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Ross Rebagliati leans in to kiss his five-month-old son Ryan, being held by his wife Alexandira. (Photo Adrian Nieoczym)
About two dozen members of the Liberal Party of Canada showed up at a Penticton law firm yesterday evening to select 1998 Olympic gold medalist Ross Rebagliati as their candidate in the next federal election.
He will be up against Conservative incumbent Stockwell Day, the Minister of International Trade, who handily won the 2008 election with close to 60 per cent of the vote.
Rebagliati ran unopposed and the vice-president of the Liberals Okanagan-Coquihalla riding association, Jodie Taylor, declared him the winner and adjourned the meeting within five minutes.
The proceedings then moved to a meeting room at a local hotel where Rebagliati delivered his acceptance speech, chatted with party members, posed for pictures and took questions from the six members of the media who turned out to see him.
Rebagliati is positioning himself as a youth candidate whose star power can help him connect with those younger voters who in recent years have stayed away from the polls.
“They’ve been completely uninterested in politics and I can’t blame them. I have also been over the years completely disinterested in the process. I haven’t had anybody run in any election that I can remember that I was remotely interested in as an individual rather than as a politician,” he said.
Since news of his candidacy broke late last week, Rebagliati has been inundated with messages of support from excited young people.
“We have received an overwhelming flood of e-mails and Twitters and Facebooks and you name it in the last couple of days. Not only from this riding from all across Canada from coast to coast to coast,” he said. “One of the nicest comments I heard was someone was going to move to the riding just so they could vote for me.”
He also said he will rely heavily on new media such as Twitter and Facebook to reach potential voters, not just in Okanagan-Coquihalla but in other parts of the country as well.
“I think I’m going to bring the country together even though it’s just this riding that I’m running in.”
Rebagliati was approached by the Liberal Party to become their candidate in Okanagan-Coquihalla and while he said he has never been a member of the party, he has always been a supporter.
“The Liberals represent who I am as a person as far as values are concerned,” he said. “It seems like from election to election that they’ve always talked about the issues that are important to me.”
He cited the environment as one important issue for him. And because he recently became a father, he said access to daycare is something that is also top of mind.
Likewise, because he has an aging grandmother he cares deeply about, seniors care has become another issue of concern for him.
Rebagliati said he has not yet had a chance to speak directly to party leader Michael Ignatieff.
“I’ve had a chance to watch the party leader on television say that he’s very excited that I’m on board and that’s good enough for me.”
Dave Perry, who was the Liberal candidate here in 2006 and lost to Day by more than 13,000 votes, is excited to have Rebagliati carrying his party’s banner into the next election.
“This is an exciting opportunity for the riding. We have a person of note and a young person particularly,” he said. “We have a chance to form a whole new constituency with young people throughout the riding.”
adrian@kelowna.com
250-575-3517
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- Members of the Liberal Party in Penticton listen to Ross Rebagliati deliver his acceptance speech. (Photo Adrian Nieoczym)
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- Rebagliati with wife Alexandria and five-month-old son Ryan. (Photo Adrian Nieoczym)
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- Riding association vice-president Jodie Taylor pronounces Ross Rebagliati acclaimed as the Liberal candidate in Okanagan-Coquihalla at a constituency association meeting in Penticton. (Photo Adrian Nieoczym)
One Response to “‘I think I’m going to bring the country together:’ Ross Rebagliati”
Tags: Kelowna, liberal party, penticton, ross rebagliati, West Kelowna
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Give me a break. Whether you are a conservative, liberal, ndp or whatever. you should at least have a clue.
What qualifies this snowboarder for a run at federal politics? All his discussions are about getting young people to vote, he has said nothing about his platform. Watch an interview with him, he really doesn’t have a clue and almost seems to cringe when he is asked a political question.
He is basing his hopes on that he will win a popularity contest with the young voters because of his Olympic feat.
hey, don’t get me wrong, politics are largely a popularity issue I know, but there is usually some level of business smarts as well. (or should be)
I’d have had a lot more respect for him if he waded in at the municipal level first. This guy is chasing a pension.
Please continue discussion on the forum: link