BC Liberal leadership candidate Dianne Watts wants to see taxes raised from the legalization of marijuana go into municipal coffers.

In a news release issued Wednesday morning, the former Surrey mayor – who announced Sunday that she will resign as Conservative MP for South Surrey-White Rock in her bid to helm the B.C. party – said strengthening the relationship between provincial and federal governments and their local counterparts is a key priority of her leadership campaign.

Watts said she also wants to make sure that local governments are part of developing a “comprehensive energy strategy for oil and gas, LNG, electricity, solar, wind and other renewables,” and that she wants to work with communities ravaged by the province’s recent wildfires.

“Cities and towns are the economic engines of our province. The time has come to strengthen our partnership… for our province to succeed, we need our cities and towns as well as regional districts to be at the table as full partners,” she said.