In about one month’s time, residents in British Columbia will head to the polls.
The Harbour City is carved up into three ridings – Nanaimo, Nanaimo-North Cowichan and Parksville-Qualicum – with the latter covering the city’s north end and Lantzville.
The Nanaimo riding is currently held by the NDP’s Leonard Krog, who is looking for re-election this year. Krog is hoping to beat out Liberal candidate Paris Gaudet and the Green Party’s Kathleen Harris.
Krog said his riding is dealing with a potential housing crisis and other economic challenges that must be addressed.
“Nanaimo, specifically, faces significant affordability issues, which is true across the province. There is no question that a lot of folks in this town are literally paycheque to paycheque. The increased hydro rates, ICBC rates, ferry fares, the cutbacks to programs that assist people, the refusal of this government and indeed their outright opposition to the increase in minimum wage, all of those have had and continue to have a significant impact on the ability of people to survive,” Krog said.
Krog said he understands the needs of the community and that his party is committed to increasing minimum wage, implementing affordable child care and ensuring the city’s most vulnerable aren’t left behind.
“We are not the rich; this is not a community of rich people,” Krog said. “This is a community of middle class and people who aren’t being able to meet their day-to-day expenses and we are the party who represents those folks.”
The Nanaimo-North Cowichan riding covers neighbourhoods located west of Harewood Road/Nanaimo Lakes Road as well as neighbourhoods south of Fourth Street, Albert Street and Milton Street.
The riding’s incumbent MLA, Doug Routley of the NDP, is seeking a fourth term. He will be up against Lia Versaevel of the Green Party and the Liberals’ Alana DeLong, who served as an MLA in Alberta for 14 years.
Versaevel said one of the big issues in Nanaimo is affordability. She wants to see improvements in education and health care and would work toward formulating a poverty-reduction plan in the province.
“I am kind of embarrassed that B.C. doesn’t have one,” she said. “That has to include everything from affordable housing, accessibility to transit and restoring bus passes to people who desperately need them, such as seniors and people on disability.”
Parksville-Qualicum Beach candidates include B.C. Liberal incumbent Michelle Stilwell, who is the minister for social development and social innovation, as well as the NDP’s Sue Powell, a Parkville councillor, and Glen Sollitt of the Green Party.
Stilwell, who was elected in 2013, said the issues facing the Nanaimo-Lantzville area of her riding are related to the economy and seniors.
“Nanaimo is one of those cities that needs to ensure that it is diversified and increasing opportunities for things like tech jobs so that people can stay in Nanaimo, live in Nanaimo, raise their families in Nanaimo,” she said. “We have a lot of seniors that live here on the Island and we need to ensure that we are making those investments in seniors’ care, especially dementia care.”
Stilwell said it’s important that Vancouver Island have representation from the Liberal party once again and believes her work as a minister speaks for itself.
“My record for the last four years speaks to the hard work and the delivery that I’ve made in the community for the various investments and programs and services and having a voice for Vancouver Island is critical,” she said.
The election is May 9.