Newly minted federal New Democratic Party candidate Carol Baird Ellan is looking to shake up the Conservative stronghold Seymour area riding in the next election.
Baird Ellan, a longtime North Vancouver resident, won the NDP’s nomination Saturday for the new federal riding of Burnaby North – Seymour.
The provincial court’s first female chief judge, who retired in 2012, is now concentrating her efforts on providing affordable legal services to families, according to a bio on Baird Ellan’s election website.
Baird Ellan is pledging to champion environmental issues, as part of her election platform. “I am entering politics now because I am deeply concerned about what we are doing to our environment and the planet.
The climate crisis is here, and Canada is not doing enough,” Baird Ellan wrote on her website.
The mother of five also pledged to fight for equal opportunities for women in the workplace.
“Women still do not have equal pay, equal representation, or equal opportunity. Childcare has not kept pace with the needs of women in the workforce,” Baird Ellan said.
Baird Ellan is the last candidate from a major party to add her name to the Burnaby North-Seymour election roster, joining candidates Terry Beech (Liberal); former District of North Vancouver councillor Mike Little (Conservative); and Lynn Quarmby, who represents the Green Party.
“This new riding is going to need a leader who can bring communities — on both sides of the Inlet — together,” Baird Ellan stated in a release
The federal election is scheduled for Oct. 19.
