Independent candidate DelMar Martay in the Esquimalt-Metchosin riding has big ideas for how to fix poverty in the province. Photo courtesy of DelMar Martay

Independent candidate DelMar Martay in the Esquimalt-Metchosin riding has big ideas for how to fix poverty in the province. Photo courtesy of DelMar Martay

CANDIDATE PROFILE: Independent Metchosin-Esquimalt candidate has big ideas on poverty, sewage

DelMar Martay advocates for alternative currency as way to alleviate poverty

An alumnus of View Royal elementary and Esquimalt high school, indendendent Esquimalt-Metchosin candidate DelMar Martay has big political ideas for how the province can deal with issues around poverty.

“I’ve developed this vaccine for poverty. It’s competition for our capitalistic system by utilizing an electronic crypto currency,” he said, adding that the new system would utilize Bitcoin, a digital currency created by an unidentified programmer under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto.

Martay, whose family’s ties to View Royal go back 100 years, points to surplus funds at government agencies as a way to help bring individuals out of poverty.

“The hidden costs of poverty are quite high,” he noted.

His solution for the region’s sewage conundrum is also ambitious. Martay would like to see a floating offshore tanker host a treatment plant, rather than the proposed McLoughlin Point site in Esquimalt.

“The pipes are already going out to the water … we just put the pipe out to the water, hook it up to the tanker and have it processed there,” he said. The tanker could be dressed up by exterior and interior designers to make it an attractive addition to the ocean views, he added.

As an independent, Martay says his views cover a broad range of the political spectrum.

“Because I haven’t attached myself to a political party, I’m for the people. For everyone regardless. That way everyone has a voice through me being independent,” he said.

joel.tansey@goldstreamgazette.com

Twitter: @joelgazette

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