Kitimat resident Jody Craven has been announced as the British Columbia Libertarian Party candidate for the North Coast Riding MLA position in the upcoming Oct. 24 provincial election, the party announced in a press release earlier this month.
Issues that are listed in the press release as being important to Craven are solutions to provide more job security in the fishing industry and insurance for British Columbians.
“The ICBC monopoly needs to go and we need to open the door for competition in auto insurance,” Craven said. “As MLA, I’d also like to sit down with local fishermen and together come up with solutions to provide more job security in their industry.
Craven said blue-collar jobs are very important to him and this region having worked for UNIFOR 2301 and Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. for the past 34 years.
“When computers and artificial intelligence came to the wharf, a lot of jobs were lost – the NDP didn’t fight to protect those workers, which is a shame. I think more collaboration with local industries and stakeholders is needed to build a stronger and more stable community,” he said.
Craven isn’t a stranger to political candidacy, having run in the 2019 federal election as a representative for the People’s Party of Canada.
Currently studying at Coast Mountain College, Craven said his experience involves being recently elected to the Board of Directors for The North Matters.
“In October 2018, I was invited as a guest speaker at a Potlatch with Northern Health in Gitsegukla. At the end of last year, I attended a fundraiser dinner for the Kitimat Humane Society and was also invited to a Mason fundraiser dinner,” he said.
“I was also involved in a safe talk environment for the Wetʼsuwetʼen women, families, chiefs, and all the bands that supported Coastal Gas Link on behalf of The North Matters in Houston, B.C. of this year back on March 14th, 2020.”
Craven said he lives with his wife, Mary, and has two grown sons and a three-year-old granddaughter.
“I spent some of my early years in Prince Rupert and then eventually settled down in Kitimat. I raised my family in Kitimat and worked in the area since 1980.”
The BC Libertarian Party was founded in 1986 with a mandate to advocate for individual liberty, lower taxes, free markets, and social tolerance said the press release. In 2017 the BC Libertarian Party ran 30 candidates in the provincial elections and has rallied 25 candidates across the province for the upcoming provincial election.
