Scott Fraser wants affordability issues to be front and centre during his campaign for re-election to the provincial Legislature in May.
The NDP MLA for Mid-Island Pacific Rim was first elected in 2005 to the constituency that was then called Alberni-Qualicum. He was re-elected to the redrawn area of Alberni-Pacific Rim in 2009 and 2013 and the boundaries for his constituency, along with the name, have changed once again for the 2017 election.
Residents of Bowser/Deep Bay, Fanny Bay, Royston and Cumberland are among the people in the new constituency Fraser seeks to represent, along with those in holdover communities like Errington, Coombs, Port Alberni, Ucluelet and Tofino.
Fraser won the seat in 2013 with 57 per cent of the vote. B.C. Liberal candidate Darren DeLuca garnered 35 per cent of the vote while Enid Mary Sangster-Kelly had eight per cent for the B.C. Conservatives.
The B.C. Liberals and B.C. Conservatives have not chosen a candidate for this constituency yet. The B.C. Green Party has chosen Alicia La Rue, a former competitive freestyle skier who is a business owner, artist and former director of the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Fraser, who was unopposed for the NDP nomination, said last week that “general affordability” will be a plank in his Mid-Island-Pacific Rim platform.
“There are a lot of people going through hardship,” Fraser told The NEWS in a wide-ranging interview. “We see mostly quite affluent people, but there’s an underbelly people are becoming more aware of.”
Fraser said the NDP has plans to help people with affordability issues. Those plans include the phasing out of Medical Services Plan premiums, raising the minimum wage to $15/hour by the end of a four-year term and stopping the increases to rates people pay for power (BC Hydro) and insurance (ICBC).
“Government policy dictates which way you go — it’s the government in power that controls this stuff,” he said.
La Rue said through a B.C. Green Party news release that she is running for provincial office “because I believe that we deserve better.”
“The B.C. Green Party is a party of sustainability, respect and forward-thinking,” said La Rue. “This is where we need to and have to go for a future that is not one of destruction but of innovation.”
While Fraser said he doesn’t expect personal attacks will be part of the Mid-Island-Pacific Rim election, he said the provincial campaign might be a different story. Some media reports quoting NDP sources suggest the party has a clear memory of how its non-attack policy didn’t work in 2013.
“It’s going to get really nasty,” said Fraser. (Premier Christy Clark) puts the wealthy and well-connected first. We will not be personal, but we will not shy away from this government’s record.”
The provincial election is less than four months away. B.C. voters go to the polls on May 9.
MLA and cabinet minister Michelle Stilwell will run again for the B.C. Liberals in the other constituency in this region, Parksville-Qualicum. The NDP have selected Parksville city Coun. Sue Powell and Glenn Sollitt will carry the banner of the B.C. Green Party.
