As part of a tour of Northern B.C. Candidate Ellis Ross, who’s running to be provincial leader of the Liberal Party, visited Houston to speak to local residents. Accompanied by Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of the Nechako Lakes John Rustad, Ross spent Sept. 2 travelling to various towns in the area.

Houston Today spoke to Rustad, who said that Ross is one of six candidates for the vacant position after after former Liberal provincial leader Andrew Wilkinson stepped down six months ago. The election will take place on Feb. 5, 2022.

Ross who was elected as MLA for Skeena in 2017 and re-elected in 2020, also spoke to Houston Today about what he hoped to accomplish from the tour.

“We’re in the process of putting a platform together, so this tour is about going out and talking to communities and asking what’s important to them,” said Ross.

He went on to say that one of his strong positions is on the provincial firefighting services. “We have to re-think how we plan, and cooperate with municipalities. We should be global leaders in fighting fires, which is why I’ve proposed a forest fire fighting institute with seed money of $78 million,” said Ross.

Ross stated that he believes the province should be looking at new technologies and techniques and learning from the past.

“We need to take lessons from the past and look forward. What happened in the community of Monte Lake [near Kamloops] for example, was devastating. People lost their lives, they lost everything. I want to try to ensure that doesn’t happen to any of our communities moving forward.”

The deadline to become a member to vote for the Liberal leader of B.C. is on Dec. 17, 2021.

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