The withdrawal of BC United has left many supporters of their supporters as well as undecided voters who hover in the middle of the road uncertain about how to cast their vote in this polarized atmosphere. How will you encourage these voters to cast their ballots for you?
In this election in particular it's very important to help voters understand what the issues are and what the different parties are bringing to the plot to the table
It’s important to me to understand what particular issue that particular voter is concerned about so I've had a lot of more intimate conversations than I actually anticipated having as a candidate. You know we have some huge issues across this province, whether it's health care whether it's young parents concerned about education, whether it's about people working in the resource sector that you know can see their jobs at risk.
So depending on who the voter is I speak very specific to that issue and then I actually encourage them to look beyond what's going on, what they're doing as a platform and to align their decision and to align their vote on what works with their values, their ethics and what it is they would like to see moving forward in the province.
Moccasin Flats is a stark example of the addiction, mental health and poverty issues affecting Prince George. What would you do to address these issues?
Moccasin Flats and the addictions and mental health issues here are major issues. I mean, we have seen our downtown turn into what, in some places, actually literally looks like a war zone. And it's something that we need to address, but it's something we need to work with all levels of government. So we need to build relationships with the federal government, provincial government, you know, the city and the council, as well as the regional district. And we need to have stakeholders come to the table, and we need to find solutions that are going to empower people that are living in situations that, you know, nobody wants to see them living in.
Currently, we have policies in place across the province that are actually enabling people and keeping them in a perpetual cycle of addiction. And we need to remove those types of policies, and we need to put things in place like recovery, supported recovery, supported housing. And we need to, at some point, we actually, if there's interest, if there's individuals that are really struggling with those issues, then we need to get them the help, whether it's voluntary or involuntary.
I don't believe leaving somebody living in a situation like Moccasin Flats is humanizing at all. And when somebody is at a point of addiction and struggling that they aren't able to help themselves, then I think the human aspect is to help them help themselves. So focus on recovery, focus on skills, and focus on empowering people.
This part of BC has always relied on the resource sector for good jobs but changes like Canfor's latest closure announcement put these jobs at risk. What will you do to advocate for new resource sector jobs in Prince George?
Well, we have a very robust resource sector here in BC, and unfortunately, over the last few years, or last few governments, there's been a lot of roadblocks and bureaucracy put in place that haven't allowed those sectors to actually flourish at the capabilities that they have.
So as a Conservative party and as a candidate, I want to make sure that, you know, we're moving forward to break down the bureaucracy and to enable processes and permitting and communications, relationships with First Nations, various levels of government to reduce the roadblocks so that those resource sectors can actually flourish.
That includes forestry, it includes mining, and it also includes agriculture, actually, which is, which is a sector that is often undervalued, underestimated and underappreciated. So as a candidate, those are things I'm actually really looking forward to growing and helping flourish, because there's no reason that the resource sectors in this province, you know, the potential there is extreme.
We have tremendous potential to grow our economic stability, particularly in this province, particularly up here in the north. And so I will be focusing on ways to make that happen.
The relationship between the provincial government and BC’s Indigenous peoples is evolving. If elected, what approach do you plan to bring to your work with area First Nations, including the Lheidli T’enneh?
Relationships with First Nations are extremely important for a number of reasons. Of course, because of the extraction of resources, particularly in the north, we need to make sure that those relationships are strong. We need to make sure that those relationships are respectful. And we need to ensure that there is a number of things that we take into consideration when working on any project, which includes respective traditional practices, ecological and biodiversity sustainability and protection.
And we need to make sure that all of the individuals working on projects, whether it's resources or promoting of culture or promoting of relationships, that those things are done in a mechanism that everybody, there's value brought to all of the stakeholders.
I would like to see First Nations communities and, you know, nations, tribes, whoever you're working with across the province, I would like to see them, again, I would like to see them empowered. I think there's huge and tremendous potential in First Nations community having economic stability. I think it makes the community stronger. makes them feel like they are self-sustaining. And that's what we all want. We all want to stand on our own two feet. And we all want to be empowered. And that includes First Nations. And I'm looking forward to helping them move forward and attaining those goals.
Our area's population is aging. What is your top priority when it comes to addressing the issues facing seniors and why?
There's two things I would like to see happen with seniors. First of all, we need to find mechanisms to help them put more money in their pockets. And the party has put forward in their policy that they would like things like hearing aids, eyeglasses, prescriptions, vaccines that aren't covered through MSP to have those types of things covered. If they're not forking out or they're not paying for those types of things, it does put more money back into their pocket for day-to-day expenses, groceries, rent, mortgage, that type of thing.
The other thing we need to do is we need to make sure that, you know, So the next thing that is a huge issue here in Prince George is actually having seniors housing. Whether it is assisted living or if it's long-term care, there is a shortage of that in this area. And that is something that I am committed to working on and bringing forward.
The party has announced that they would like to see 5,000 beds across the province in the next few years. And in Prince George, that is imperative. We have a huge percentage of people living and are living at the hospital currently. You know, any given day, there's approximately 20 per cent of the individuals that are in the hospital are waiting for care outside of the hospital. And those facilities and those supports just aren't there. So I am committed to working towards that here in Prince George.
Some MLAs excel in the Legislature while others become known for their constituency work. In a huge riding with this mix of urban and rural communities what kind of MLA do you think you're going to be?
I have full confidence in the party leader to determine what skills each individual brings to the legislature, having never been heavily involved in politics before. I haven't put a lot of thought into what a job or a specific job within the legislature may or may not look like. I have confidence in John to determine which MLA should be working in which areas.
What I do know is that I am passionate about Prince George and the Prince George-Valemount area, and that I will be a dedicated and very committed MLA and that I will work hard and I will advocate. For issues across the North, but specifically for my riding. I'm an honest and I'm a candid person and relationships are actually very important to me. So opening up the communication between constituents and their MLAs is also important to me to be available and to listen to the concerns that people have is also something that's important to me. And I would like to rebuild the trust that constituents have with the government, because I think it's been damaged over the last five to 10 years.
I think there's an idea out there that the government thinks that we work for them and I want to reverse that and make sure people understand that I work for them, they don't work for me.
