10 Years at the Leg for North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice is celebrating a Political anniversary this week, marking ten years on the job on behalf of constituents at the British Columbia Legislature.

The former city councillor made the shift from the municipal to provincial scene after MLA Gary Coons announced plans to step down in the fall of 2012. 

The first step for Ms. Rice in her journey to provincial politics was in securing the nomination in January of 2013 following a nomination battle with Prince Rupert Teachers Association Head Joanna Larson. 

Ms. Rice hit the campaign trail shortly afterwards successfully holding the seat for the NDP on Election Day  Tuesday May 14th, 2013. 

The vote count that night finding the young city councillor far ahead of her two challengers of BC Liberal Judy Fraser and the Green Party candidate Hondo Arendt.

She resigned her post on City Council on June 11, 2013 taking on new duties as an MLA a few days later.

Her debut in the Legislature was that as an Opposition Member, with the NDP falling  to Christy Clark who took the then BC Liberals to power; the new MLA from the North Coast was assigned her first post  that as the Opposition critic for Northern and Rural Health.

It would be four years in opposition before Ms. Rice would get to see the Government side of the Legislature Chamber, with the NDP forming a government in June of 2017.

Some Parliamentary Secretary appointments would follow, first as Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Preparedness, that would be a post she held until January of this year.

Ms Rice was elected for the third time in October 2020 when she claimed 72 percent of the votes of the 5,350 voters that cast a ballot, that from a potential electoral pool of 15,471 eligible voters.

This year saw the MLA go near full circle in her Legislature experience, from the critics role for rural and Northern Health in 2013, to the choice of Premier David Eby to be the Parliamentary Secretary for the post in 2023.

Ms Rice made an early note of her milestone (10:19 AM) on Tuesday as she welcomed the delegation of the Haida Nation to the Legislature.

More notes on her work through the decade can be reviewed through our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.