ELECTION 2021: Meet the candidates of the Prince George – Peace River – Northern Rockies riding

The Federal Election will be held on Monday. MyPGNow reached out to each candidate in Prince George – Peace River- Northern Rockies riding for their responses to the following five questions:

1. Can you provide a brief bio of yourself and let us know why you are running and what is the most important issue(s) to you?
2. What is the best way to address a growing problem of social issues including homelessness, drug use, and the crime that sometimes results from it?
3. With record temperatures this year and wildfires again a major concern, how would you address climate change?
4. More healthcare workers are needed in Northern BC/Cariboo. What would you do to help and attract these kinds of professionals to your riding?
5. Any final thoughts that you would like to pass on to the voters?

Each participated in an all-candidates forum (put on by the PG Chamber of Commerce) that took place Monday night.

Here are their answers to our questions starting with why they are running and what they consider to be the most important issues.

IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (Last name):

Amir Alavi, Liberal Party

I am an immigrant. I moved to Canada in 2008, and I used to support NDP during Jack Layton’s period. After his leadership, I found the party far distant from concrete economic progress and talking points. I have three main subjects in this election, one of which is reunification: we need our country back united. The division in our country around the scientific approach is not sustainable. I want to make sure that people can see me as someone who is focused to get things done, and not a point of division. The second is UBI: although not a part of our Party’s platform, I know that there is currently a bill ( C-273 ) that is introduced by a Liberal MP which has passed the first reading. I will be a great supporter of that. The third is food security, climate change is a reality. Just go and ask people in Lytton, and they tell you exactly how it burned down their town. At the same time, there is always opportunity in crisis, and there is an opportunity here, specifically for Canada…specifically for Northern BC, and that is Global Food Security.

Ryan Dyck, People’s Party of Canada (PPC)

I am your local PPC candidate for the Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies. I am a proud husband of one lovely wife and father of 5 children with a 6^th on the way.  I’m a pretty unlikely person to step into politics, I run a very busy carpentry business in Fort St. John.  I am running in this election because I have lost confidence in the conservative party’s values. They no longer represent an adequate defense for the freedoms we love in this country. O’Toole is conservative in name only. His policies look more liberal, literally, every day. I am concerned that a conservative majority will handle the pandemic the exact same way the liberal government has; irresponsibly. It is a cancer that has also infected the CPC.

Phil Hewkin, Canada’s Fourth Front

I am an experienced tradesman with a passion for Canada’s great outdoors. Having worked in addiction recovery, I believe

inaccessible mental health resources. I am running in this election because he believes in bringing a straightforward and honest approach to represent my constituents in the House of Commons.

Dave Jeffers, Maverick Party

I have watched resources over the last 25 years dwindle and watched the erosion of investment potential for prosperity start to dwindle especially in the last half a dozen years. I have watched the opportunities for my children become less and less while their tax burdens are now becoming higher and higher.

Catharine Kendall, Green Party

Catharine Kendall is the owner of a grassroots community development consulting firm – contracts range from community music events to youth gang prevention. Catharine is the Executive Director and co-founder of Connaught Youth Centre Society in Prince George, BC. She is comfortable in the city and on the farm. Catharine is very active in local and regional agriculture in north-central BC. Catharine is President of Eaglet Lake Farmers’ Institute and has been involved with this group for 13 years.  Catharine is active as Director of Local Food Prince George, a non-profit aiming to create a Prince George Food Charter, educate community members about food insecurity, buying local, and growing more local food. She has worked in the community of Blueberry River and has seen first-hand the ill effects of the oil and gas industry when the entire community of Blueberry River was moved due to sour gas well leaks.

Cory “Grizz” Longley, New Democratic Party (NDP)

My name is Cory Grizz Longley. I am the NDP candidate for PG-PR-NR. I’m an activist, trade unionist, and Dad. I am concerned about the future of my riding. I am working hard on Reconciliation with our indigenous friends and family. I am working on the drug crisis in the north, and on a future where the planet is not burning for our students and young people.

Bob Zimmer (Incumbent), Conservative Party

I was born in Dawson Creek, raised in Fort St. John, and worked as a red seal carpenter for many years prior to a career in teaching and coaching. I am honoured to have served as your MP since 2011. Locally, I have worked on thousands of cases for constituents and countless local issues.

