Paul Hillsdon, who runs the blog Civic Surrey, has launched a campaign to draft Surrey Mayor Diane Watts to become the new Liberal Party leader and Premier of B.C. He wrote:

In just two terms under Watts, Surrey has been rebranded as a progressive, dynamic, vibrant urban community, well poised to become a major metropolitan centre in Canada. Perhaps her biggest marker of success is a new sense of pride never before seen in residents.

On November 5, Hillsdon announced a “Draft Watts” section on his blog, urging readers to write letters to the editor supporting Watts and to encourage friends to join the movement. He also wrote:

As the media begins to talk about the top contenders for the Liberal leadership, Watts remains the number one outsider proposed. Christy Clark called her a potential “gamechanger” in the leadership race. Ipsos Reid shows her to be the best contender for the job with a net impression of +30, ahead of Carole Taylor and John Furlong.

Meanwhile, CKNW has an ongoing online poll asking people who should take Campbell’s spot – Watts leads by a landslide with 63.6% as of this post’s publishing. It is obvious that the public views her as an ideal candidate for Premier.

Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee.