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Boundary-Similkameen Wexit candidate faces messy exit

Arlyn Greig was one of two candidates for the party, both of whom had their endorsements stripped
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Aryln Greig’s exit from Wexit BC was not a clean or amicable one.

Greig had been endorsed by the party as their candidate for Boundary-Similkameen riding in the provincial election.

On Oct. 9, the party announced that they were retracting their endorsements for the two Wexit BC candidates that had made the Oct. 2 nomination deadline.

The decision to retract the “premature and uni[n]formed” endorsements, according to the announcement on the Wexit party’s Facebook pages, was made by the executive board of the party.

Black Press reached out to Greig following the announcement, and she responded via Facebook.

“The Wexit BC party fired me without explanation. It is too late to remove my name from the ballot, so yes I am in the election.”

Andrew Watson, the director of communications for Elections BC confirmed that Greig would appear on the ballot, as a candidate for the Wexit BC party.

“Under the Election Act a party can withdraw their endorsement of a candidate up until the close of nominations, so in this case, the close on nominations for this election was on Oct. 2. at 1 p.m. A candidate can withdraw from the election up to 48 hours before the start advance voting, that deadline has also passed now.”

Elections BC did not receive formal requests for withdrawal by the deadlines, from either parties or candidates, so the list of candidates will be the list that appears on the ballot.

Greig was previously the president for the Wexit BC Boundary-Similkameen Riding Association, a title that she still lists on her Facebook page and one which she doesn’t know whether she still has.

“I haven’t officially resigned. They aren’t answering my messages to them either. I’m just not dealing with them, and neither does the team I put together,” she said. “You will have to ask them what they did. I was not given the courtesy of an explanation.

Greig also noted that the president of the party quit as well. Lee Smith, the leader listed on the Elections BC registered political parties information document as of Oct. 13, was contacted for comment.

Black Press has reached out to the Wexit Party for comment on this story.

In their announcement, the Wexit BC party also retracted their endorsement for Dorothy Smith in the Peace River South riding.

This story will be updated as information becomes available.

READ MORE: B.C. Votes: Boundary-Similkameen candidates talk economy, climate, and ICBC

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Brennan Phillips

About the Author: Brennan Phillips

Brennan was raised in the Okanagan and is thankful every day that he gets to live and work in one of the most beautiful places in Canada.
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