B.C. NDP name Jennifer Whiteside as interim leader to replace David Eby after resignation

The B.C. NDP has selected Jennifer Whiteside as their interim leader after David Eby’s resignation last weekend.

Whiteside is a former labour leader, community advocate and three-term MLA for New Westminster-Coquitlam.

Whiteside said Thursday she was “very pleased and very humbled” to have been unanimously recommended to run the party until a new leader can be elected.

“This is deeply, deeply humbling, and not an outcome I was necessarily expecting,” she told reporters.

After a disastrous showing in the snap election he called, Eby conceded defeat to the B.C. Conservatives and Leader Lorne Doerkson and announced his resignation as party leader. The Conservatives won 63 seats compared with 28 for the NDP.

“We understand that British Columbians have sent us a very important message,” said Whiteside. “They have asked that we sit as the official Opposition and we will take on that with determination and thoughtfulness, always putting people at the centre of everything we do.”

Whiteside served as labour minister in the last government and was also the minister of mental health and addictions and minister of education and child care. She was born and raised in New Westminster.

Former solicitor general Mike Farnworth will serve as House leader and former attorney general Niki Sharma will serve as caucus chair, she said.

Asked if she thought Eby should have been there for the announcement, Whiteside didn’t answer. Asked if he was present for her selection, she said he was not.

Whiteside said the party didn’t wait until the final vote count was completed on Nov. 10 because the party wants to be ready to get back to work as soon as the legislature is called back into session.

When announcing his resignation on Saturday night, Eby told supporters: “It has been the honour of my life to serve as premier of British Columbia, to serve as MLA, to work with all of you.

“This is obviously something I do with a very heavy heart. But it is time for new leadership within our party,” he said, adding that the “silver lining” was the ability to spend more time with his young family.

slazaruk@postmedia.com