ROSS REBAGLIATI TO PURSUE OKANAGAN FEDERAL LIBERAL NOMINATION

Incumbent Okanagan-Coquihalla MP Stockwell Day may have ridden into
the pages of Canadian political history on a jet-ski, but in the next
federal election he will likely be challenged by the guy who won the
first-ever Olympic snowboarding gold medal for Canada.

Ross Rebagliati has announced he will seek the federal Liberal
nomination in Okanagan-Coquihalla riding, and it appears he will be
the only candidate running at Monday's nomination meeting.

"It's not as strange as it might appear," said the 38-year-old of his
move from 1998 Olympic snowboarding champion to aspiring federal politician.

"I have been involved with helping the Liberal Party for many years,
mainly when I lived in Whistler."

Rebagliati moved to Kelowna with his wife Alexandra in 2007 to help
promote the Kelowna Mountain recreation development project.

But he said he "stepped away" from it last November because of
difficulties with the economy.

Earlier this year, he told the Capital News the reason for his
departure was because the relationship with the owners of the
development "just wasn't working out."

Since then, Rebagliati has written a book, Off The Chain, a history of
snowboarding in Canada, which is due out next month.

He will also be involved with next February's winter Olympic Games in
Vancouver and Whistler.

Rebagliati said his "flexible schedule," will allow him the time to
run for the MP's job and he plans to appeal mainly to disaffected
younger voters.

And to do that he intends to use technology, such as social media, to
as great an extent as possible.

Refusing to concede that unseating Day-the politically popular
Conservative incumbent who is also Canada's international trade
minister and who has represented the riding since 2000, will be an
uphill battle as Day took more than 50 per cent of the vote in three
of the last four elections and just under 50 per cent in 2004,
Rebagliati views the task as "more of an opportunity."

"(Day) may have won a majority of the votes (cast) in the last
election but when you look closer at the numbers, he didn't take a lot
of the potential vote," said Rebagliati.

"I'm going to go after the people who may not have voted
before."

The bilingual former international athlete said he has close ties to
the riding, given that his family has had a cottage in Naramata since
the 1950s.

He said some of his strongest memories of growing up are from the
Okanagan, such as learning to swim in Okanagan Lake off Naramata and
making his first wake board there before wakeboarding became as
popular as it is today.

Day is also no stranger to the Okanagan Lake, having made a splash
when he left Alberta provincial politics to lead the former Canadian
Alliance party.

After winning a by-election in 2000 following the decision by former
MP Jim Hart to step down and let Day run in the riding, Day showed up
for his first national press conference on a jet ski.

The wetsuit-clad Day's publicity stunt drew mixed reactions from the
media and the public.

Controversy also dogged Rebagliati in the days after he won his gold
medal in Nagano, Japan.

Three days after his surprise win, it was announced marijuana was
found in his system during a drug test.

Rebagliati, 26 at the time, had his gold medal revoked.

In Japan, police interrogated him for a day and Rebagliati claimed
trace amount got into his system as secondhand smoke at a pre-Olympics
party in Whistler.

In his appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled marijuana was
not banned in the agreement between the International Olympic
Committee and snowboard's governing body and his medal was returned.

Rebagliati said that the controversy will likely help him with young
voters because they will be able to relate to him.

"They will see a guy who had some controversy but who has also had
some success. Regular guys and girls can relate to that."

As for issues facing the riding, Rebagliati said he is concerned about
the unique challenges facing the agriculture industry and the number
of jobs that have been lost in the riding in recent months, as well as
the state of health care.

And, as a new father-his son Ryan was born five months ago-he said he
is also concerned about the lack of affordable child care.

Rebagliati and his family currently live in Kelowna, but are
house-hunting in the Penticton area.

"Coming to Kelowna was a first step to get back to the Okanagan for
me," he said.