Former British Columbia premier Christy Clark attends the US-Canada Summit in Toronto on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
The Liberals refused former B.C. premier Christy Clark, while the Conservatives have rejected Mike de Jong and Anita Huberman.
by Alec Lazenby
March 27, 2025
The rejection of several high-profile potential candidates has raised questions about the internal vetting and candidate selection processes of the federal Liberal and Conservative parties.
On Tuesday, former B.C. premier Christy Clark announced she had been refused by the Liberals, joining former B.C. finance minister Mike de Jong, a 30-year veteran of the B.C. legislature, and Anita Huberman, former CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade, who had been turned away by the Conservatives in recent weeks.
“I indicated a strong willingness to run. I wanted to take on the Conservatives and deliver a riding for our party that we don’t currently hold,” Clark said of her desire to be the Liberal candidate in South Surrey-White Rock, which is represented by Conservative incumbent Kerry-Lynne Findlay.
“The party has moved in a different direction. That’s politics.”
Clark’s candidacy had faced local opposition from party members who were concerned by her past affiliations with the Conservatives, a revelation that helped sink her potential bid to be leader of the Liberal Party in January.
Brittney Kerr, a founding partner of Framepoint Public Affairs and former co-chair for the Liberals’ national campaign in 2019, said she believes the other problem for Clark was that candidate Ernie Klassen, a White Rock city councillor, had already been approved by the party.
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