Kamloops-South Thompson Liberal candidate Todd Stone pledged Monday to make jobs his No. 1 priority for the coming provincial election campaign.

Speaking Monday to a Rotary Club of Kamloops meeting, the city businessman said jobs are the primary reason he’s running for office.

“Why would I want to run for office? The answer is because of my daughter's and my business.”

Stone is running to replace current MLA Kevin Krueger, who is not running in next year’s election. And, like Krueger’s political strategy, he raised the spectre of the New Democrats’ decade in office.

The high-tech company owner recalled graduating from University of Victoria in the early 1990s.

“There are very few of my friends I went to university with who are still in B.C. . . . There were no jobs in the ‘90s. If you wanted a job you went to Alberta or Ontario, anywhere. We were dead last (in job creation) in Canada.”

Stone said the NDP was a failure, with policies that hindered the economy and jobs.

“I don’t want that to be the future for my three girls. I don’t want that to be the future of my small business.”

With the governing party distant in the polls behind the front-running NDP, Stone acknowledged “this is going to be one of the toughest elections we’ve ever faced as government.

“We’re asking for a difficult fourth mandate.”

While the election is six months away, Stone said he is busy door knocking and making regular public appearances.

Rotary representatives said the group would invite other candidates to appear at the luncheon meetings.