The BC Liberals announced two new candidates yesterday -- a realtor/tourism business operator and a lawyer.

Darren DeLuca, the Alberni-Pacific Rim candidate, owns a big-game guiding company on Vancouver Island.

While the NDP candidate for the area has called to ban old-growth logging, DeLuca pledges to support the logging and mining industries in British Columbia, according to a party release.

"At this crucial moment, when the forest industry is finally ready to invest in jobs and infrastructure, it is the height of irresponsibility for Scott Fraser to call for the banning of old-growth logging," he said. "Our union millworkers and loggers would be laid off instantly."

DeLuca supports the Port Alberni Port Authority's plans to develop a transshipping centre near Coleman Creek in the Alberni Inlet.

"The transshipping centre would create hundreds of union jobs and tens of millions of dollars in economic activity," he said.

Ken Kramer, of the Burnaby-Lougheed riding, is the other new Liberal candidate. He studied business administration at Simon Fraser University and law at the University of British Columbia, and founded the KMK Law Corporation.

Kramer was the first person with a neuromuscular disorder to chair the board of directors of Muscular Dystrophy Canada and the Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board.

"I am committed to ensuring that others have opportunities to flourish in this province, and I want to bring that type of effort and support to the job as an MLA," he said in a party release. "Whether it is in my career, or as an advocate, I am passionate about supporting those in need."

The Burnaby-Lougheed riding is likely to be close this election judging from last year's results, where BC Liberal candidate Harry Bloy won 48.5 per cent of the vote, narrowly beating Jayne Clark, the BC NDP candidate who earned 44.8 per cent of the vote.

Meghan Mast is completing a practicum at The Tyee.