The B.C. Liberal Party has finally announced a candidate for Burnaby-Lougheed, the riding held by longtime Liberal Harry Bloy.
Ken Kramer, a lawyer and founder of KMK Law Corporation, will run in the next provincial election in the east Burnaby riding. The 2013 provincial election marks Kramer's first foray into politics.
"This is really new to me," Kramer told the NOW. "I've had lots of involvement, as you can see, from a community perspective and more as an advocate for people with disabilities."
The North Burnaby resident was chair of the board at Muscular Dystrophy Canada. He has muscular dystrophy himself and has been an advocate for others with disabilities. Most notably, Kramer spearheaded a push to increase government funding for home care support workers while Kevin Falcon was health minister. The provincial government announced a $19-million increase over three years for home support funding to help people with disabilities, thanks to Kramer's advocacy. He also pushed for a system where the funding goes to the person with disabilities, so he or she can hire their own support workers, rather than the government handling the process.
"That's really what spurred all this. I've had some real success in working for the community and being able to work with government to come up for solutions for a unique home-care model we have in our province," he said.
Kramer has been running his small law firm in Vancouver for the past 15 years.
"A lot of what I will bring to the table is similar to my own career," he said. "I work with folks, I listen to folks. . It's going to be my job to be able to listen to them actively and bring forward their concerns."
Kramer also chairs the Health Ministry's Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board, a role he's stepping away from during the election period, to avoid a conflict of interest.
Kramer was born and raised in Vancouver and attended SFU, where he studied business administration, and UBC, where he earned his law degree. He will be officially nominated on April 14.
The Burnaby-Lougheed riding is one of two local seats currently held by the Liberals. In March 2012, Premier Christy Clark announced Bloy would not be running again, after he leaked a reporter's emailed media inquiry to a company at the heart of an investigative series in The Province.
Kramer indicated he was unaware of Bloy's track record.
"I don't know the history to be honest," he said. "I've only been advised, and I've obviously had discussions with Harry, and I know he's looking at new ventures."
