Saying he has the same “focused and feisty dedication” she brought to politics, former B.C. finance and health minister Joy MacPhail has endorsed Vancouver-Kingsway MLA Adrian Dix to lead the NDP.
MacPhail said Dix’s work as children and families and then health critic since 2005 has been “head and shoulders” above other MLAs. She said Dix has demonstrated the energy that she needed when the party was reduced two two seats by the 2001 landslide victory of Premier Gordon Campbell.
“He and Carole James were a very effective team,” MacPhail said. “I miss Carole James terribly, but with the advent of Adrian’s leadership I am comforted.”
Dix stressed his support from health care workers, whose union contracts were an early target of the Campbell government.
“When I talked to people in the Okanagan this week, especially health care workers reminded me of the extraordinary courage and determination Joy showed on their behalf as leader of the opposition in B.C., as she brought the NDP back from maybe our lowest moment in history and really put us back on the map politically,” Dix said.