Nationally, I have worked tirelessly on behalf of the outdoor community in my role as Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Outdoor Caucus for lawful firearms owners, hunters, and anglers.

I have been married to my wife Val for 26 years, and we have four children Kristian, David, Tim, and Bobbie. A lot more work needs to get done to get our country back on track. I will continue to work on the issues that matter most to residents including securing our economy, championing our natural resource sector, and ensuring our fundamental right to freedom of expression is protected.

2. What is the best way to address a growing problem of social issues including homelessness, drug use, and the crime that sometimes results from it?

Amir Alavi

This is a great question. The opioid crisis is a real thing and we have to make sure it is addressed properly. I believe there is a great correlation between the opioid crisis and homelessness. Addressing homelessness is a very hard one, which requires a comprehensive plan that covers housing, extensive investment in social work programs across universities to make sure we have enough professionals equipped with the right academic background, and lots of other support. I believe the best way to restart our approach is to shift our perspective on so many levels. We need to address it as a drug crisis and a health care issue, and we need to make sure that our brothers and sisters on the streets would be able to go through extensive rehabilitation programs.

Ryan Dyck

The COVID crisis reactionary measures have been disastrous. The suicide rates are way up, mental health is a growing disaster, literally, 1000’s of people are at risk of losing their jobs if they don’t take an experimental vaccine with mystery ingredients. These people including many that took the first jab and even the second will no longer bend over for the government. If we want to bring stability back to Canada it’s going to be through putting an end to the Tyranny, the overwhelming mental health issues will take years to recover from. These will get more out of hand the longer we treat people like livestock.

Phil Hewkin

Dave Jeffers

We alienated a lot of the fundamental family values that drive everything forward. So, when we overtax, overburden those chances for prosperity slip away, investments slip away and you have more and more people out of work. Add to that more depression and the complexities of COVID and stay-at-home orders, those things can get difficult very quickly for a lot of people.

Catharine Kendall

The opioid crisis is a health care issue, not a criminal issue, and by addressing it as such we can begin to address the underlying causes and stop this national tragedy from escalating. This is why we have called for the decriminalization of small amounts of illicit drugs and the creation of a national safe supply program. Invest in mental health secured funding to all provinces to provide the services required within each community. Meet individuals where they are at. Understand that mental unwellness and the opioid crisis go hand in hand. Housing affordability and homelessness are twin national crises. Housing is a basic human right. We need to face the housing affordability and homelessness crises head-on, and as an urgent order of business, to bring them under control and to guarantee that every person in Canada has access to affordable housing The Green Party has long argued that Canada can eliminate poverty by adopting a Guaranteed Livable Income (GLI), a kind of basic income. The GLI replaces separate federal and provincial programs with a single, universal, unconditional cash payment delivered through the tax system.

Cory “Grizz” Longley

These is several questions, and mostly fall under provincial areas, but there is nothing saying the federal government can’t help! I would be a great bridge to the current
government in BC. Our last MP was shamefully inadequate in this. The way to address social issues is with social supports. A caring compassionate government that sees humans AS humans and acts accordingly. Social housing supports, community co-ops for housing to get people off the streets. I would suggest treatment center in Ft. St. John so there are beds for people that can get
the help they need. And taking the financial burden off people’s backs would go a long way to alleviate crime. This will be done with substantial government support, as the rich will be made to pay their fair share, to make life more affordable for ALL of us.

Bob Zimmer

A Conservative Government would re-implement the Housing First approach, which has been watered down by the current federal government, to aid in the fight against Canada’s addictions crisis. We would also revise the federal government’s substance abuse policy framework to make recovery its overarching goal and invest $325 million over the next three years to create 1,000 residential drug treatment beds and build 50 recovery community centres across the country. We will also support innovative approaches to address the crises of mental health challenges and
addictions, such as land-based treatment programs developed and managed by Indigenous communities as part of a plan to enhance the delivery of culturally appropriate addictions treatment and prevention services in First Nations communities with high needs.

3. With record temperatures this year and wildfires again a major concern, how would you address climate change?

Amir Alavi

With the situation right now with global climate change, we will soon lose our main agricultural lands in the tropical belt of the Earth. Then we need to either come to the north or south for continuing our agricultural activities, because we need to feed our growing number of population, globally. I want to be a vocal supporter for our agriculture industry to be invested heavily so our people in the north can see a huge job opportunity in agriculture. This will help our oil and gas industry people to have better, greener, and more good-paying jobs for them as well, as we are phasing out from the oil and gas industry by 2050.

