Two contenders have announced they are running for the MLA role for the North-Coast Haida Gwaii district in the Oct. 19 B.C. provincial elections.
While the writ was dropped on Sept. 21, officially opening the voting at the district electoral office, nominations are still open for candidate applications until Sept. 28.
In advance of the Prince Rupert Chamber of Commerce All Candidate forum Sept. 25 at the Lester Centre for the Arts. Tamara Davidson from the BC NDP and Chris Sankey from the Conservative Party of BC shared their perspectives and plans with The Northern View on various topics affecting the region. These included the toxic drug crisis, mental health, health care, housing, economy, infrastructure, reconciliation and child care.
What motivated you to run in this election?
Chris Sankey:
"Well, my children, right? I mean, I want to be able to create an environment where the next seven generations are going to have knowledge and wealth transfer. I am tired of people in this riding being forgotten about, and enough is enough. I want to be able to bring their voices to Victoria, and that's important to me. It's important to the communities. It's important to the families."
Tamara Davidson:
"I believe in putting people first, and I'm a proud NDP supporter, and I'm committed to our values of equity and opportunity. That was really why I wanted to put my name forward, as I've seen the BC NDP taking action with housing and healthcare, childcare, and also with the toxic drug crisis, and also just in terms of the economy."
Tell me about yourself as a person, apart from your political candidacy:
Tamara Davidson:
"I currently have a house in Skideget on Haida Gwaii. And I really really love hiking, and I love taking part in our culture, and I really just love spending time with family and friends."
She says her Haida name is Laanas, and that she's a member of the Raven Clan from Old Massett.
Chris Sankey:
"I like to work out and go for walks, hang out with my kids when I can... and be with my partner as much as I can."
What in the North-Coast Haida Gwaii communities do you treasure the most?
Chris Sankey:
"The people. Prince Rupert is populated with some incredible people that I feel are not celebrated enough. This community comes together when people are in need, whether it's to raise money for a loved one or a charity. It's the people."
Tamara Davidson:
"What I cherish the most is the people. So everywhere that I travel, I really get an opportunity now to meet with people and to hear about their experience, and their past, and then also, what their priorities are, and what are the things that are keeping them awake at night, and just trying to find common ground with them, and also finding out how we can come up with solutions together."
Considering your individual experience, what can you offer your constituents if you are elected?
Tamara Davidson:
"So I have spent 28 years working in the federal public service, and I have also been an elected representative with the Council of the Haida Nation for the past three years. Part of the work I do with the Council of the Haida Nation is I sit on the negotiation support team, and I was one of the negotiators for the Haida title land agreement."
"I understand the federal system, I understand the provincial system, and I understand what it's like working within an Indigenous government, and how all three of those work together, as well as local government and municipalities."
Chris Sankey:
"For the last 16 years, I've been involved in politics and in business, but I was elected to my community for Lax Kwʼalaams, which means "island of roses." I've experience dealing with government on the other side of the table, from the provincial government to the federal government to municipalities to regional districts."
"I have a wealth of knowledge and experience in how to get things done and navigate through the bureaucracy. I'm a person that's kind of no-nonsense, let's just get stuff done and I've been blessed to be surrounded with, which I always say, people that have more experience than me, and I've gained that knowledge."
How would you tackle the health care issues faced in the remote northern communities?
Chris Sankey:
"We need to incentivize doctors and nurses. I want to be able to put together a task force with the experienced doctors and nurses and community outreach workers that we already have here. We can't be listening to somebody as far away as Victoria. We need to be able to look within our backyard with those nurses and doctors and healthcare providers and frontline workers that care about this community, that stay loyal to this community, that have committed to this community. That's the expertise that I want to tap into, to put together a think tank to really help get us out of this challenge we have when it comes to a healthcare found in the North Coast-Haida Gwaii region."
Tamara Davidson:
"We've been looking at hiring more doctors, hiring more nurses, and then also trying to retain the nurses with better pay and working conditions. BC nursing workforce is growing faster than any other province, so we're really looking at having more doctors and nurses."
"And when you take a look at the Conservatives, their healthcare plan is calling for a big reduction in health spending, up to $4.1 billion is going to be cut from their healthcare plan [referring to their July patients-first model]. So, we really can't afford to slash healthcare right now. We really need to keep hiring doctors and nurses."
What is your take on the housing crisis Canada is facing?
Tamara Davidson:
"We're going to continue making those investments into housing, into housing construction... this is the first time our provincial government has supported housing both off and on reserve for Indigenous communities as well, which is such a big step forward to help get those built and available for families."
"I think there's 24 new units going into Skidegate and 38 in Prince Rupert. So we are working towards our goal of trying to get more housing into each of the areas. I think there's also going to be 40 new units in the Heiltsuk housing society and then 82 for Makola housing society."
Chris Sankey:
"It's really simple – get rid of the red tape. Get rid of the bureaucracy. Enough talk. Let's get shovels in the ground, get people back to work and start building homes to accommodate this crisis. Because right now, it's not right that you have three families living under one roof. It's crowded. It's unnecessary."
