It’s been less than two months since he was sworn in, but new Prince George-North Cariboo Conservative MLA Sheldon Clare says he’s already had a surreal moment.
When attending former premier John Horgan’s funeral in Colwood on Dec. 15, Clare said he sat behind some very notable guests.
“It was kind of surreal sitting a few rows behind the prime minister and the leader of the federal opposition and seeing the premier about a few rows away, seeing all of these people I’ve watched on the news for years smiling at me,” Clare said.
Another cool experience Clare said he’d had was bringing out his bagpipes and playing them in the Legislature’s rotunda.
Despite his new position, he said he’s not trying to have people standing on ceremony. Similar to when he was a College of New Caledonia instructor, Clare said he invites people to call him Sheldon, rather than professor, MLA Clare or anything else.
It could be said that Clare had the most difficult route to getting elected back in October. Prince George-North Cariboo was the only constituency including Prince George where the incumbent was running for re-election.
Rather than swap parties when BC United suspended its campaign to avoid vote splitting with the Tories, Coralee Oakes ran as an independent.
However, Oakes managed just 21.84 per cent of the vote compared to Clare’s 56.82 per cent.
All three Prince George MLAs were given important roles in the Conservative caucus. However, unlike his peers, Clare was not given a critic portfolio but was instead named deputy whip.
“That actually has been quite a lot of fun,” Clare said. “I really enjoy the caucus we have. We have a varied caucus with some very smart and strong-willed people who have brilliant ideas. Everybody’s learning how to express themselves.”
Clare and whip Bruce Banman have already faced one test of caucus unity.
Surrey-Cloverdale Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko publicly commented that it was right for the Vancouver Police Board to accept the resignation of vice-chair Comfort Sakoma-Fadugba after social media comments made by the latter criticizing mass immigration, Diwali celebrations at schools and gender transitions surfaced.
Afterwards, a leaked letter from 13 Tory MLAs including Prince George-Valemount representative Rosalyn Bird requested that party leader John Rustad order Sturko to issue a written apology to Sakoma-Fadugba. Sturko has stood her ground thus far.
“I think it’s actually a really good thing that’s happened as early on as it has, because what this does is it clears the air to a certain extent,” Clare said. “People get to align their positions on issues clearly. We also make sure that the conservative values are understood and made clear, as well as folks who have views which are not necessarily aligned with some of their colleagues are also able to be heard.”
Going forward, Clare thinks the party can learn how to disagree in a polite and respectful way from this experience.
Some Quesnel residents have felt they’re being gouged by gas prices. According to GasBuddy.com on Dec. 23, the cheapest gas in Quesnel was 152.9 cents per litre. The Costco gas bar in Prince George, which is members only, was reported to have a price of 142.9 cents per litre the same day. The next cheapest was Super Save Gas at 144.9 cents per litre.
In Williams Lake, GasBuddy said the cheapest price was 149.9 cents per litre.
On Dec. 5, My Cariboo Now reported that the BC Utilities Commission was sending letters to fuel retailers in Quesnel. On that day, the outlet said the average gas price was 159.9 cents per litre.
“There’s a pretty clear pattern of a slightly higher fuel price regime in the Quesnel area,” Clare said. “There are people who have been tracking it quite thoroughly and documenting the difference.”
He said he has written to the BCUC about the situation and continues to investigate it. Another issue he’s been engaging with is highway maintenance.
After Prince George hosts the BC Natural Resources Forum from Jan. 14 to 16, 2025, Clare said he’s hosting a “transportation summit.”
“We’ve invited the Minister of Transportation (Mike) Farnworth to Quesnel and we want to point out the need for significant investment in infrastructure maintenance and rebuilding,” Clare said. “We’re also providing slides on a few areas that also cause problems.”
Other focuses of Clare’s heading into 2025 are health-care recruitment, crime, addictions, and competition issues raised by Tidewater Renewables regarding its Prince George diesel refinery.
Clare has already picked up the keys for his Quesnel constituency office and hopes to open it in early January.
He’s also working on finding another office in Prince George. He can be reached by email at [email protected]. To keep an eye on his work going forward, Clare said people can keep an eye on his social media pages.
“I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas, a happy new year and that everyone has a great bit of vacation,” he said. “I hope they get to spend some time with family and friends over the Christmas season and stay safe out there.”
