By Richard McGuire
Linda Larson hopes that voters are thinking about the economy when they head to the polls in the May 9 provincial election.
Larson is running for re-election as the MLA for Boundary-Similkameen under the B.C. Liberal banner and she sees the economy as her party’s strength.
“I would hope that people are more interested in the strength of the economy,” she said in a wide-ranging interview last week. “When you look at the unrest below the border and other things happening around the world, you would understand that the economy and how well B.C. is doing, is what is keeping us above the rest.”
B.C.’s economic performance, she said, is “a good enough reason to keep going the way we are.”
Larson, as a former business owner, is a firm believer in free enterprise and the role of small business.
When she and her husband Larry first came to Oliver at the end of 1988, they purchased a convenience store, Eastside Grocery. Later they sold it and bought a Stedman’s store.
Those experiences and her participation in the Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations have strengthened Larson’s belief in the importance of small business.
“In British Columbia, small business is big business,” Larson said. “I’ve been a small business owner and I understand fully the difficulties there are running a small business.”
Larson believes that in order to pay for public services like health care and education, it’s necessary to have others generating income to pay taxes.
“I have always been a strong believer that everybody should make their own way in life, that they should do something that actually generates their own income,” she said.
But she stops short of saying people should be more self-reliant.
“We have a large portion of our population that due to circumstances beyond their control, cannot participate in the economy,” said Larson. “That’s why it’s so important for those who can participate in the economy to do so.”
The B.C. Liberal government, she said, has been focused on getting people to work.
And that, she says, is the fundamental difference between the B.C. Liberals and the NDP opposition.
“Certainly just in the four years I’ve been in Victoria, there has not been one time that the NDP has supported job creation,” said Larson. “There’s the difference. Not one time have they stood up and supported anything that would create jobs in British Columbia.”
Unlike other Liberal parties in Canada, the B.C. Liberals are an amalgam of different ideological perspectives – Liberals, Conservatives and former Social Credit. And in the past, Larson identified with Social Credit.
But if you think this mix of ideologies leads to a divided caucus, you’d be wrong, according to Larson.
“Our caucus is the best team I have ever worked on,” she said. “You couldn’t imagine that large a team all being supportive and working together, but they do.”
Larson suggests it helps that Premier Christy Clark has an open policy that encourages MLAs to express their opinions in caucus, including when they disagree with proposed legislation.
“You have that right to express your opinion and it’s respected,” said Larson. “You learn to work together as a team for the greater good.”
Asked about her biggest accomplishment, Larson points to achievements that might not capture major headlines.
- Going to bat for a disabled motorcyclist, Michael Warren, who brought to her attention the need for a system of decals allowing disabled motorcyclists to use designated parking.
- Working to change the rules for rural agency liquor stores to allow them if the community supports them.
And she also points to her role in obtaining funding for such projects as the canal repair in Oliver, as well as ongoing grants for local organizations, which require her support.
Her biggest challenge as MLA, she says, is the size of Boundary-Similkameen and the amount of travel involved to serve it.
On a given day, she may take in such far-flung locations as Big White near Kelowna, Grand Forks or points in the west of the riding.
That geography will become even more challenging with the addition to the riding of Princeton and rural areas extending as far west as Manning Park and the Coquihalla connector.
But travel isn’t new to Larson. She’s spent much of her life doing it.
Her initial career was as a flight attendant – then called a “stewardess” – with Pacific Western after she finished school.
After raising three daughters, she worked as a sales manager with Avon Canada, travelling the roads of B.C. to areas reaching from Prince George to Bella Coola.
She was born in Comox and spent her early childhood there, but as a young girl she lived a year in England where her war bride mother was from.
Growing up, her family moved often, going from Comox to Victoria to Nelson and on to Powell River, where she met her husband Larry.
The nomadic life continued with her husband’s career in the RCMP and they were posted to such communities as Logan Lake, Williams Lake and ultimately the Vancouver area.
Only after moving to Oliver in 1989, when her husband retired, has she settled permanently in one place.
In Oliver, she became active in a number of community organizations, such as the Sunnybank Ladies Auxiliary. She served many years on Oliver town council, including as mayor from 1997 to 2005.
Her entry into provincial politics in 2013 was unexpected – she replaced the late MLA John Slater as the B.C. Liberal candidate a few months before the election – and she had less time to become known.
This time she was acclaimed as the candidate last June and has had time to organize politically, opening campaign offices in four communities. And, as the incumbent, she’s also better known throughout the constituency.
Larson faces the relatively unknown Colleen Ross, a first-term municipal councillor in Grand Forks running for the NDP.
But judging from Larson’s multiple campaign offices and pre-writ advertising, she is not taking anything for granted.
And no doubt as the election approaches, she’ll be spending more time reminding voters in Boundary-Similkameen about her government’s economic record.
