Media personality, dietitian and small-business owner Sherry Ogasawara is seeking the New Democrat Party's candidacy for Prince George-Valemount.
"I'm excited by the opportunity to bring a fresh, new approach to politics in the North," said the 23-year resident of Prince George. "Northerners deserve a representative in tune with local needs, and I'm uniquely suited to building those positive relationships."
Ogasawara said the Liberals are out of ideas after 11 years in power.
"Adrian Dix and the New Democrats are setting a positive, optimistic agenda, talking about stabilizing important, traditional industries like forestry and putting more emphasis on skills development and training," she said. "Those issues are key to moving Prince George forward."
Married with three children, Ogasawara is perhaps best known as a media authority on fitness, nutrition and lifestyle issues and has presented at workshops and conferences across North America.
She has experience within the acute care sector as well in clinical therapeutic areas such as oncology, ICU, renal, diabetes and cardiac rehabilitation.
In 2011, she spearheaded a local Prince George initiative to encourage local consumers to allocate 10 per cent of their monthly budget towards locally-produced goods and services.
"As northerners, we face unique challenges in commerce," said Ogasawara. "We are disproportionately impacted by rising fuel costs, adverse weather, access to market and a lack of infrastructure and systems in place for storage and distribution. These factors all place upward pressure of the cost of goods, particularly food. Leveraging provincial resources in new ways to encourage local purchasing is key to repairing the damage done to our local economy to ensure and support sustainability.
"One of the great initiatives Adrian has raised is mandating hospitals, schools and other provincially-funded facilities to serve locally-sourced food in their programs. That sets an excellent example for everyone to follow."
In January, local labour lawyer Bobby (Sarbjit) Deepak will be seeking the B.C. NDP nomination for Prince George-Mackenzie.
Other entries pending, Ogasawara's and Deepak's candidacies will be confirmed April 21.
Ogasawara would face Liberal Shirley Bond, currently the Justice Minister and Attorney General, and Deepak would go up against Liberal Pat Bell, the current Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister.
