BC ELECTION 2017: Vonnie Lavers (Green Party)
By Shara JJ Cooper
Election Day (May 9th) is quickly approaching and many voters are still wondering how to cast their ballots. The Boundary Sentinel asked each candidate in the Boundary-Similkameen riding the same five questions. Check here for the answers from Green Party candidate Vonnie Lavers.
The BC Liberals have failed us on account of their lack of vision for
sustainable communities.
The BC Liberals' policies and priorities in education, health care, agriculture and forestry over the past 17 years reflect their party's philosophy of restraint in spending for ordinary services to people and lavish subsidies and tax concessions to corporate interest that lead our workforce and their families through one boom and bust cycle after another.
The BC Greens offer a long-range plan to sustain and preserve our forest and agriculture through value-added wood manufacture and by helping more farmers get onto the land to cultivate crops to make BC food self-reliant.
The Greens emphasize preventative health care for infants though elders starting with clean up of air, water and land to relieve the strain that pollution puts upon people's health. The Greens will move on to actively provide ways for people to promote their own health in exercise, diet and social engagement. Care of the elderly will emphasize provision of home care with safe and comfortable rest homes near end of life.
3. What specific party policies do you have in place to address the issue
of employment in the region?
The Boundary Similkameen region is a resource extraction ( forestry, mining) and associated services based economy with agriculture in fruit, ground crops and ranching. We are like much of BC's rural interior.
The Greens believe that future jobs will be in resource extraction but that we need to get away from the sudden booms followed by mill shutdowns. We’ll do this by taking charge of our resources and keeping them "in house" to add value with manufacture driven by clean energy before export. This is the surest path to future jobs.
4. What has been the biggest accomplishment/failing of the current
provincial government when it comes to the Boundary-Similkameen.
Both old-line political parties in BC have in rotation formed Governments with practically the same vision that is a continuance of British Columbia's historical role in resource extraction ( mainly forestry and mining ) without much attention to conservation or sustainability, much less to care of the most essential resources in air, water and soil.
We have abuse the land, air and water for short-term gain and in Boundary Similkameen, as elsewhere, we witness deterioration the environment in the reckless pursuit of growth. Green Government means careful planning, caution and a constant attention to air, water and soil preservation.
5. On the provincial level, what do you think is the biggest issue the
parties need to address, and how would you accomplish it?
Climate Change from Global Warming, the elephant in the room, has been barely touched upon in the current election campaign. Every policy and every program has to be constructed and implemented with the knowledge that our biggest asset in the face of Climate Change will be our ability to adapt and to become resilient in the face of dramatic challenges. It is a challenge that will require the kind of leadership that The Green Party has been developing and offering in BC for the past 35 years.
