2005 Candidates (as received from Elections B.C.):
- Luke Crawford, Green Party of BC
- Corky Evans, New Democratic Party of B.C.
- Philip McMillan, British Columbia Marijuana Party
- Blair F. Suffredine, BC Liberal Party
District Profile:
With the U.S. boundary as its southern border, this southeast B.C. riding stretches east beyond Kingsgate, north beyond Camborne, and west beyond Fauquier, occupying a central slice of the Kootenays. As the name suggests, the communities of Nelson and Creston are here, as are the newer-growth centres of Nakusp, Salmo and Slocan City. Creston Valley in the southeast is an important agricultural area, while in the riding's mountainous regions, logging and sawmills are important. Health and social services and retail trade are the top employers. At $51,751, this riding has the eight-lowest average family income in the province, while unemployment, at 11.5 per cent, is quite high. Thirteen per cent of residents are immigrants. One in 10 people are of German origin, while one in 12 is of Russian descent.
Political History:
The incumbent in Nelson-Creston is Liberal Blair Suffredine. He was elected in 2001 in one of that year's few fairly close outcomes, tallying 39 per cent of the vote to New Democrat (and then-incumbent) Corky Evans' 32 per cent. Before that election, New Democrats and Socreds had battled over this riding for half a century. Wes Black of the Social Credit Party was MLA here from 1952-72. Then Lorne Nicholson of the NDP, who went on to repel Social Credit challengers in 1975, '79 and '83, unseated him. In the last of those races the runner-up was Howard Dirks; in 1986 Dirks retook the riding for the Social Credit Party, defeating the above-mentioned Evans by just 27 votes. Evans then turned the tables, unseating Dirks by a decisive margin in 1991 and fending him off again in 1996.
In 2001, the voter turnout in Nelson-Creston was 75.3 per cent – the eighth highest in the province.
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