BC NDP candidate for MLA in Saanich South, and a former legislative reporter for Global BC and CBC.
Richard Zussman is the BC NDP candidate in Saanich South, the seat Lana Popham held for the BC NDP and is leaving. He reported on the legislature for CBC and then Global BC, and in November 2025 joined the public relations firm Burson as a vice-president of public affairs. He has not held elected office. In his campaign launch he said he backs the party's plan on jobs, homes, health care workers and farmers, without his own numbers or dates.
A researched record of what Richard Zussman has said as the BC NDP candidate in Saanich South, with the coverage of his candidacy. voche.me found no elected office in his record, so it found no voting record to review.
On dates without a confirmed appearance the public schedule is unknown; the candidate may still have activities that day. This static page changes only when its research is updated.
01 / Introduction
About Richard Zussman
Elections BC lists Richard Zussman as the BC NDP candidate in Saanich South. The party announced his candidacy on September 23, 2026, two days after Lana Popham said she would not seek a sixth term, according to the Times Colonist.
In 2024 Popham won the district for the BC NDP with 15,338 votes (49.76 percent), ahead of Conservative Adam Kubel with 10,003 (32.45 percent) and Green Ned Taylor with 5,485 (17.79 percent), according to Elections BC's statement of votes. Zussman was not a candidate in 2024.
Daily Hive reports that he was a provincial affairs reporter for CBC BC before he joined Global BC, where he was the legislative reporter for eight years and president of the B.C. Legislative Press Gallery for six. He left Global in November 2025 and joined Burson, a public relations firm, as vice-president of public affairs, according to Daily Hive.
The Times Colonist and the Western Standard report that he co-wrote A Matter of Confidence, a 2018 book with Rob Shaw on the fall of Christy Clark's BC Liberal government. The party's announcement, as printed by Saanich News, calls him a six-time Jack Webster Award recipient. voche.me has not checked the award count with the Jack Webster Foundation.
The Lakehill Baseball and Fastball Association lists him as its Governance and Policy Director. His campaign site says he also serves on the board of the Victoria Curling Club and was Lieutenant Governor of the B.C. Youth Parliament.
Published positions and selected commitments, separated by election cycle. Status labels describe the evidence reviewed, not a numerical score or a complete audit of the platform. Council approval is different from delivery.
8 commitments shown · Checked Sep 30
2026 · EconomyCampaign pledge
Protect and create good jobs
Said he is joining the BC NDP to protect and create good jobs.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
Saanich News reports this in its own words from his launch statement, and the Times Colonist reports the same goal. Neither source gives a number of jobs, a measure, a cost or a date.
What still needs checking
Which provincial measures would he back to create jobs in Saanich South?
Said the BC NDP will support workers and businesses and open new markets beyond the United States.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
He said this on September 23, 2026 in the party's release announcing his candidacy, as quoted by Saanich News. He names no market, trade measure, cost or date.
What still needs checking
Which markets, and what provincial program would open them?
Said he is joining the party's campaign to support farmers and the agriculture industry.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
Saanich News reports this in its own words from his launch statement, and the Times Colonist reports the same goal. Neither source names a program, an amount or a date.
What still needs checking
What support for farmers would he ask the Province to fund?
Said he is joining the party's campaign to build more homes.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
Saanich News reports this in its own words from his launch statement, and the Times Colonist reports the same goal. Neither source gives a number of homes, a place, a cost or a date.
What still needs checking
How many homes in Saanich South, and through which provincial program?
Said he is joining the party's campaign to recruit more health care workers, and that the party will strengthen health care.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
Saanich News reports the recruiting goal in its own words, and quotes his release on strengthening health care. Neither source gives a number of workers, a cost or a date.
His past roles come from reporting and from a community group's own page. None is a public office, so no entry earns the record point.
No reviewed entries have been added to this section yet. This is a research gap, not a finding about the candidate.
Recent appearances / Read and watch
Talks, interviews & statements
Read original statements and reporting, or open the publisher’s video. A summary of a speech is labelled separately from a full recording.
Statement
Statement on joining Burson
Daily Hive quotes the firm's release, in which he says he will use his knowledge of politics to help organizations reach their advocacy goals. This is earlier material and is not a 2026 commitment.
