BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau has chosen to run in the Victoria-Beacon Hill riding when the next provincial election is called.
Furstenau is currently the MLA for Cowichan Valley, a constituency that will change its boundaries when the next election is called and no longer include Shawnigan Lake, where she has lived since 2011..
She had originally planned to seek re-election in the new Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding, but following a lot of reflection Furstenau says she has chosen Victoria-Beacon Hill as her family has “begun the process of relocating back to Victoria.”
She says Victoria is “where my story began, where my grandparents met at the historic Craigdarroch Castle, where my parents met, and where my brother and sister were born. It’s where I spent two formative decades of my life, attending university, raising my first son, and building community in a city that I love.”
“Cowichan Valley has undergone significant changes in my time as MLA,” Furstenau says, adding she is “proud of the historic levels of investment in the riding, and what we have accomplished since I was elected MLA in 2017. A new high school and hospital are being built, we have a beautiful hospice, and huge progress has been made towards a new weir that will help protect the Cowichan River from the droughts we see more and more frequently.”
She says it has been an honour to serve the people of Cowichan, but it’s time to return to Victoria as her children embark on the next chapters of their lives.
