{"id":247276,"date":"2020-03-06T09:20:05","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T14:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=247276"},"modified":"2020-03-06T18:35:51","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T23:35:51","slug":"b-c-finance-minister-carole-james-has-parkinsons-wont-seek-re-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/06\/b-c-finance-minister-carole-james-has-parkinsons-wont-seek-re-election\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. Finance Minister Carole James has Parkinson’s, won’t seek re election"},"content":{"rendered":"
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James\u00a0said she will take a few days off but plans to be talking about the budget next week during a provincial tour. (File photo<\/a>: Carole James\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VICTORIA \u2014 B.C. Finance Minister\u00a0Carole\u00a0James\u00a0says she has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and will not seek re-election next year, but she intends to stay on in cabinet \u201cas long as I can do the job 100 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not a disease anyone wants but it’s also not a terminal diagnosis,\u201d\u00a0James\u00a0told a news conference on Thursday, adding she has a hand tremor and some issues with her balance but is not on medication yet.<\/p>\n

She said she received the diagnosis when she was preparing the recently released budget and told her NDP caucus colleagues about the disease earlier Thursday.<\/p>\n

Symptoms progress slowly and can be alleviated somewhat with medication but there is no cure, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to my family doctor at the end of August and I mentioned at the very end of my physical that I’ve had a few odd symptoms,\u201d said\u00a0James, who is also deputy premier.<\/p>\n

She said she was referred to a neurologist, who came back with the Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in late January.<\/p>\n

What she thought was fatigue came back as a \u201clife-changing diagnosis,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She told Premier John Horgan and then continued her preparations ahead of last month’s budget.<\/p>\n

James\u00a0said she will take a few days off but plans to be talking about the budget next week during a provincial tour.<\/p>\n

Between 10,000 and 13,000 people in B.C. live with Parkinson’s disease,\u00a0James\u00a0said, and she believes sharing her story can help others.<\/p>\n

Horgan said\u00a0James\u00a0told him about her diagnosis in late January.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was upset and concerned for my colleague and my friend,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cShe has only mild physical symptoms, and I was pleased when she told me she is able to continue to serve in cabinet as finance minister and deputy premier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horgan said Parkinson’s is a tough disease, but \u201cwithout diminishing the seriousness of the illness,\u00a0Carole\u00a0James\u00a0is tougher. She has spent her entire public life fighting as hard as she can to make life better for people, and I know she will bring that spirit to this next challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

James\u00a0was first elected in the riding of Victoria-Beacon Hill in 2005. She became leader of the NDP in 2003 and served as Opposition leader from May 2005 to December 2010.<\/p>\n

She was appointed finance minister after the NDP formed a government 2 1\/2 years ago.<\/p>\n

Before entering politics, she was president of the B.C. School Trustees Association as she served on the Greater Victoria School Board. Her legislature biography says she also worked as the director of Child and Family Services for Carrier Sekani Family Services in Prince George.<\/p>\n

James\u00a0is married to Albert Gerow, a First Nations artist and elected chief of the Burns Lake First Nation. The couple have two children and two grandchildren.<\/p>\n

James\u00a0said she intends to stay active once she leave politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone who knows me, I don’t plan to sit around and do nothing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

James\u00a0said she’s participated in many news conferences, but \u201cI have to say, this isn’t one I’ve imagined holding. But it is a reminder that life can present us with the unexpected at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VICTORIA \u2014 B.C. Finance Minister\u00a0Carole\u00a0James\u00a0says she has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and will not seek re-election next year, but …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":247277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,54365,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-instagram","category-news","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247278,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247276\/revisions\/247278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}