Climate change, the opioid crisis, and advocating for rural communities were all topics discussed during the Fraser-Nicola all-candidates meeting on Sunday (Oct. 6).
Taking place in Boston Bar, at the Boston Bar Community Hall, NDP candidate Francyne Joe, Conservative candidate Tony Luck, and Green party candidate Jonah Timms battled it out as they answered questions ahead of the Oct. 19 provincial election.
The candidates each provided opening remarks about their platforms, responses to those remarks, and answers to questions given to them from the public and the Boston Bar North Bend Enhancement Society (who hosted the meeting). Answers were limited to two minutes each.
In their introduction, all candidates mentioned advocating for rural communities in the riding and making sure that residents voices were heard.
Luck, who is a real estate agent in Merritt spoke about how B.C.’s current healthcare needs to be revamped. He also said its time for B.C. to have a government that is transparent and open with British Columbians.
“We’re (Conservative Party) going to come in with some innovative ideas to change the healthcare system,” Luck said. “Don’t worry, we’re not cutting $4 billion. We can’t, it’s impossible. But that’s some of our vision. We want to think outside the box. We want to bring the new perspective, a new way of looking at politics.
“We’re going in on policy. Nothing is sacred. We’re going to be looking at everything. We’re going to be moving departments, and all those things, to bring a common sense approach back to the way we govern in this province.”
Luck said the party would also be looking at revamping other industries in B.C. such as the forestry sector and mining sector.
Timms, who works with the B.C. Ministry of Forests (MOF) as a First Nations relations advisor, said he wants rural communities to be better supported and that long-term jobs will be available for people.
“So talking about forestry, the Greens understand that the forestry has been done incorrectly in this province for far too long,” Timms said. “It’s been very focused on getting as much firewood out of the forest as possible and as quick as a manner as possible as well.
“That’s great for a short term position, but really, we want to ensure that those jobs are here long term, so that people can be in the forest industry or agriculture or mining long term, and that it’s focused on people and not necessarily short term profits for investors down in Vancouver and Victoria.”
Timms said the party also wants to focus on providing better supports and expanding services for seniors.
Joe, who works for the First Nations’ Emergency Services Society of BC as a Human Resources Team Leader, said she wants to help the Fraser-Nicola become lively again and find proactive solutions regarding the fires. Joe is also a member of the Nlaka’pamux First Nation.
“I deal with fires. I’ve been dealing with fires for the last 18 months here. And these fires, they didn’t just happen overnight,” Joe said. “These fires happened because we didn’t take care of our forests beforehand. These fires, we need to address them and be proactive in the future. And we need to make sure that we continually look after our environment. We need to continue look after climate change, and in the meantime, we need to continually, continually look after each other.”
Joe said the she has seen and heard concerns about healthcare, finances, and education in the riding’s communities and will be finding solutions for it.
Following their opening remarks, candidates had the opportunity to address each other’s platform promises.
Timms challenged Luck’s claim that the Conservatives would not be cutting funding to B.C.’s healthcare system; he said that the party was advised by the Deloitte company to cut funding. He also said that the NDP has, for the past seven years, stuck to a status quo approach to governing the province that’s seen doctors refusing to work in rural companies, nurses leaving the province, and affordable housing being a big issue.
Luck rebutted Timms’ challenge and said that the Conservatives would be putting more money into the healthcare system in order to make it better. He said the party wants to see more nurses working and more doctors working. He also said that the party wants to build more housing and invest more in getting land to build these houses, and less on making people pay for things such as archaeological assessments.
Joe acknowledged the other candidates’ views about the NDP and agreed that the party hasn’t always governed right. However, she held firm in the belief that the NDP were still the best choice to govern B.C. and to support the voices of rural communities. Joe said the party had a clear platform that is looking to address the concerns of the people. She also said that people forget the NDP came in to “clean up the mess” of the previous governing party, that they dealt with many challenges over the years (such as the pandemic), and that, unlike the Conservatives, the party wouldn’t push for partnerships with big corporations.
