THURSDAY, MAY 09, 2013 PM0040030872
Vol. 39, Issue 19
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Candidates ready for election day
2011
All Candidates Forum held in Barriere for Kamloops-North Thompson
CCNA
By Jill Hayward North Thompson Star/Journal
Doctor shortage in Clearwater grows acute One doctor as of May 15
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Mosquito Wars: Biting back at the buzz ..... page 7
Our little Claireese recognized on Wishbone Day Living with OI
..... page 11
Katherine Semrick: Artist on a roll ..... page 20
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Despite the fact it was the same night as a Canuck’s playoff hockey game, the May 3, All Candidates Forum at the Fall Fair Hall in Barriere was well-attended. Moderator for the evening was Barriere resident Harley Wright, who did an admirable job of keeping the forum running smoothly and on track. All four Kamloops-North Thompson candidates were in attendance; Independent John Ford, BC NDP Kathy Kendall, BC Conservative Ed Klop, and BC Liberal Terry Lake. The forum started with each candidate given three minutes for an opening statement before questions were taken from the floor. Names were drawn from a hat to determine the order of speakers. Ford was first up, saying he had three reasons for deciding to run in the election. “One; I believe democracy in general is in crisis and needs some improvement. Two; I believe to improve, we need someone who does not have any political background to be elected..... And three; B.C. is experiencing a lot of large corporations that are exporting the resources of B.C...” Ford noted he believed that B.C. resources should be used in B.C. to create jobs here. Ed Klop was next, saying “This is all about a job interview for someone to represent you for the next four years. There have been a lot of good things done and a lot not so good. Barriere is a unique rural community, but not so unique that there are not more rural communities like this one. We’ve made a platform that we want to identify what we want to do to increase population and retain young people with jobs, and to make sure that these rural communities have the support from the BC Conservatives as a government to retain these.” Terry Lake who is running for reelection said, “During the past four years I have worked hard to develop relationships with community leaders, and have been able to bring significant funding into Barriere for the Bandshell and the North Thompson Agriplex. I also chaired the Ranching Task Force which had positive impact to ranchers in the Valley.” Lake also noted that as Environment Minister, his ministry’s review
STAR/JOURNAL photo: Jill Hayward
Harley Wright (l) moderates the All Candidates Forum at the North Thompson Fall Fair Hall in Barriere on Friday, May 3. Seated are the candidates for the Kamloops-North Thompson Riding: (l-r) Independent John Ford, BC NDP Kathy Kendall, BC Conservative Ed Klop, and BC Liberal Terry Lake. of the carbon tax will result in removing the tax from marked fuel in October for ranchers. “Today’s BC Liberals and Christy Clark believe in growing the economy. We paved the way for re-opening Canfor, Vavenby, and are working with Gilbert Smith who currently have 75 people employed at the mill and 45 working out in the bush.” Kathy Kendall said, “I’ve been attending events and knocking on doors for the last 18 months. I’ve met some people who are doing quite well, but I’ve also met some who are struggling.” She noted poverty and student debt are an economic problem, and said she constantly sees our raw logs being shipped down the highway, while she sees unemployment in Blue River, Barriere and Vavenby. “Our B.C. Families Plan will provide $829 for each child under 18.” She noted that under the BC NDP government top corporations and banks will all pay “a little more in tax”, as will wage earns of $150,000 per year or more. Questions from the floor started with Mel Schmidt who asked for the Auditor General to put out
budget reports. Lake answered that the Auditor General already puts out reports, and that the present BC Liberal government put out a balanced budget this year. He also noted that although the provincial debt will rise by 18 per cent, the percentage is much lower than Canada or the U.S., and that B.C. retains it’s Triple A credit rating. Klop said that Alberta paid off their debt, while the BC Liberals increased theirs. “Bring someone in who will spend a little smarter,” said Klop, “How many of us want to get rid of that noose around our neck?” Kendall said that if the BC NDP is elected they plan to move the election date to the fall, so that there would be time to debate the budget before elections. Of the current budget presented she said, “It’s not balanced, it truly has a deficit. It’s equally true that the revenue projections in the Liberal budgets are not true.” Ford answered, “Someone should be watching the Auditor General for awhile. The province is being taken over by debt. We need to restructure the budget, start using our own resources.”
Ford also noted that he believed “some sort of equity swap” should be instigated, “giving people shares of our resources to take care of the debt. This is probably one of the top priorities for the province right now”. Carmen Smith asked Kendall, “I would like to know specifically what logs are being exported out of this valley? You’re making a false statement there.” Kendall answered, “I see them going down the valley on trucks.” Ford noted, “I think the issue is they are being exported as raw logs. I don’t track where they are going. Maybe we could use some of the logs to build log homes.” Klop answered, “Logs are being trucked further to feed the mills. There is a huge distance involved to get these logs to the mills now. We need some fresh blood to keep the mills alive.” Lake said to export raw logs you have to go through a stringent test. “As far as I am aware, there are no raw logs being exported out of the Interior of British Columbia. Raw logs are often sold off of private land. If we stopped that it would put a lot ...continued on page 8
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