For the first election in decades, you won’t be seeing Shirley Bond signs around town.
The veteran MLA announced that she was done with provincial politics after she, and the rest of us, were blindsided by her party leader’s decision to shut down the BC United campaign and endorse the fast-rising BC Conservatives.
This paper went to press just before Bond’s formal press conference Tuesday afternoon, so we can’t tell you what happened there. But she did send out a statement last week in which she outlined her decision.
“The decision made by BC United party leader Kevin Falcon to suspend our party’s election campaign came as a complete surprise to me and I have spent the past 24 hours with my family thinking about what my next steps should be,” she said in a statement. “Together, we have decided that I will be withdrawing my name as a candidate in the upcoming provincial election.”
Whether you ever voted for her or not, you were fortunate to have Bond as your MLA for so long.
There tend to be two types of provincial and federal elected officials. Some focus on the Legislature, advocating for their communities and working to shape provincial or federal policy. Others take a more constituent-based focus, spending more time at local events and helping people closer to street level.
Bond managed to combine both of those approaches and make it work.
First elected in Prince George-Valemount in 2001, she served as an MLA, a cabinet minister (justice, transportation and infrastructure; advanced education; health services; jobs, tourism and skills training; labour). She was attorney general, a vice-chair of the treasury board and, for two years, interim party leader and leader of the official opposition – all while maintaining a high profile here in Prince George.
With the NDP in power, she is the shadow minister for health, seniors services and long-term care and shadow minister for mental health, addiction and recovery.
We should also remember that she served on the school board before that. So we’re talking about decades of public service here.
That translated into several never-once-close election wins for her, some of which can be ascribed to party leanings but also to her obvious dedication to Prince George and area.
Consider this online comment posted to Reddit along with our story announcing her decision to step away: “Wasn’t a fan of her politics but she did serve PG well, she was an advocate for the North. She deserved better.” Or another: “I didn’t agree with every one of her positions, but she was a good representative for PG. She worked hard and got stuff done.”
These people are referring to the circumstances of Bond’s departure from the race. She was as surprised by BC United Leader Kevin Falcon’s backroom deal with the Conservatives as voters were, and she made it clear right away that she had no plan to jump aboard the John Rustad ship.
She could have stayed in the race. It’s likely that Bond would have been easily re-elected as a Conservative, and even as an independent. But she made the call she did, and we can respect that.
It’s interesting to consider where BC United would be today had Bond decided to pursue the leadership rather than agree to serve as interim leader of what was then the BC Liberal Party. Would the name change have happened? Would the Conservatives have risen as quickly as they did? Would we be watching an unprecedented political collapse unfold in real time like this?
We can’t know. All we can know is that she made this major decision knowing it was right for her and her family, and we can trust that she carefully considered the impact on her constituents and her community before she did.
Few elected officials in this country can claim a legacy like hers. If you’ve lived here long enough, you’ll likely agree, no matter your politics.