The meeting, which was moderated by Tom Durrie, then went into questions submitted beforehand; starting off, each candidate was asked about their position on the opioid crisis and safe injection sites.
Luck said that the NDP’s current policy, of involuntary care, was an idea stolen from the Conservatives. He believes that decriminalizing drugs and made it “too easy” for people to access, especially youth and drug dealers. He believes an involuntary approach is the best way for people to recover from addiction, and that it should stay.
Joe also believes in an involuntary approach and said that the opioid crisis could not be addressed without first acknowledging its connection to mental health. She said that more support was needed for families and communities. And that she would prefer to see safe injection sites and more collaboration with communities, when it comes to taking care of its members who are suffering with drug addiction.
However, Timms disagreed with the other candidates’ involuntary approach solutions and said that it only has a 3 per cent success rate for helping people recover from addiction. Instead, Timms said a voluntary approach solution would be the preferable route. He said that the crisis needs to be dealt with through a holistic view where people are supported at all stages of their road to recovery.
The candidates were also asked about their stance on climate change and how they would deal with the climate emergency.
Timms said that the Greens would focus on making sure that communities have enough funds, resources, and supports to be prepared for climate emergencies and be safe. This includes making sure that all units of emergency services has enough funding, and that communities are able to access training and programs such as FireSmart. Mitigation, he said, is also important so the party would also be rethinking how to do the carbon tax, and the grant system.
Luck said that, while the he and the Conservatives are not denying climate change, a big focus on dealing with it is adaptation. This means, he said, going after the federal government more to invest in funding for B.C. communities to be prepared for climate emergencies. It also means training people, who want training, on how to fight fires and protect their homes from fires so they’re not always forced to leave.
Joe said the solution lies in common sense approaches. This includes looking at more FireSmart type programs, to prepare for and mitigate emergencies. And also looking more towards the traditional practices First Nation communities, and rural communities, have used for generations to make the land safe from fires. She said this issue needs to come from the top down, where the government comes down more harshly on big corporations that contribute to major pollution in the province.
The candidates were also asked and, once again addressed, how they would make sure that the needs of rural communities were heard and addressed.
Luck said he would be drawing up a schedule to meet on a one-to-one basis with the communities of the Fraser-Nicola.
“As I said earlier, just because of a politician, and I’m willing to stand up here, it doesn’t mean I know I have all the answers,” Luck said. “I need to hear from you people to be able to hear your issues and take that back to Victoria and let them know how we’re feeling in here. There’s nobody like people who have their boots on the ground and that’s what I’m going to be doing, I don’t care what (John Rustad) thinks, we need to hear you. You have valuable voices.”
Timms said that, because he live in Lillooet, he will have to drive through the communities in order to get to Victoria. He plans to schedule quarterly meetings, for communities to speak with him, around those drives. He also wants to have bigger community events for people to speak with him.
“I would commit myself to listening and being with you more often than being our predecessors have,” Timms said. “The Greens don’t whip their votes. I will be able to vote on legislation the way that you tell me that you want me to vote. Which is a fantastic way to represent rural communities and ensuring that rural communities are heard in Victoria. And not what the party leaders tell us that we need to be voting for.”
Joe said she would be meeting frequently with communities and making sure she is available whenever people need her.
“I want you to have my phone number and let me know, ‘Francyne, we need you now. Can you come down now?’ And I promise I will do my very best to come down,” Joe said. “I will bring your concerns to the to the legislature, but I’ll make sure, if they’re not addressed, why are they not being addressed? I already get this with First Nations. You can’t walk away from First Nation chiefs and councils. They will reach out to you and tell you if you’re not doing a good job. Because you’re accountable to the community. (And I expect) to be accountable to you.”
Other questions were also asked about aerial spraying in the Boston Bar area, fracking, nuclear energy, plastic regulation, affordable living for seniors, the 2021 Lytton fire, and electric vehicle support in rural areas.
Hope residents looking to address the candidates themselves can do so next Wednesday (Oct. 16) during Hope’s all-candidate meeting. The three candidates will talk about their platforms and be answering questions at the Hope Recreation Centre Conference Room at 6:30 p.m.
