Liberals find candidate to run in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo – Kamloops This Week

The Liberals in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo will be represented by lawyer Jesse McCormick, who will carry the party's flag after the partys original acclaimed candidate withdrew four days after his candidacy announcement.

While neither the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding association nor the federal wing of the party has announced the new candidate in a press release, McCormick (and the party) tweeted the news on Twitter.

McCormick announced the news on his Twitter account on Saturday, Aug. 14: I am honoured to stand with #Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo as your @liberal_party candidate for #elxn44. Lets work together to build a strong economy, fight climate change and advance reconciliation. We need to keep Canada moving #ForwardForEveryone.

McCormick's arrival as candidate comes after acclaimed candidate George Petel bowed out on Aug. 11, four days after he was acclaimed. Petel said he wanted to focus on work and family.

Calls to the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Liberal riding association have been referred to the national party, which told KTW prior to McCormicks tweet that the nomination process was continuing. KTW is awaiting a response from both the local riding association and the national wing of the party.

In the 2019 federal election, McCormick was brought into the Lambton-Kent-Middlesex riding in Ontario at the last minute after a local Liberal candidate could not be found. He finished second in the race, 14,000 votes behind Conservative Lianne Rood.

According to the Sarnia Observers coverage of the 2019 federal election, McCormick is the Haudenosaunee-Ishinabe son of an off-reserve couple with ties to the Chippewas of the Thames and Oneida First Nations, and at the time was a resident of Mt. Brydges, west of London, Ont.

According to his LinkedIn profile, McCormick was director of rights implementation at the office of the minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from December 2019 to June of this year.

Prior to that, he spent almost four years with the federal Department of Environment and Climate Change. In his role as the department's drector of Indigenous relations and regulatory affairs, McCormick visited Kamloops in 2016 to meet with KGHM Ajax, the City of Kamloops, the Kamloops Area Preservation Association (KAPA) and the Stkemlupsemc Te Secwepemc Nation as part of the Ajax mine proposal, which was later rejected by the provincial and federal governments.

McCormick also spent three years at the Donovan and Company law firm in Vancouver.

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Liberals find candidate to run in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo - Kamloops This Week