The Courtenay-Alberni Federal Liberal Electoral District Association will be holding its annual general meeting at the Lewis Centre in Courtenay on Sunday, Feb. 10.
The main purpose of the meeting, open to all registered federal Liberals in the riding, will be to choose a new board of directors to lead the Liberal EDA in the build-up to the 2019 federal election.
For all parties, electoral district associations, recognized and regulated through the Canada Elections Act, as well as by party constitutions and rules, form a key role in the Canadian democratic process. The role of each Liberal EDA is to endorse and support the party’s candidate for the House of Commons; engage in and support field organizing, outreach and fundraising; and facilitate input into Party policy.
Strong and enthusiastic attendance at informal federal Liberal meetings held in Courtenay in December and January bode well for energetic and optimistic support from Liberal supporters in the riding, hoping to build on momentum after the strong increase of Liberal support at the Courtenay-Alberni polls in 2015, when the Liberals under Justin Trudeau surged from third in the House of Commons to a majority government.
October 2013 saw the creation of new electoral district boundaries, with Courtenay-Alberni now comprising parts of the former ridings of Vancouver Island North and Nanaimo-Alberni. In the 2011 election the Liberals gleaned 7.7 per cent of votes in Nanaimo-Alberni and 5.2 per cent in Vancouver Island North. In 2015 Courtenay-Alberni Liberal candidate Carrie Powell-Davidson gained 21.8 per cent of the vote.
The Courtenay-Alberni riding now includes Port Alberni and the Tofino/Ucluelet area, Nanoose Bay, Parksville and Qualicum Beach, Bowser, Denman and Hornby Islands, Royston, Union Bay, Cumberland, and the city of Courtenay, but not the town of Comox or the two Comox Valley Regional District zones (B and C) to the north, east and west of Courtenay, which are now in the North Island – Powell River riding.
The Feb. 10 AGM will be held in the Lewis Centre Hobby Room in Courtenay at 1 p.m. For more information: CA.FedLiberal@gmail.com