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wednesday, may 1, 2013
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Farm dumping, pipeline draws debate 12 of Richmond’s 19 candidates in the May 14 election make pitches to voters by Matthew Hoekstra Staff Reporter Twelve candidates vying for a seat in one of Richmond’s three ridings made pitches to voters Monday night at the first of two all-candidates meetings planned in the city. Few local issues bubbled to the surface at the meeting, organized by Richmond Centre for Disability, drawing approximately 150 people to Minoru Place Activity Centre on the same night as a televised leaders’ debate. But a protest camp on Finn Road—now in its fourth month—had some of the city’s 19 candidates jockeying for position. Several political hopefuls spoke about the need for greater enforcement of Agricultural Land Commission rules—and greater funding to the commission to make that happen. Linda Reid, the incumbent in Richmond East and the lone B.C. Liberal Party candidate to attend, said she has spent her 22-year political career advocating for stronger enforcement of farm rules. “Individuals today who are putting fill on farmland, an inappropriate use of farmland, absolutely needs enforcement,” said Reid, adding that “additional measures” were
Matthew Hoekstra photo Linda Reid, the Liberal incumbent in Richmond East, addresses a crowd Monday night at an all-candidates debate held at Minoru Place Activity Centre.
put in this year’s budget “to ensure that enforcement is in place.” Jerome Dickey, RichmondSteveston’s Green candidate, went farther, calling for an overhaul of the Agricultural Land Reserve to halt dumping on farmland.
“The ALR need to be reformed. We need to get to the bottom of that,” he said. Last week marked 100 days of protest outside a Finn Road farm, where a road is being built with demolition waste to accommodate a future tree nursery. The farm road,
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according to the Agricultural Land Commission, is an approved use of the land. Michael Wolfe, the Green candidate in Richmond Centre, said Ray Galawan and Bob Featherstone, the farmers behind the protest, should be awarded the Order of B.C.
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“I’ll personally write the nomination for them.” A proposed jet fuel pipeline in Richmond also got some attention Monday— although some candidates instead spoke about the proposed Enbridge pipeline in northern B.C.
Scott Stewart, the NDP candidate in Richmond-Steveston called the Enbridge proposal “all risk, no gain,” and said his party favours a “made-in-B.C. environmental assessment” process for pipelines. See Page 3
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