A local politician would like his old job back.
Dan Brooks of Vanderhoof has announced his intention to run for leader of the B.C. Conservative Party, a post he held from April 2014 until he resigned this past January. On Friday, he confirmed his name would be on the ballot at the party convention this autumn.
"Within a few months of winning the BC Conservative Party leadership, I - along with several other party members - faced legal action by the losing candidate," said Brooks.
"That litigation, based on unfounded speculation and a misrepresentation of the facts, now has entered its third year and has been exceptionally costly for all of the individuals involved. Fortunately, it has become manifestly evident to all parties over the course of this ordeal that the legal complaint is without merit and has gone - and is going - nowhere. I now am satisfied that the matter no longer will be a burden, financial or otherwise, to me and my family."
He considers the matter "behind me" and leaves him free to restore his name in the leadership chair of the provincial political party.
Brooks, 41, is part of the family guide-outfitter business operating Crystal Lake Lodge near Vanderhoof. They also have family ties to farming in Alberta. He came a distant third in his own riding's electoral race in the last election, getting almost 13 per cent of the vote in Nechako Lakes (NDP candidate Sussanne Skidmore-Hewlett came second with almost 28 per cent; incumbent Liberal MLA John Rustad received almost 54 per cent of the vote).
The party's leader during the last campaign was John Cummins who resigned after the 2013 provincial election resulted in the party placing zero candidates in the Legislature and winning less than five per cent of the provincial vote.
Brooks succeeded Cummins as leader, taking almost 62 per cent of the party's internal leadership votes at the following leadership convention. The other contender in that election, Vancouver investment adviser Rick Peterson, took legal action following Brooks's victory.
