EDITORIAL – Suddenly, the election in Kamloops riding is very interesting

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

THERE REALLY SHOULD BE a recovery program for ex-politicians, one that gradually weans them off the compulsive need to be in the limelight.

Terry Lake is the latest to try to quit, and to relapse. The former B.C. health minister took to social media Tuesday announcing he’ll seek the Liberal nomination for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo in this fall’s federal election.

He will, of course, get the party’s nomination with little, if any, opposition. What Liberal wouldn’t want a star candidate like Lake to take on incumbent Conservative MP Cathy McLeod?

Even with Lake, though, the party’s chances in the riding are anything but assured. They were iffy even before the scandal in Ottawa that has seen the governing Liberals and Justin Trudeau plummet in popularity.

Such things have never bothered Lake. He ran for mayor against a well-known and respected civic leader in the person of Al McNair, and won. He ran for MLA in a year when Christy Clark and the Liberals were supposed to take a drubbing, and he won.

And now, with any sane person expecting the federal party to suffer a beating in the wake of Trudeau’s problems over SNC-Lavelin, Lake has decided to try for a comeback.

Cathy McLeod has represented the riding since 2008, and she enjoys a high level of personal popularity of her own.

Even though the Liberals polled well here In 2015 with a relatively unknown candidate and a modest campaign budget, I really didn’t think Lake would go for it. I thought common sense and the problems of the party would keep him out, but the lure of politics obviously courses strongly through his veins still.

With the prospect of McLeod and Lake squaring off, one almost feels sorry for the NDP.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and newspaper editor. He publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.