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As a potential NDP candidate in the approaching May election, Georgia Collins seemed to have it all.

Smart, friendly and photogenic, the Vancouver Island single mom had emerged as a tireless and effective opponent of a controversial contaminated-soil dump near Shawnigan Lake.

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As citizens rallied against the dump approved by Premier Christy Clark’s Liberal government, Collins became something of a local hero. A timely leap into provincial politics beckoned.

But now Collins, 36, has suddenly dropped out of the contest for the NDP nomination in the riding of Cowichan Valley.

“I wish I could say that my decision is unrelated to sexism and harassment that I experienced during my campaign, but that would be untrue,” Collins said last week in a Facebook post that stunned her supporters.

“I could have continued in my race and I could have won,” she said later in a written statement. “But, to do so, I would have had to be silent about sexism and harassment. I don’t want to be silenced.”