-Party has yet to schedule new nomination meeting-

OSOYOOS TIMES-February 25, 2009-

By Paul EverestrnOsoyoos Times

The British Columbia Liberal Party has announced that Oliver resident Joe Cardoso will no longer be its candidate for the Boundary-Similkameen electoral district.
Cardoso, a former director for Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen Area C and currently a communications manager for the Regal Ridge development on Anarchist Mountain, was elected as the party's candidate at a Nov. 8 selection meeting in Osoyoos that was attended by more than 700 party members.
He beat out former Osoyoos mayor John Slater and former Oliver mayor Ron Hovanes for the candidacy.
His candidacy was reviewed almost immediately following the selection meeting and the party quickly withdrew its endorsement for Cardoso.
On Dec. 15, Cardoso filed an appeal of the party's decision
A party appeals board rejected Cardoso's appeal following a meeting on Feb. 21 and the party's decision was made public in a media release on Feb. 23.
The BC Liberal Party announced today that Joe Cardoso will not stand as their candidate in the riding of Boundary-Similkameen for the upcoming May 2009 election, the release read.
Cardoso told the Osoyoos Times on Feb. 23 that he learned through an email from the party that his appeal was rejected and that the Liberals would issue a formal written decision on the matter later this week.
Although he declined to comment on the reason the party ended up rejecting his candidacy until he could meet with his supporters, Cardoso did say his nomination was challenged as early as November.
There's been a lot of actions virtually right after the election and not all of it by the party, he said.
Chad Pederson, the party's director of communications and membership services, said the party had an issue with Cardoso's disclosure of information during the candidate selection process, but he wouldn't go into detail about what information was not property disclosed.
I can't go any deeper than what's in the release, he said.
In the media release, Pederson said that the BC Liberal Party sets high standards and requires all potential candidates to be forthcoming and fully disclose positions they have taken on provincial political issues. Unfortunately, that was not the case in this situation.rnRumours that Cardoso's candidacy was in jeopardy began swirling earlier this month but the party would not confirm or deny any allegations.
Cardoso said he would be making a public statement later this week to address the party's decision and the reasons behind why the Liberals withdrew their endorsement of his candidacy.
Slater and Hovanes have said they will try for the party's candidacy again when a new selection meeting is scheduled and Slater said he plans to reach out to Cardoso's supporters.
He said, however, that with the election less than three months away, whoever is elected as the candidate for this riding will be in a difficult position since the lengthy review and appeal process for Cardoso's nomination has left a smaller window for campaigning and fundraising.
I think it's unfortunate that it took this long, Slater said.
Hovanes said he is also concerned with the timing of the party's decision.
I would have certainly appreciated news sooner than this, he said, adding that he received the news of Cardoso's fate at the same time as everyone else.rnI'm guessing they had to wait until they had something sound to put out.rnAs for when the candidate selection meeting could happen, Slater said the party would likely schedule one for early March.
Obviously they're going to do it as early as possible.rnCardoso said he wouldn't speak about what comes next for him until after he talks with his supporters this week.
He did say, however, that the past four months has been an interesting experience.rnI've grown a lot, he said.
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