"I mean, there was the promise to build so many houses, an X amount of houses over so many years, and we're nowhere near that."
Knowing that First Nations' people are disproportionately impacted by the toxic drug crises, how will you deal with the issue of both toxic drugs and mental health in the communities in northwest B.C.?
Chris Sankey:
Sankey says he wants to reopen mental health facilities and use incentives to attract and retain staff. He will focus on prevention and rehabilitation.
"Next, we want to implement an evidence-based and compassionate involuntary care model that safeguards individual rights while ensuring people get the care they need. We need to stop handing out heroin and other hard drugs."
"We got to start right at the beginning, because, you know, there's an age for kids between the ages of 10 and 16, where you could go either way. We got to put in proper safeguards so our kids have a fighting chance. If a kid is starving at home, or is homeless, and their living conditions aren't good, then they're not free. They can't dream."
"They're not thinking about dreaming about their future. All they're doing is surviving. That's wrong. We're surrounded by all this industry, and we can't even access a family doctor, but the children, the whole youth movement has a soft spot in my heart because I was them."
"I was the homeless kid. I was the one that was starving. And I don't want to see that anywhere, for that matter."
Tamara Davidson:
Davidson says the NDP is working with the police and fighting drug trafficking, seizing proceeds of crime, and putting criminals who deal with these deadly drugs behind bars.
"We're developing new tools to intervene with people who have overlapping addictions, so maybe mental health issues and brain injuries and helping people who can't make decisions about their own care, and it's really causing a lot of challenges."
"And then also within British Columbia, we've opened more than 650 new treatment beds across BC, and we're opening more beds and building new treatment facilities across the province."
"I know, especially on Haida Gwaii, for the hospitals there, there has been a lot of discussion about trying to find closer detox sites that could be offered for people that are ready to go into detox and then ready to go into treatment, and trying to find a location that's closer than Prince George."
What is your current strategy for improving infrastructure in the North Coast-Haida Gwaii region?
Tamara Davidson:
Tamara's strategy is to continue meeting with municipalities and providing curated solutions to their most pressing needs. From her recent meeting in Prince Rupert, she is concerned about bridge repairs, the replacement of the fire hall, and the replacement of the airport ferry. Next, she wants to address problems at Port Edward, Daajing Giids, Masset, and Port Clements.
Chris Sankey:
"I'm a big proponent of economic reconciliation. It's imperative that the industry partner with Indigenous communities and our neighbours to move this riding forward. When you partner with indigenous communities, you are now de-risking any proposed project, whether small, medium or large, and when you de-risk a project or all this economic activity, you now attract domestic and international investment to the region. And what comes after that is qualified doctors, nurses, teachers, business personnel, frontline workers, service workers. You want to come to a thriving economy, and it's important. We could generate sole source revenues to help move this riding forward and address the much needed financial gaps so we can pay for the services that the riding really needs."
What is your take on 1) affordability for families and 2) childcare?
Chris Sankey:
Sankey wants to get rid of the carbon tax, first implemented in 2008, as he believes it used to be revenue neutral but is now not. People in the district are paying the debt created because of it, he said.
In his experience, such as at Pineridge Elementary School, where his children went, the problem wasn't the lack of facilities but the inability to fill the staff spots. Workers often choose to work in industrial jobs at the port or the expansion of Ridley, Trigon, and AltaGas that offer higher wages than childcare facilities, he said. Sankey wants to incentivize workers to stay in the childcare sector.
Tamara Davidson:
"Affordable childcare, it really can be a game changer for parents because that means that parents can go back to work, and it leaves more money in the pockets for everyday essentials, like groceries."
"I myself was a single mom raising my daughter, and it was very hard to struggle to pay for childcare in order for me to go back to work. And so I'm really, really happy that David Eby and the BC NDP, they cut the cost of childcare in half, and they're trying to eliminate all of the wait list fees for parents, and they're also trying to create new childcare spaces."
She said new facilities in Old Massett and Prince Rupert are opening up.
"John Rustad's old party – they cancelled the BC NDP's $14 a day childcare plan in 2002, and they increased childcare costs. And we really can't go back to that."
Do you have any closing comments?
Tamara Davidson:
"I know that there's really complex and difficult challenges that we are facing the North, and sometimes it's really difficult to bring that strong voice to Victoria to say that we're different, we're rural, we're remote. We really do need to work together to try to find the solutions... because sometimes the policies [In Victoria] don't align with what's happening in a rural and remote community such as Bella Bella, Haida Gwaii, Prince Rupert or Metlakatla... making sure that we're working together with the federal government, with different organizations, and then also with the municipal and Indigenous governments."
Chris Sankey:
"For the longest time the NDP brought their message to the North Coast-Haida Gwaii riding, we need to reverse that. I want to bring their North Coast-Haida Gwaii voice to Victoria. Plain and simple. We're tired of being pushed back. When we unite and work together, this whole riding could be powerful. Nobody should be left behind, and we could do this together."
