A former Nelson city councillor has accepted the candidacy to once again represent the Nelson-Creston riding for the BC Green Party in the next provincial election
Nicole Charlwood declared her candidacy last month, after she traveled across the region with BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau to thank supporters for helping her obtain her second attempt to win a seat in the legislature.
Charlwood says her candidacy doesn’t diminish how she feels about her time as a councillor, but rather enhances her opportunity to serve the region.
“I have no grand aspirations so to speak,” she says. “I think the issues I want to deal with are at the provincial level, so I have always had an eye on provincial politics.”
But she says supporting local governments, no matter what level she is representing, should be the focus.
“I don’t think local governments will ever be served well if the federal and provincial governments don’t reprioritize local governance,” she says. “That is where we need more assistance.
“So even though I am looking at the province I still feel local government should, and could be, the most important level of government.”
Charlwood says she has a vast amount of knowledge and experience that she is ready to bring to the table as a future MLA.
“I’ve been in the not-for-profit realm for two decades, local government, and I understand how the system works,” she says. “I can help find those levers of change.
“We need some significant changes to our system, which is why I accepted the candidacy.”
Charlwood took 32.1 per cent of the votes in the 2020 provincial election, falling short of the NDP’s Brittny Anderson by less than 10 per cent.
She then filled the vacancy on Nelson council caused by Anderson’s resignation, but did not seek re-election last year.