Former Kamloops city councillor Nancy Bepple may be challenged for NDP nomination

KAMLOOPS – The Kamloops-South Thompson NDP riding association may have a vote coming up before the provincial election.

Former city councillor Nancy Bepple announced today, Aug. 30, that she would be running for the NDP’s nomination in the riding, but she is not being acclaimed like Kamloops-North Thompson NDP candidate Barbara Nederpel.

Another person may be running against Bepple for the nomination, NDP constituency executive member Murray Dickson says.

“We’re aware of another person who’s intending to step forward,” he says. “There are quite a few steps involved.”

One of the steps is a vetting process at the provincial level. The constituency association will choose a candidate in early December.

Whoever gets the nod from the NDP will be facing incumbent Minister of Transportation Todd Stone in the May election. He has already secured his party's nomination.

Bepple says her reasons for running have a lot to do with poverty and the poor.

“The government has ignored poverty and its definitely ignored child poverty,” she says. “We have one in 13 people who use the food bank every year in Kamloops.”

Raising the minimum wage and the doctor shortage in Kamloops were other reasons she decided to run.

In the Kamloops-North Thompson riding Nederpel announced her nomination Aug. 22 and will be acclaimed by the NDP in September. Minister of Health Terry Lake, the current Liberal MLA for the riding, has not announced if he will seek a third term.

— This story was updated at 10:01 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016 to correct the spelling of Bepple.

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