Ryan Dyck

The PPC understands that climate has always been changing. We still value making wise decisions that do not unnecessarily harm the environment, but the climate alarmism in the other parties has a significant impact on our economy.  The fact that we have hindered the logging of some of the more hazardous areas is what needs to challenge, and climate alarmism is the largest force pushing that problem.

Phil Hewkin

Our party has been working with companies, that have the technology, using the help of local farmers, to capture carbon and methane. We have, both, the vision as well as technology to bring the real change needed to stop the climate emergency in the world.  We are the new choice on the environment. Don’t tax carbon, just capture and store the greenhouse gases.  We will take direct action and capture greenhouse gases,  other party’s think taxes will magically clean the air.

Dave Jeffers

Climate change is probably the biggest threat we have in our world today. These are crucial issues and the driver for those on climate change is not something in our opinion we can address on a local level, it is something that needs to be addressed on a global level. Cutting our nose off to spite our face and hamstringing self-imposed stoppages on in hydrocarbon productions, hydrocarbon use or fossil fuels would only equate to about a 1.5% drop if we stopped everything. If we got our resources offshore and got them to markets that need and what them such as China and India – the major contributors to the global problem we would have a much bigger impact.

Catharine Kendall

Slow all resource sectors to a full overhaul to manage each industry, sector by sector sustainably. Prioritize the oil and gas industry Create a waste management industry to recycle every ounce of waste generated by each sector of society. Accelerate a transition to a net-zero economy and become a world leader in cleantech and renewable energy. The jobs of the future are here. We will stay globally competitive and build a prosperous sustainable future through these means.

Cory “Grizz” Longley

This is the LITERAL burning question, isn’t it? I and the NDP commit to reducing Canada’s emissions by at least fifty percent from 2005 levels by 2030. I will say no to the TMX pipeline. I commit to carbon pricing and closing loopholes in said pricing. I also commit to ensuring that government and crown corporations are aligned with the goal of net-zero. We can do it together.

Bob Zimmer 

Canada’s Conservatives have a serious plan to combat climate change that allows us to meet our targets and reduce emissions by 2030, all while repealing Justin Trudeau’s Carbon Tax. We will fight climate change and protect the environment, but we won’t do it on the backs of hardworking Canadians or by hurting our economy. Taking climate change seriously also includes not letting critical GHG-reducing projects be held up by red tape and lengthy reviews. We will fast-track review of emissions-reducing projects to get shovels in the ground. When it comes to combating future wildfires, a Conservative government will invest in remote sensing and other technology that will improve the early detection of wildfires and better predict fire behaviour.

4. More healthcare workers are needed in Northern BC/Cariboo. What would you do to help and attract these kinds of professionals to your riding?

Amir Alavi

Our party platform is very clear on the issue of the need to have more health care workers. That is why we are committed to increasing the number of health care workers by 7500 countrywide. We need to make sure our riding can lock in enough health care workers. One of the best ways to make sure it happens is to support our local students to choose their path according to our healthcare needs.

Ryan Dyck

I think in many ways our region needs to be recognized as diverse from the rest of the province. The nurse’s union makes it impossible to incentivize nurses to move up north to work. We would benefit from splitting the union to make it easier to meet our own health care needs in the north. Also, stop firing the nurses we have because they don’t want to be part of an experiment.

Phil Hewkin

The only way to attract new healthcare workers to the area is to pay them more or make it more lucrative to come to work. We must bring doctors, and nurses, that have left the country back to Canada. Canadian healthcare workers are forced to go live in other places, where the pay is higher because the cost of living is too high in Canada.

Dave Jeffers

It’s going to be compounded when we force people to take something that has a risk associated with it. Now, I want to make very clear I am very pro-vaccine, I have both my shots and I am a proponent of vaccines but I am against mandatory vaccinations. If the government has failed to educate the public on the safety, merits, efficacy, and how those drugs are made to satisfy the needs and desires of someone feeling comfortable about taking a vaccine, that is the failure of government – not the failure of the individual to understand.

