By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
Confirming Roly Russell’s party nomination (by acclamation) for the coming fall election for the Boundary-Similkameen riding he currently represents, BC Finance Minister and MLA for Kootenay West, Katrine Conroy acknowledged the challenge the NDP faces adding it won’t be a “slam dunk”.
Speaking by video link to Russell and a gathering of party faithful at the Legion hall in Osoyoos on Sunday, Conroy expressed how fortunate the NDP was to have Russell as part of their caucus and how fortunate residents of the riding are to have him as their MLA.
“He has just been such an incredible addition to our caucus. He has that rural, rural voice, which is so critically important. And he’s done an amazing job as parliamentary secretary,” she said, adding that Russell is well known across the province for his ease when meeting with people of all walks of life. This was crucial in his work in “spearheading” the NDP government’s BC Rural Strategy, she noted.
“He’s comfortable going and talking to folks whether it’s in the sawmills, or in the farms, or . . . in the corporate boardrooms, and he has done some amazing work,” she said.
Acknowledging that the coming elections this fall won’t be a cake walk she said: “I just want to tell you that the election is not a slam dunk.” She noted that the government faces criticism over what some charge as excessive hiring but she says that because “the former Liberal government, whatever they call it now. . . got rid of so many people you couldn’t get stuff done.”
As a result Conroy says the NDP government has been working hard to slowly bring back public servants adding that the public service includes teachers, nurses, doctors and the like.
“We’ve hired more teachers than any government has ever done, to put more people back into the school system,” she said, noting that both the BC United Party (rebranded from the provincial Liberal Party) and the BC Conservative Party have questionable ideas about what teaching is about.
“So it’s really been pretty frightening listening to them,” she said, adding that not everyone understands where the Conservative party’s two members came from. The two-member caucus gave the BC Conservatives official party status marking the first time in 50 years that two Conservatives have sat together in the legislature.
Party leader John Rustad came from the former provincial Liberal Party after being dumped by Kevin Falcon (then leader of the Liberals, now leader of BC United) after a social media post by Rustad casting doubt on climate change science and urging people to “celebrate CO2.” The second Conservative Party member, Abbotsford South MLA Bruce Banman, jumped ship from the then Liberals over complaints of being stifled in speaking on behalf of his constituents.
Conroy noted there is also misunderstanding by some that the provincial Conservative Party is somehow linked to the leader of the federal Conservative Party.
Speaking of the provincial Conservative duo, Conroy says: “when you hear them speak in the house and the things they are talking about, it’s frightening.
“It’s frightening for me as a woman that they’re talking about taking away rights of a woman’s right to choose, you’re talking about taking away women’s health rights. . . and you know, we’ve come so far as a province that it’s frightening.”
Again reiterating the challenges of the coming election she said “we want to make sure we get everybody out to work on a campaign. We don’t want people to take it for granted. We know that there could be splits in some constituencies and that does help us but at the same time, we have to make sure that people recognize what we’re dealing with and that everybody gets out and helps.”
Saying he was “honoured to have the nomination,” Russell said its been “an enormous pleasure and privilege to be able to do this work over the last few years, but it’s also been exhausting.”
Referencing the pressures society is facing he noted the challenges with social discourse, “the tension and there’s a lot of hate out there and there’s a lot of pain.” Of importance is trying to figure out how to help and address these issues, Russell said.
“It’s trying to figure out how do we actually provide support for people that need support, whatever domain whether it’s agriculture, whether it’s water, whether it’s health care.” The other component is community building he said, expressing the belief that “people are getting disconnected from their community. And it’s at the heart of a lot of what is problematic with our society broadly right now.”
This is where community building is key he said, “how do we leverage the tools of provincial government to help support that, and . . . how do we support communities doing what they want,” whether traditional municipal structures or nonprofits and volunteer groups for instance.
Russell also referenced the concerns Conroy raised about the “shift in the tenor” of discussions in the Legislature, alongside what the federal Conservative Party leader “is bringing from federal conservative politics, into our communities and into our kind of local discourse really scares me.”
He added that two key values – investing in people, giving them the support they need, alongside the notion of building community – “are being directly assaulted by the current politics that we’re seeing growing in BC. The consequences, the stakes, all of a sudden are way higher,” he added.
The BC New Democrat Caucus is meeting in Osoyoos this week with House Leader Ravi Kahlon speaking to media on Tuesday morning. The Times Chronicle will have more coverage as stories develop.
