Wilderness outfitter Dan Brooks will carry the B.C. Conservative banner in Nechako Lakes this spring.

The owner of Crystal Lakes Lodge was acclaimed at a nomination meeting at the Village Inn in Vanderhoof on Tuesday night.

"I decided to run because the B.C. Liberals are putting me out of business," Brooks said on Wednesday. "I lost 40 per cent of my business in their recent wildlife allocation policy and that inspired me to get involved in politics."

Brooks has been a director with the Conservative party for the past year and is a loyalist to leader John Cummins. He said his experience sitting on land use planning and tourism committees has given him the skills he needs to run for office.

"I'm a fighter, plain and simple," Brooks said. "I'm one of those people who gets things done. I have no qualms about telling it like it is."

Brooks will be up against Liberal incumbent John Rustad and NDP candidate Sussanne Skidmore-Hewlett. In 2009 Rustad won the riding, which stretches from just west of Prince George all the way to Houston, with almost 56 per cent of the vote.

Wednesday, Brooks took some shots at his main rival.

"John Rustad is good at spending money, but he's not good at coming up with innovative policy ideas that don't cost money that are positive for things like the forest industry, the tourist industry and the mining industry," Brooks said.

Last March, Brooks produced a 30-page report critiquing the way the province allocates its wildlife resources between residents and outfitters and how the impacts tourism-based businesses.

Brooks is the first candidate the party has nominated in the region, but the party plans to have candidates announced in both Prince George ridings in the near future. Dates for those nomination meetings haven't been set.