Catharine Kendall

This is a long-standing issue. Barriers that keep our children from working in their own hometowns include the many costs of secondary education which include leaving their communities to study and the increasing costs of post-education. The Green Party of Canada would like to eliminate student debts and remove costs to post-education, offer more online services for education so more students can learn from their home communities and stay in their communities. Incentives for youth to stay in their home communities to work in the health care field would assist with the above challenges. At present, Canada relies on many foreign health care professionals to enter Canada and live rurally to work and practice their profession. These are great opportunities for those entering Canada and they provide great services, however, there needs to be a blend of getting our own youth educated and employed within this sector and target education incentives to attract more youth in doing so.

Cory “Grizz” Longley

I would move to massively incentivize the north. Make us so attractive that people will want to be up here! Building strong relations with the province and municipalities to do so will make it possible. If it must be financial, so be it. I would like to see incredible incentives on housing, signing bonuses, educational opportunities to get the professionals we need up here. I plan to be imaginative and get professionals up here.

Bob Zimmer 

Under the last Conservative government, federal transfers to the provinces grew at 6% per year. Unfortunately, in 2017, the Trudeau government cut this in half, putting lives at risk. Canada’s Conservatives will meet with the Premiers within the first 100 days of forming a government to propose a new health agreement with the provinces and territories that boosts the annual growth rate of the Canada Health Transfer to at least 6%. This will inject nearly $60 billion into our healthcare system over the next ten years and will help provinces like British Columbia tackle issues like doctor shortages.

5. Any final thoughts that you would like to pass on to the voters?

Amir Alavi

We have experienced Conservative leadership in our riding for more than 53 years. For 10 years, Bob Zimmer has been around during both Conservative and Liberal governments. Unfortunately, we have not seen results. It is a time for a change in our riding which is as big as the UK with so many diverse needs. We need to address that. Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the in-person debate up in Mackenzie. After the debate which was about 2 hours, I had an opportunity to speak with the PPC candidate for some time and a veteran for another 1.5 hours. I understood that after we remove our party hats, there do so many issues that we have the same understanding, and the most fascinating thing was that we agreed on almost all of the solutions as well. I believe that I can lead with the same attitude. My commitment to every one of the community members is that I will always listen to their concern. I will not close any communication means, whether on social media or the in person. Thank you for your time and please vote to move the country and our riding forward.

Ryan Dyck

I know the big concern in our riding is vote splitting.  People love our platform and prefer it to the conservative platform. The challenge I would extend is that the polls are often horrendously inaccurate. Do not vote based on the polls. Vote with your conscience, not out of fear. 

Phil Hewkin

Vote for me because the direct democracy system will give you direct control of me you’re politician on any and all issues you want to be changed.

Dave Jeffers

We have to look at a brighter future. The accumulation of debt, the printing of money is going to result in a substantial amount of inflation, which is going to drive interest rates up.

Catharine Kendall

As a single parent of 6 children, I see the future for my children through their eyes. It does not look promising in regard to the climate-changing effects upon the environment that sustains our
lives. The Canadian government is not willing to take any of the necessary steps to acknowledge this immediate crisis. It is business as usual. There is no time left to waste on empty political promises and resource extraction methods and industrial activities that exacerbate this issue. I am offering my time, integrity and commitment, on behalf of the Green Party of Canada to bring forth tangible solutions that address climate change impacts now not later.

Cory “Grizz” Longley

This parliament was working for Canadians. We saw the NDP challenge the crappy pandemic supports offered by the Liberal government, to get us increases all the time. It was the NDP that had Canadians back. Deeds not words will carry the day, and I hope you will all share in my commitment to make this riding more inclusive and better represented than it ever has been in the last FIFTY years of conservative representation. I promise to have YOUR backs in Ottawa, and not hide for four years only to pop my head up at election time. Please support Cory Grizz Longley on your ballot.

Bob Zimmer 

Canada’s Conservatives are the only alternative to secure the future, restore competence, transparency, and accountability to government, and ensure Canada is never unprepared for a crisis again. With the Conservatives, you will get Canada’s Recovery Plan to secure jobs, health, and Canada’s economic future. I am honoured to have served as your MP since 2011 and I will continue to focus relentlessly on the issues that matter most to you and be a strong voice for our region in the House of Commons.

With files added from Brendan Pawliw, MyPGNow