The new MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie says he went into his role as an elected official with “eyes wide open.”
On Dec. 20, The Citizen sat down with Kiel Giddens, the BC Conservative representative for that constituency, to go over his busy 2024 and look ahead to his work in 2025.
Though it’s his first time as an elected official, Giddens worked in the BC Legislature for six years, including stints as chief of staff for multiple cabinet ministers under the last BC United government, when the party was still known as the BC Liberals.
“I knew what I was getting into,” Giddens said. “I understand the role and want to hit the ground running here.”
While the job itself isn’t a surprise to Giddens, the path he took to get it was unexpected.
Of the three new Prince George MLAs elected in the Oct. 19 provincial election, Giddens had the most complicated path to the Legislature.
On Sept. 24, 2023, Giddens was nominated as BC United’s candidate for Prince George-Mackenzie.
In late August, party leader Kevin Falcon announced BC United was suspending its campaign to avoid vote splitting with the rising BC Conservatives. In the aftermath, the Tories replaced School District 57 trustee Rachael Weber with Giddens, with Weber still running as an independent.
On election day, Giddens took home a win with 60.92 per cent of the votes cast. He was later named to Opposition Leader John Rustad’s shadow cabinet as labour critic.
“If you’d asked me then I would have been very surprised,” Giddens said of that turn of events.
“But the reason I put my name forward was I saw that these legacy parties needed to renew and they weren’t doing the renewal process that was necessary. So, I tried in earnest to be a renewal voice within that party but they just weren’t listening. That’s why the Conservative Party gained success and momentum.”
With the NDP only holding onto their majority by two seats and a supply agreement with the BC Greens, Giddens said his new party will “hold them to account every step of the way.”
One of his early efforts on that front has been to push the government to change rules governing renewable diesel subsidies. Giddens has written a private member’s bill that would amend the Low Carbon Fuels Act so that foreign supplies of renewable diesel have any subsidies they receive in BC reduced by the same amount as foreign subsidies they receive.
Under the current situation, Giddens has said that foreign producers are double-dipping on subsidies, allowing them to offer product at a lower price than those within the province. He’s said this has specifically affected the Tidewater Renewables diesel refinery in Prince George, which opened last year.
Tidewater’s CEO told The Citizen that this situation has left them unable to compete and might have to close their facility by March if not addressed.
Going into a new session, the office of the clerk of the Legislature holds a draw to see which MLAs will be allowed to introduce their private member’s bills. Giddens said in that lottery, his name came up fourth.
However, the Legislature isn’t set to resume until Feb. 18, 2025, which is why he said he’s been raising the issue publicly to spur quicker action.
Elsewhere in his constituency, Giddens said he’d like to work on getting better healthcare results, calling programming introduced by the NDP like the urgent and primary care clinics as a “band-aid solution.”
He said Mackenzie’s emergency room has closed “too many times to count in 2024” and that patients in both Prince George and Mackenzie have struggled to find family doctors or receive surgeries.
On the reconciliation front, Giddens said party representatives met with Lheidli T’enneh Chief Dolleen Logan a couple of weeks ago. He said they spoke of the First Nation’s priorities for mental health and addictions as well as the community’s desire to have its different locations separated by the Fraser River connected by a bridge.
As labour critic, Giddens said he wants to see what the province can do to improve the climate for small businesses and various sectors, specifically the forestry sector.
He’s expecting the government to reveal its labour code review at some point and wants to address the ratio of public-to-private sector jobs being created in BC.
“Since Eby came in as premier in 2022, we’ve had a ratio of 12 pubilc sector jobs for every one private sector job created in this province,” Giddens said. “That is completely unsustainable and we’re the only province in Canada where it’s that stark of a contrast.
Giddens said he doesn’t have any constituency offices set up yet, though he intends to open them in both Prince George and Mackenzie. In Prince George, he said he’s looking to take over the lease for former BC United MLA Mike Morris’ office, but that process is being handled through the Legislature and he’s not sure when it will be finished.
In the meantime, constituents can reach him by sending an email to [email protected].
“I wish everyone a safe and healthy holiday season and a very merry Christmas to everybody in our community,” Giddens said.