In the party's release, quoted by Saanich News, Daily Hive and the Western Standard, he said the US trade war is threatening jobs and that the BC NDP will support workers and businesses, open new markets, bring down costs and strengthen health care.
On X he wrote that Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson did not say what his tax promise would cost, and said lower revenue with a smaller deficit would mean cuts to health care.
Records are labelled by type, including official findings, civil proceedings and political disputes where applicable. Each entry identifies the response found in the sources and the latest status verified for this page.
No reviewed entries have been added to this section yet. This is a research gap, not a finding about the candidate.
News coverage / Original publishers
Read the reporting
A dated reading list from independent publishers. The headings below are voche.me summaries; follow each link for the original article, context and any corrections.
Reporting
Saanich News
Former reporter running for the NDP in Saanich South
Reports his candidacy and quotes his release and BC NDP Leader David Eby.
Sources checked September 30, 2026. Official records establish decisions; campaign material establishes stated positions; reporting adds investigation and context. None alone establishes every claim.
His commitments come from one launch statement, quoted in reporting; voche.me did not find the party's release itself on the BC NDP releases page, which lists 12 recent releases and none naming him. Business in Vancouver, Castanet and the Business Examiner returned HTTP 403, so their copies of his launch reporting were not read. His Instagram and Facebook pages showed only a sign-in page, so nothing from them is used; his X profile showed his pinned post and three recent posts only. The Victoria Curling Club lists its board in an image with no text, so his seat on that board is stated by his campaign and by reporting, and was not checked on the club's page. His six Jack Webster Awards, his role as Lieutenant Governor of the B.C. Youth Parliament were not checked with the bodies that would know, so they appear as his campaign's claims. Whether he still works at Burson during the campaign was not found. All-candidates meetings in Saanich South, campaign finances and endorsements were not found on this date.
Research status
What voche.me has checked
Evidence reviewed on 2026-09-30: the Elections BC candidate list, the 2024 statement of votes, his BC NDP campaign site, the party's platform and releases pages, his public X profile, the Lakehill Baseball and Fastball Association's executive list, and reporting from the Times Colonist, Saanich News, Daily Hive, The Globe and Mail, the Western Standard, The Canadian Press and CHEK News.
His commitments on this page come from his campaign launch statement as quoted in reporting. They name the party's goals and give no number, cost or date of his own. voche.me found no elected office in his record, so it found no voting record to review. An empty section records what voche.me did not find on this date.
03 / Background
Experience & community
November 2025
Vice-president of public affairs, Burson
Joined the public relations firm after leaving Global News, according to Daily Hive, which quotes the firm's release.
Proposed questions for a future interview. They have not been sent to the candidate, and no answers have been supplied.
How many health care workers should the Province recruit for the Saanich South area, and by when?
No response has been submitted.
What would you do in your first term to support farmers in Saanich South?
No response has been submitted.
How will you deal with clients you advised at Burson if you are elected?
No response has been submitted.
Have your own question?
Ask Richard Zussman directly. We send it to the campaign, and publish the reply here if we get one.
05 / About this page
Questions about this page
Facts voche.me can state about Richard Zussman's page itself, answered directly rather than left blank.
Is this an official page for Richard Zussman?
No. This page is researched by voche.me from public sources, listed below, and is separate from Richard Zussman's own campaign.
What party is Richard Zussman running with?
Richard Zussman is running for MLA with BC NDP.
Does Richard Zussman currently hold public office?
Not according to this profile. voche.me has not listed a current public office for Richard Zussman.
How many sources does this Richard Zussman profile cite?
This profile lists 8 sourced references, each with the date voche.me checked it, in the Sources section below.
Why do some questions on Richard Zussman's page show no answer?
The "Questions & answers" section on this page lists questions voche.me would put to Richard Zussman in a future interview. They have not been sent yet, so the page says plainly that no answer has been supplied instead of leaving the section blank.
When is the election Richard Zussman is running in?
The 2026 British Columbia election, including the MLA race, is decided on October 24, 2026.
06 / Candidate contributions
Space for campaign updates
No campaign updates yet
Announcements, event details and messages can be added here, with their source and publication date. No campaign submission has been added.
