Voters will have at least three choices in North Vancouver-Lonsdale when they cast their ballots May 9.
Green Party candidate Richard Warrington is touting the environment as a top priority, NDP candidate Bowinn Ma is advocating more affordable housing and Liberal MLA Naomi Yamamoto, the riding’s representative since 2009, stands by her party’s record on job creation.
British Columbia’s booming economy is the primary reason voters should support the B.C. Liberals, according to Yamamoto.
B.C.’s unemployment rate was 5.1 per cent in February, the lowest in the country according to BC Stats.
“When more people . . . are taking home full-time pay then it becomes more affordable to live in this province and in particular North Vancouver,” Yamamoto said.
The MLA also touted cutting taxes, allowing residents to spend their cash “the way they would like to see their money spent as opposed to how government spends it.”
Yamamoto cited her community involvement with North Shore Neighbourhood House and the Seymour Salmonid Society.
“Personally, I want to see that big rock blasted out of the Seymour River so that our salmon can swim upstream,” she said.
Affordable housing is the crux of NDP candidate Ma’s platform.
“Firstly, we definitely need to close the loopholes that allow speculation on the housing market to run rampant,” she said. “We know that there’s no magic bullet when it comes to resolving it but the first step is definitely to acknowledge the problem and that is something the current government has been loath to do.”
It’s critical the provincial government manage the “commodification of homes,” according to Ma, which she said relates to other major issues.
“Our traffic congestion and transportation woes are directly tied to housing affordability.”
Ma also touted the NDP’s commitment to “substantial investments” in public transportation to create jobs and get cars off the road.
The provincial government needs to balance economic and environmental concerns, according to Green Party candidate Warrington.
“As a biological organism I’m kind of dependent on my environment,” he said.
The government needs to “chart that course between the obvious interest to keep the economy running . . . and the very real concern that we need to take care of the environment.”
The Green Party represents freedom of choice as well as a political party beholden to no one, according to Warrington.
“We’re not in anybody’s pocket,” he said.
Warrington called for a poverty reduction plan and noted scant increases to disability benefits in B.C.
“We’ve bought into this ideology that money trumps everything and I don’t believe we can afford that anymore.”
Yamamoto won the riding in 2013 with 45.5 per cent of the vote, defeating the NDP’s Craig Keating, who finished with 40.5 per cent. The greens netted just over nine per cent while the B.C. Conservatives, who have not nominated a candidate this year, finished with 3.5 per cent of the votes.
