By Cheryl Jahn

Local BC Greens set out platform

Oct 3, 2024 | 3:39 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Two of the three local BC Green candidates came out with their official Made-in-Northern BC platforms Thursday (Oct.3). While the overarching BC Green mandate of promoting participatory democracy, sustainability, social justice, respect for diversity, ecological wisdom and nonviolence, the three local candidates have their eyes on local issues.

Prince George-Mackenzie candidate James Steidle was a latecomer to the campaign, but says forestry is a huge key issue for the riding he hopes to represent.

“We’ve had the mill shutdowns in Prince George, in Mackenzie. We’ve seen issues like lingering from the previous administration of the BC Liberals where we sold off BC Rail, where we’re not getting rail service to Mackenzie to service the existing mills that remain up there. And here in Prince George, we saw Bear Lake where the polar sawmill closed down. We’ve seen shutdowns of the local pulp mills. And this is going to affect thousands and thousands of jobs.”

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Prince George-Valemount candidate Gwen Johansson says having been born and raised in McBride means she’s intimately familiar with the issues of the Robson Valley, whether it’s forestry in her home community or tourism in Valemount.

“I have deep roots in that. So I think I can understand some of the issues that have existed there for a long time, and I know the background, and how it came to be. It’s a matter of trying to understand the diversity of the whole community.”

However, she says her riding is very diverse, the rural Robson Valley and the urban Prince George.

“They’re looking at clinic closures. They’re looking at they’re wondering about schools. And so that’s what is at one end of the riding and then you come to Prince George, which is the exact opposite, and you’ve got lots of growth and lots of activities happening. It’s a matter of trying to understand the diversity, I think, of the whole the whole community and still acknowledging there are other issues.”

And Steidle acknowledges there are other issues in the riding he seeks to represent.

“We want to see improvements in health care. We also want to see addiction treatments being improved in our region. We want to see more local food security being brought to the table, and we want to see important action being taken on climate change and addressing the decarbonization of our economy moving away from the fossil fuel industry for the future. British Columbia and moving towards other economic bases.”