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Veteran MP Randy White back to politicking

Randy White will be back politicking in Abbotsford this Saturday. The Abbotsford MP of 13 years is promoting the B.C. Conservative Party in the riding that was the longtime turf for the “Reform Party Pit Bull,” as he was dubbed in the national media.
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Randy White

Randy White will be back politicking in Abbotsford this Saturday.

The Abbotsford MP of 13 years is promoting the B.C. Conservative Party in the riding that was the longtime turf for the “Reform Party Pit Bull,” as he was dubbed in the national media.

“They dragged me out of retirement,” he said in a phone interview from Qualicum Beach.

It wasn’t difficult for the Conservatives to recruit White because, for what he believes was the first time in his life, he chose not to vote in the last provincial election.

“Because I had nothing to vote for,” he said.

White attended a meeting of the B.C. Conservative Party, and agreed to help in an advisory capacity. He is just one of the political heavy hitters involved with the resurgent party, joined by former B.C. premier Rita Johnston, former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford, and present Delta MP John Cummins.

“We give them advice on how to win an election, and we know how to win an election,” said White.

“I want to have something to vote for, instead of voting for the Liberals just so the NDP don’t get in.”

White clarified that he won’t be running as an MLA.

“I think I did my share, and I worked hard at it,” he said.

Getting involved with a dark horse political campaign is nothing new for White, who cut his political teeth in 1993, in the fledgling days of Preston Manning’s Reform Party. He was part of the federal party as it became the Canadian Alliance and then the reborn Conservative Party. He left politics in 2006.

In Abbotsford, he will talk about the present government’s lack of future planning, and its addiction to casino revenue.

“They’re the first government in North America to introduce online gambling into our houses,” he pointed out.

He said people are also angry about growing government fees, like picnic fees in parks.

“They’re going to rip money out of your pocket every way they can,” he said.

White said the HST issue reminds him of Brian Mulroney’s federal Conservatives struggling to get past the GST tax controversy.

The government thought there was enough time before the election for people to forgive and forget.

When White took his seat in parliament, there were two Conservatives, Elsie Wayne and Jean Charest, seated behind him.

“That was all that was left of a majority government.

“I am dead certain, the (provincial) Liberals are not going to form a government,” he predicted.

White will be speaking at Garden Park Towers on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Azalea Room.

Don Stahl, president of the Abbotsford-Mission Constituency Association, said the party had only one constituency association in 2009, is up to 30 at the present time, and the goal is to have one in all 85 ridings by the next election.

He said the aim of Saturday’s meeting is to simply “let the public know the B.C. Conservatives are there.”

Since his retirement, White and his wife Marty have spent a lot of time travelling, both in their fifth wheel and abroad to Africa, Mazatlan and Arizona.



Neil Corbett

About the Author: Neil Corbett

I have been a journalist for more than 30 years, the past decade with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
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