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Richard Mostyn wins Liberal nomination in Whitehorse West

Former journalist Richard Mostyn has won the Liberal nomination for Whitehorse West against polio survivor and accessibility advocate Ramesh Ferris.

Former journalist Richard Mostyn has won the Liberal nomination for Whitehorse West against polio survivor and accessibility advocate Ramesh Ferris.

The results were announced at a meeting on Tuesday evening at the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre.

“Ramesh worked exceedingly hard and helped to build the party in Whitehorse West,” Mostyn told the News this morning. “And as a result of our efforts, we’ve got a real shot. Whitehorse West is no longer a safe riding for the Yukon Party. It is very much in play.”

In total, 165 ballots were cast from the 206 Liberal members registered in the riding.

Liberal Party spokesperson Jason Cunning said over 90 per cent of those members were signed up by Mostyn and Ferris during their campaigns.

Mostyn said the new members are part of a “Liberal surge.” He pointed out that the Liberal candidate for Whitehorse West in 2011 won just 200 votes, and there are now more than 200 Liberal members in that riding alone.

“I challenge the Yukon Party to find a riding of theirs that could boast as many,” he said.

Mostyn said he plans to take a one-week break from his campaign. “And then on the 26th of April, the Mostyn campaign will resume and we will start doing what we do best, and that is meeting with and hearing the voices of Whitehorse West,” he said.

He said he wants the Yukon government to be “a voice of the many, not the few.”

Liberal Leader Sandy Silver has offered his congratulations to Mostyn. “We are very happy to have him as our candidate and welcome his knowledge and expertise,” he said in a news release.

Whitehorse West is currently held by deputy premier Elaine Taylor, who won the riding with 58 per cent of the vote in 2011. She has yet to announce whether she’ll run again.

Mostyn is the fourth confirmed Liberal candidate. He joins John Streicker for Mount Lorne-Southern Lakes, Tamara Goeppel for Whitehorse Centre and Jeane Lassen for Takhini-Kopper King.