Vancouver – Very quietly, at 6:20 AM on Saturday, BC Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson Tweeted out the release that MLA Rich Coleman will not seek re-election when the next Provincial Election is called.
Officially, he’s retiring.
The Six Term MLA from Langley East has been under recent fire for being linked to the Provincial Money Laundering scandal involving real estate and casinos. Former Premier Christy Clark has also been mentioned.
The timing is everything. Release the statement when many media are not working the weekend, although Coleman did speak with a newspaper before the word was released to social media. The timing coincides with the anniversary of his first nomination on February 29, 1996. He was first elected as MLA on May 28, 1996. He has also been Public Safety Minister, Deputy Premier, and interim leader of the Liberal party since the resignation of former Premier Christy Clark.
In recent weeks, there have been social media posts showing his constituency office at the Langley Events Centre, locked up with no staff inside.
One of the final pushes from Coleman when the Liberals were still in power, was to lobby for the six-laning of Highway 1 through Langley.
FVN and chillTV have reached out to the two Chilliwck Liberal MLA’s for comment.
