Robin Goldsbury is running for the federal Liberal Party of Canada in Kootenay-Columbia.
She’ll be a recognizable name in Cranbrook, having lived and worked in the Key City, however, she has some West Kootenay connections as well, owning a restaurant business beside the Balfour ferry terminal on Kootenay Lake.
Goldsbury will be hitting the regional highways over the course of the campaign to meet with voters in communities across the East and West Kootenay.
“I stepped up because I’m deeply concerned that our rural and small communities because I really think we need a dynamic and progressive voice that’s squeaking for the government,” said Goldsbury. “…There’s a lot of issues that we have here. Urban migration, our kids are leaving, we’ve got succession problems, services are closing down.”
READ: Liberals announce Kootenay-Columbia candidate for October election
She highlighted her work as a party member, hounding the leadership for the creation of a rural caucus at a party convention. Those discussions eventually spurred the creation of a new federal ministry — the Ministry of Rural Economic Development.
“We played a role in getting it, so we actually have a government agency that is actually looking at policy through the eyes of rural Canadians, and that’s really important,” Goldsbury said. “We’ve only begun to tap that ministry.”
Federally, Goldsbury cited her desire to have a voice for the region in the government fold as a major reason for stepping up to run in the election.
She raised issues such as the Columbia River Treaty renegotiations, the loss of Greyhound and the challenges of rural transportation and the role of a Member of Parliament in bringing together various levels of government and volunteers to solve problems.
READ: Liberals’ Kootenay-Columbia candidate stands by Trudeau despite scandal
Her campaign is also taking a new approach to signage; there will be no lawn signs, but will set up larger ones on arterial roadways. Supporters are encouraged to make their own signs and post them in their windows. It’s part of an effort to address waste reduction by focusing on substance over signs, according to her campaign.
Goldsbury, who still calls Cranbrook home, has a background that includes managing corporate marketing with Koocanusa Publications as well as building a value-added forestry business that sold forest botanicals to the floral trade worldwide. She returned to school to complete a Masters in Neuroscience and ended up in Balfour in 2007, where her built the Dock’n Duck Resort with her partner at the Balfour ferry landing.
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