Before the federal election had been called Liberal candidate Murray Todd was already calling the Times, wanting to talk about campaign issues.
“Yes, I think there’s going to be an election,” he said. “Did you see the Conservatives ad that came out last night?”
According to Todd, the ad had a large picture of federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff with a voice-over blaming him for “an unnecessary election.”
“I expect the Conservatives will just ramp up the attack ads,” said the Liberal hopeful. “I don’t think our party will ever get into those sorts of personal attacks. We’ll try to just focus on policies.”
“The national issues will be honesty and integrity in government,” he said, “as well as making things better for families and education.”
Todd said he would like to see this area used for pilot projects to do research and development on value-added forest products.
“We need to produce something more than logs and 2x4s,” he said.
Too much reliance of producing dimension lumber has hurt the region’s economy with the recent downturn and the resulting sawmill closures.
Government should do more to solve First Nations issues such as inadequate water and housing on reserves, the Liberal hopeful felt.
Bulk water exports are still an issue in the North Thompson Valley, he noted.
“I still see the signs when I drive to Little Fort,” Todd said.
According to the Liberal riding website, Todd, 66, has lived in Kamloops for the past four years and resided in the Cariboo area of the riding the previous nine years. He is married to Carol, a social worker in the field of addiction services.
Todd retired in 1998 after a 23-year career as an air traffic controller and brief time in the armed forces. Most recently he served as a two-term president of the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Federal Liberal Association.
