New Democrat leadership candidate Nicholas Simons is still waiting to find out whether he officially become a leadership candidate, but has at least crossed one hurdle that was holding up his application.
On Monday, Simons the MLA for Powell River-Sunshine Coast came to a successful resolution with the B.C. NDP over social media privacy issues.
"I'm proud of my party for recognizing the importance of a good vetting process for candidates and the importance of protecting privacy," Simons said in a news release. "I look forward to becoming an official candidate for the leadership of the B.C. NDP. This is an example of creating good policy that works for our province and our party."
On Monday afternoon, the B.C. NDP released a statement on their website stating Simons did not disclose his user name or passwords to the B.C. NDP when he submitted his official nomination papers last week.
"Mr. Simons has provided evidence to the B.C. NDP showing that all aspects of his social networking sites are public and a review that satisfies the B.C. NDP social media policy has taken place," said the statement. "Both Mr. Simons and the B.C. NDP recognize the importance of good vetting of candidates and the importance of protecting privacy.
"Both Mr. Simons and the B.C. NDP agree on the need to balance legitimate requests to know as much about candidates as possible with the principle of protecting privacy. Mr. Simons and the BC NDP note that social media is an unchartered area of privacy regulation and look forward to contributing to the public debate on this important issue."
As of Monday night, there was still no word from the NDP whether Simons would be officially accepted and declared as a leadership candidate.
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