Lucy Sager is a Fish Out of Water in the Liberal Leadership Race
Of the seven candidates vying to be the B.C. Liberal’s next party leader, one stands out for deliberately branding herself as “not a politician.”
Lucy Sager, who hails from Terrace, B.C., is campaigning on a platform based largely on having no prior political experience. According to her LinkedIn profile, most of Sager’s career has been spent in business and community development. She also operated her own bike retail shop.
“I would say that a lot of people in British Columbia right now are not into politics,” Sager said in an interview with The Vancouver Sun. “I think that people are looking for someone who’s not a politician, [someone who has] owned a business, had staff, cleaned up broken glass at 3 a.m.”
While there have been candidates in the past who successfully campaigned as average Joes, it’s difficult to see this angle working for Sager, who was relatively unknown before entering the Liberal leadership race. While Andrew Weaver was a professor and an internationally recognized scientist before running for leader of the Green Party, the majority of Sager’s life and work experience has been limited to Northwest B.C. This puts her out of touch with the majority of British Columbians.
South of the border, Donald Trump serves as a constant reminder of the perils of placing a person with no political experience in a position of power. With this in mind, British Columbians will likely be wary of someone who is trying to market her lack of a political history as a desirable quality. It is unlikely that the Liberals, who are looking to re-establish party unity following Christy Clark’s departure, will choose Sager to be their leader when there are a bevy of more qualified candidates.
On Oct. 15, the Liberal leadership candidates participated in their first debate. Sager was the only candidate who did not participate, and while the B.C. Liberals won’t select their new leader until early February, her decision not to appear at the debate hints that she may soon follow MLA Mike Bernier in withdrawing from the Liberal leadership race.
