there are living in New Westminster who weren't born here, or who can't claim to have descended from a Sapper. And, regardless of the depth of their New Westminster heritage, these people vote.
Lest I be seen as writing this letter as a proxy for
Judy Darcy, I should clarify that I have never even met Ms. Darcy.
However, I know her by reputation as a hard-working, committed and accomplished person.
New Westminster would do well to have her as our MLA.
Graeme Bowbrick, New Westminster
