The BC Libertarian Party candidate Jon Rempel is running again in the Nechako Lakes riding in this year’s snap elections.
In the 2017 provincial election, Rempel got a total of 438 votes.
“I ran in the provincial election in 2017 in Nechako Lakes; obviously I didn’t win but I was the new guy and everybody tells me I did pretty good,” he said adding that he never really had any political ambitions before.
Rempel, who was born in 1975, grew up on a remote cattle ranch on the Blackwater River where he was home-schooled. He then went to a boarding school in Vanderhoof and has since lived in Fort Fraser for over 26 years.
“I have been a long-time resident here. I mostly worked as a logger and a miner and I have done some prospecting. Right now I own and operate a small logging company called Kluskus North Contracting Ltd. based out of Fort Fraser,” he said.
Rempel and wife Dawn are raising a little boy, their grandson. Rempel has two brothers that live in the area and his mother lived in Vanderhoof.
“I have always been an active voter but it was probably the federal election before the last one, when the Conservatives lost to the Liberals. Before that I had been a Conservative supporter but at the end of that election I wasn’t really happy with either one of the parties, I wasn’t happy with what I was seeing, so I started doing research into other political parties and I came across the Libertarian Party of Canada and I liked their platform and I liked their principles and I became a party member,” he said.
Rempel then became involved with the BC Libertarian Party and went to a caucus meeting in Vancouver in 2015.
“I don’t like the way I see things going in the future with our government. They are taking on some massive burdens that our children will have to pay for. Basically, I see our government mortgaging our future by making bad decisions. Us, as people, we have to be more responsible; we can’t look to government to solve all our problems because we ask the government to solve our problems, they will try to, they will do a poor job and then they will tax us on that,” he said.
“I want to see a better future for our children; I want to see every child today own their own home at one point; as things are progressing right now, I don’t see that happening. We need to be make a change big time in order for that to happen.”
Rempel is a big believer in being responsible for your own actions. He has implemented this in his own life.
“I was scared to speak publicly but I have overcome that, that was a big highlight for me. I have recently lost 100 pounds in the last year and that is a personal achievement for me. I have gotten more healthy,” he said.
Having grown in the north, Rempel is fond of hunting and fishing, prospecting and quading and although he said he doesn’t travel much, he does recollect his trip across Canada in 2013, with his wife, very fondly.
“We are growing a beautiful country here but I just think sometimes it needs to be guided in a different direction so we are not so dependent on our government. Our forefathers, they didn’t depend on government. We need to secure a stronger future by being responsible citizens and not keep looking to government to solve problems for us,” he said.
Priyanka Ketkar
Multimedia journalist
@PriyankaKetkar
priyanka.ketkar@ldnews.net
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