British Columbia is heading for the polls on October 19, a little more than a month from now.

So far only two candidates have registered in our electoral district, North Island.

Michele Babchuk has been our MLA since 2020 and prior to that she was a Campbell River City Councillor for six years, as well as Chair of the Strathcona Regional District Board. 

Dr. Anna Kindy is running for the Conservative Party of BC. She is an  addiction specialist, and physician. On her campaign website it states   “Throughout her career, Anna has been a tireless advocate for the marginalized and stigmatized populations of the North Island.”

Neither she or her staff have acknowledged Cortes Currents’ request for an interview but John Rustad, the leader of her party has released a great deal of information to the public. 

Cortes Currents has interviewed Michele Babchuk on numerous occasions through the years, the last time being when she visited Cortes in July. 

 At that point, she said, “I do have some concerns, not just from my riding, but for rural BC and some of the comments that have come out of some of the opposition parties in regards to cutting the budget by 25%, which means they’re cutting public service and social funding, usually That’s where they have a tendency to go. We have an opposition leader that is talking about the fact that human caused climate change isn’t real.”

I know that’s something that is extremely important in this writing. As Islanders, we all have a very large environmental ethic. And we’re seeing that play out in everybody’s everyday life, whether it’s from fire smarting communities, like we talked about earlier with the fire department, to being able to grow our local food and have food security.

“I’m also really concerned about the fact that the opposition leader {John Rustad) has also talked about cancelling DRIPA, or rolling DRIPA back. One of the things that I’m most proud about with the government that I am in, Is the fact that we are giving our indigenous communities that level of self determination that they have not had in the past.”

Going through Babchuk’s list of assertions, John Rustad is on record stating “We must also repeal the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was established for conditions in other countries — not Canada.”

He is not advocating a return of all traditional lands, but claims the real issue is ‘returning land to First Nations, who do not currently have sufficient property rights needed to secure prosperity.’

Rustad states the provincial debt has to come down, “It is immoral (and financially hazardous) to continue living beyond our means and leaving our children with the bill. While not immediate, we will plan on balancing the budget.”  

As regards global warming, when he spoke to the CBC a week ago, Rustad said there are many things that are far more important. “Climate change is an issue, there is no question it is an issue, but we have to put that in the context of making sure that people can afford to live in British Columbia.”  

He wants to scrap the carbon tax, develop nuclear power and  dramatically expand B.C.’s natural gas production and LNG export facilities.  

Rustad calls himself a champion of resource development, and states ‘activists who impede the activity of resource development through illegal blockades, harassment and violence must be held legally, and financially responsible for their actions – as must the groups that support them.’

One of the ways he hopes to reduce health care costs is ‘unleashing the power of private-sector innovation.’

He is promising to spur economic growth through personal and corporate tax cuts.

According to the most recent projection by 338Canada, the NDP are slightly ahead in our riding but it is really a toss up. If a Green party Candidate comes forward, he or she could take 12% of the popular vote, leaving 45% to the NDP and 42% Conservative. Of course that projection is essentially a point in time picture which can change with the next poll. 

New candidates can file nominations with Elections B at any time before September 21, 2024 and it is still possible to  file with District Electoral Officers until 1 PM on September 28, 2024.

Historically speaking, this riding has voted NDP in all but 4 of the past 45 years. The exception occurred when the BC Liberals first took power in 2001 and ended when Claire Trevana retook North Island for the NDP in 2005. 

Top image credit: Leaving Campbell River at night – photo by Ken Lund via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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