(by Margot Grant)
What is the most pressing issue in this riding?
The ferries, I would say. I believe that BC Ferries should go back to the provincial government and be run as a marine highway.
I know some people who do not live here say ‘Well, you chose to live here’ but when we all chose to live here the ferries ran later at night and the fares were much more reasonable.
The federal government subsidizes the Atlantic ferry system much more per passenger than it does BC Ferries. That disparity is egregious and needs to be rectified.
I’ve already discussed this with our MP Pamela Goldsmith-Jones and she completely agrees that that disparity is not fair. So I would definitely work with Pam Goldsmith-Jones and Rachel Blaney, the MP for Powell River, to see what we can do.
I firmly believe that the BC government will not take BC Ferries back as long as that huge debt is in place. The federal government needs to pay that off. Because of the disparity between the subsidies over a long period we are owed that money.
Housing affordability
I have been in the property and real estate field for approximately 31 years. Last year, with real estate prices soaring in Vancouver and on the Sunshine Coast, I decided to write a policy for the BC Chamber of Commerce. These policies get handed to the provincial ministers who make the decisions.
The policy called on the provincial government to study how many foreign non-residents own property in British Columbia. We need to find out if the increase in property values has anything to do with foreign money.
Everybody was guessing what the cause of the problem was but nobody had facts or data. Without the right information, the solutions you come forward with are just guesswork.
We need to address the racism issue here. We were talking a lot about money from China. That’s only because that’s where the money came from. This is not racism. That the money was from China is not the problem. The problem was the large amounts of foreign money that had the ability to distort the housing market here.
The BC Chamber of Commerce passed my policy in Kelowna last summer. Most developed countries track who is buying in their country, where these buyers come from, and in what price range they buy.
But the study has not been done. Part of the reason why I’m running as a candidate for the Green Party is that I came to recognize that you can write all the policies you want, but if nobody is going to act on them, then why bother.
If it does turn out that something is distorting our property values there are a number of things we can do. I know the Liberal government put in the 15 per cent foreign buyers tax but I think that was misguided.
I believe that foreign non-residents should pay higher property taxes. I want to be clear here: I am not talking about immigrants who want to live here and buy here. When you look a few generations back, we were all immigrants. I’m talking about non-residents that purchase here and leave their homes vacant and don’t contribute to our tax base.
When I was writing my policy I communicated with a Simon Fraser University assistant professor named Joshua Gregory who wrote a paper called Vancouver’s housing affordability crisis: causes, consequences and solutions.
He has some brilliant solutions that can be enacted right away. One of them was linking the taxation to Canada Pension Plans so that people would be exempt from paying the higher tax if they had filed a number of years of taxes in Canada.
The tax revenue from foreign non-resident property owners can be used for housing strategies. Everyone should have a roof over their head. The Green Party has a housing-first strategy. When people have reliable shelter, their physical and mental health improves.
There have been suggestions that owners of empty houses should somehow be forced to rent them out. I don’t think people should be told what to do with their houses on the Sunshine Coast.
We have essentially been like the Hamptons of New York. People have cottages here and maybe some of these people only come up in the summer. A higher tax would cause some angst. I don’t know if there is a perfect solution. I think looking to see if people contribute to the tax base in Canada is a good idea.
I read the article ‘Temporary homes on clearcuts’ in The Coast Clarion. I had never thought of this concept but I would definitely support it.
The only problem I see is that under current forest practices logging companies have to reforest. Temporarily housing people on clearcuts would prevent those companies from fullfilling that mandate.
But the people in the tiny homes could do the replanting; it could be a job creation strategy. It would also give them their dignity back. Yes, absolutely, there could be a win-win here.
LNG and Woodfibre
I found a peer-reviewed scientific paper about 152 small fracking operations in the United States. The scientists found that their emissions were 36,000 times higher than what they were reporting.
In Canada, small fracking operations don’t even have to report emissions on Environment Canada’s website. Large fracking operations only get spot-audited.
In terms of the Paris Climate Summit, the Canadian numbers are already off-kilter. LNG is not clean energy.
British Columbia needs to build up the clean energy industry so we have jobs to transition to. Jurisdictions that are at the forefront of this energy revolution happening all over the world stand to gain economically and environmentally. It’s a win-win.
Jobs
I have my first private member’s bill that I would like to have passed once I’m elected. I want more support for small business.
We have a small-business investment co-op here on the Sunshine Coast; many communities in British Columbia have them. People investing in these co-ops are essentially helping small local business because that’s what the co-ops invest in.
Here in BC, you can get a 30 per cent tax credit for investing in such a co-op. In New Brunswick, it is 50 per cent; they just increased it in 2015.
