After an unsuccessful bid at Williams Lake city council in 2018, Jodie Capling is throwing her hat in the political ring once again as the Green Party of Canada’s candidate in Cariboo-Prince George in the upcoming April 28 federal election.
Speaking to The Citizen by phone on Monday, March 24, Capling (pronounced cape-ling) said she wanted to run to give the riding’s residents the choice to vote Green even in a traditionally conservative riding.
“In past elections, not necessarily federal, but provincial, when there haven’t been Green Party representatives on the ballot, I felt disappointed,” Capling said. “And so I thought ‘well, I guess I better step up then.’”
Cariboo-Prince George has been solidly Conservative since it was formed in 2004 from the former ridings of Cariboo-Chilcotin and Prince George-Bulkley Valley. Incumbent Tory Todd Doherty has held the seat since the October 2015 federal election.
Capling has a master’s degree in resource management from Simon Fraser University and currently works as a yoga instructor. She grew up near Alexis Creek, where she developed a love of camping.
She said she’s passionate about climate action and creating a sustainable, green economy.
“I think it is intertwined with a lot of other things that we’re facing as a society,” Capling said.
“The consequences of not taking climate action make other parts of what we’re facing worse. Affordability is not going to improve if we don’t also take care of the climate crisis as far of natural disasters disrupting supply chains. It’s part of the big picture.”
When Liberal Leader Mark Carney ran for leadership of the party, he promised to get rid of the consumer-facing carbon tax.
After winning the race and being sworn in as prime minister, he signed an order-in-council establishing regulations that end the federal fuel charge and eliminate the requirement for provinces and territories to have a carbon pricing system.
Though Capling said she found the move disappointing because she believes it’s one of the most cost-effective ways to advance climate policies, she also said she thought the tax was poorly handled.
“Unfortunately, the money (collected) wasn’t handled appropriately as far as I understand,” she said. “It was supposed to go to fund green action in our society … I don’t know all the details there and it’s really unfortunately because it broke a lot of the people’s trust in anything labelled a carbon tax.
With the corporate carbon tax remaining in place, she said those costs would still be passed down to the average consumer but it won’t be discussed as openly.
Since Donald Trump started his second term as president of the United States, he has been escalating a trade war with former economic allies like Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Capling said she didn’t think that responding to the Trump Administration in kind with similar tactics was going to be effective, instead leading to a continuing cycle of one-upmanship.
“I think one of the opportunities in all of this is that Canada can look at how to diversify our trading partners, perhaps moving towards countries that are more stable,” she said.
Another concern of Capling’s is affordable housing. She said she thinks the federal government’s role in the matter is to set up policies making sure that housing is built in the best interests of Canadians rather than corporations.
In Cariboo-Prince George, she said she wants to connect with residents to discuss their concerns with them. With much of the area focusing on resource extraction, Capling said there’s a need for balance between that extraction with building a green economy.
“A lot of people think that’s not compatible and I don’t believe that,” she said. “I feel like we have to do the things that we choose to do in the best way that we can when it comes to the environment.”
