BC Minister Popham Won’t Run for a Sixth Term, Deepening Snap Election Speculation

B.C. cabinet minister Lana Popham says she won’t run for a sixth term, deepening speculation about a snap election being called.

Popham’s announcement follows the resignation of Opposition B.C. Conservative leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay on Sunday.

Popham, the current minister for agriculture, says in a written statement provided by the B.C. NDP caucus that her decision not to run again was difficult.

She was first elected in Greater Victoria in 2009 and became the province’s first female agriculture minister in 2017.

The statement says that Popham leaves elected office as the longest serving agriculture minister in provincial history, having also served as minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport for two years.

Popham says she plans to remain engaged in causes that have defined her career such as farming, food security and the future of the Agricultural Land Reserve.

“I am sad to leave this role, but I am not leaving public life without purpose,” she says.