Andrew Mercier is the new NDP candidate for the provincial riding of 91原创.

He was acclaimed at the party鈥檚 nomination meeting on Sunday in the community room of the Murrayville Library.

NDP leader Adrian Dix, who was the guest speaker at the event, explained that the party hurried its nomination process along because it had to be ready in case Premier Christy Clark called a fall election, as she had been talking about until just a few weeks ago.

鈥淚t was the largest fire drill in provincial history,鈥� Dix said.

Mercier, 26, recently served as campaign manager for 91原创 federal NDP candidate Piotr Majkowski. He recruited a team of volunteers, many of them young people. With a strong local campaign and the effective national campaign which led to the NDP becoming Official Opposition for the first time, they boosted the NDP vote total in the riding to 11,235 鈥� the best showing the party had ever delivered.

A delivery driver, he is a political science graduate of the University of New Brunswick and a lifetime 91原创 resident.

Majkowski, who formally nominated him, said there are many people in 91原创 who are ready to vote NDP despite 鈥渢he political scene in 91原创 leaving something to be desired from a progressive viewpoint.鈥�

Mercier noted that, in the federal campaign, the party was successful in getting people who normally do not participate in the process to vote. He sees that as key to the NDP winning in 91原创.

鈥淭he next election is important. We鈥檙e going to win it, and win it in 91原创. Piotr and Kathleen (Stephany, the 2009 provincial candidate), have put us within striking distance.鈥�

Mercier said the BC Liberal government, in addition to its botched introduction of the HST, is now dragging its feet on replacing it with the PST, as voters agreed to do in the mail-in referendum.

He said this delay is hurting the real estate and construction industries and is causing unemployment.

鈥淧eople can鈥檛 wait to buy a home for 18 months,鈥� he said.

He said the HST is harmful to families, costing them additional money while giving business a $2 billion tax break.

Mercier referred to his education costs, and praised Dix for proposing a system of grants for the most needy students, to be financed out of restoring a tax on banks.

He had started his education at the University of the Fraser Valley but finished in New Brunswick because it ended up being cheaper, despite the cost of living there and travelling back and forth.

Dix told the 50 in attendance that Jack Layton 鈥渄reamed big鈥� for the NDP and increased its vote and seat total in each federal election he contested. He said the 2011 breakthrough results in Quebec were the result of seven years of hard work in  letting Quebeckers know what the NDP stood for.

Dix said he has a similar vision for areas of B.C.. like the Okanagan and Fraser Valley, that traditionally have elected Liberals (or Socreds before that). He pledged to visit 91原创 frequently, as he believes the seat can be won by Mercier.

Dix said that  one issue important to 91原创 residents is transportation, and promised an NDP government would dedicate at least some of the carbon tax revenue towards transit.

He added that Michelle Laurie will be acclaimed as candidate in Fort 91原创-Aldergrove at an upcoming meeting.