So I emailed the premier of New Brunswick. I congratuled him and asked him if they had any documents for me. I received powerpoint presentations, the legislation and a number of other documents. I can use those to bring about an increase in the tax credit which will help small local businesses here and in all of BC.
I recently did a tour of the dryland sort near Port Mellon. They have a problem which I see as an opportunity. Thirty to fifty per cent of logging ends up as wood waste. They have mountains of it. I would like to see that wood waste used, for instance for pellets if the waste has not been in the salt water. Biochar from wood waste could replace coal, and we could produce presto logs.
We have to stop making things out of oil and gas, like polyester for clothes. Instead we could use wood waste to produce viscose which is a really nice, soft material. There are just so many solutions if we look for them.
Site C
First of all, the BC Utility Commission, the watchdog for us, turned down Site C twice. But the government removed their teeth. They need them back.
Site C makes no sense because energy use has not gone up in at least ten years. So why would we spend $9 billion, probably more, on this project? Because that electricity is linked to fracking, to LNG.
I don’t understand why we would take away valuable agricultural land when we have other sources of renewable power as alternatives.
Water
First of all, the Sunshine Coast needs to take over control of its own water supply from the province.
About 25,000 people depend on Chapman Lake for their water supply. If something happens to that . . . . We definitely need an extra water storage facility.
Campaign contributions
I believe corporations and unions should not be allowed to contribute to political parties because we have seen that they—mostly the corporations—have been influencing the decisions in the British Columbia Legislature to a large degree. The BC Green Party is the only party that has banned these donations.
Once we are the government we will ban corporate and union donations for all parties. We need to clean up BC politics.
Persephone
Persephone is going through a really difficult time because of some antiquated rules that need to be modified. We need to encourage small-scale farm-based breweries. If we want to attract young people, I can’t think of a better thing.
Persephone should be allowed to stay at the present site. The regulations for wineries are less stringent and it makes me wonder if big breweries are having some influence in the back room.
When we talk about modifying the regulations for agricultural land we must make sure it is for small-scale farm-based craft breweries only. On agricultural land, we do not want a Molson-size brewery, or big industry, or mining, or development.
Seniors health care
I believe there is a place for private facilities but not at the expense of public ones. We absolutely need more long-term care beds on the Sunshine Coast.
Totem Lodge cannot be retrofitted, it’s far too old; I don’t know about Shorncliffe. I have talked to Sue Jackal, our seniors advocate, and she has an innovative idea.
The solution could be to co-operate with the Good Samaritan Society in Gibsons which apparently has a lot of land available. So perhaps their facility Christenson Village could be expanded. We could move people from Totem and Shorncliffe to those new beds and retrofit Shorncliffe. The people from Totem could subsequently move to Shorncliffe.
These seniors care homes should be run as either public facilities or non-profits. If Trellis wants to be there as well, that’s fine. I believe we could use all those beds.
What is close to your heart
What can the Green Party do about the disfunction in the BC Legislature? Andrew Weaver already does something. For question period he gives the questions to the opposition a few days in advance so that they have time to look up facts and data. He gets real, factual answers.
Thank you Kim for your heart, your research and your committment to the Sunshine Coast – Paradise and keeping it that way.
The way we label issues determines the solutions. In Canada we have labelled aging as a medical problem and create medical solutions. Denmark has labelled it a social issue and turns 50 and 60’s houses into homes for 3 or 4 people. People losing some abilities do not necessarily lose them all. These homes are run by the residents. One larger facility with 48 residents has only 1 staff, and a few volunteers. the residents shop, plan menus, cook, clean, go on vacations, and walk in nature. They may walk in small groups or on their own. Many walk many kilometers per day. If someone chooses to walk alone and may not return in time for meals they are given a tracking device and someone just goes and gets them. Holland has taken a different orientation and created a whole village, small houses, shopping centres, a library, a garden, a woods, a large fenced community where residents continue to have a life. We are so concerned with safety, medications, and feeding people on a very strict budget that it becomes challenging have a life of fun and interest. for more info Michael Enright did a documentary on CBC Sunday morning.
What Sandy has already said so well. There are so many creative solutions to ageing and homelessness, that are working effectively in other places. Please, can we start taking some of those ideas, and implementing them in our province and country.
What a pleasant surprise, that while reading I encounter a researcher and collaborator, one with helpful and interesting answers worthy of be hashed out, perfected, and implemented. As a renter with a young family, who are finding ourselves extremely squeezed, I find your outlook, deep interest and persistence to find and implement solutions encouraging. I haven’t voted Green for a long time. Now, I am too angry (and impressed!) not to. Many thanks.