According to Katrine Conroy, Kootenay West MLA, a fundraiser on Wednesday, March 20 at the Castlegar Complex — for her re-election run in the May general election — was a success.
Reached at home by telephone on Thursday, March 21, Conroy said 240 tickets were sold for the event, which had NDP Opposition leader Adrian Dix as a guest speaker.
"It was great," she said. "We sold out, that was our maximum and it was really very successful."
Asked if there were any specific details available from Dix's speech, Conroy said he spoke of the need for running a good clean campaign, without negative advertising, but didn't release any platform information.
"He gave a great speech," she said. "It wasn't a crowd of New Democrats, it was a very diverse crowd from big and small businesses and representatives from across the constituency.
"I've always felt humbled by the support I get from this constituency — the people here are great — but people wanted to come and hear what Adrian had to say and it was very well received."
Due to a snowstorm, Dix had to rent a car from Kelowna and drive to Castlegar, something Conroy said gave him a "new respect" for the travel demands of those in the Kootenay region.
After Dix arrived, Conroy said they drove straight to Zellstoff Celgar for a tour of the pulp mill, then went to the Castlegar Community Complex for a meeting with some doctors from the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital. After that, it was right into the fundraiser.
Conroy is currently running unopposed for the MLA seat she has held since 2005 but expects there will be some announcements soon from other parties.
"I feel for the candidate(s) they find," she said. "You don't just jump into the race — it's a lot of planning. We've been working on it since the fall. We have signs ordered, an office booked, just did a television advertisement and we have a campaign strategy."