Local BC Green Party candidates James Steidle and Gwen Johansson are kicking off their campaign at Cottonwood Island Park Thursday October 3, at 10 a.m.
“We need a new approach to the problems facing the North,” said Prince George-Mackenzie candidate James Steidle. “We need to increase local ownership of our economy for the prosperity of all. We need more control over the issues that affect us, from food security, to sustainable forestry, to health care and addictions treatment.”
Gwen Johansson, former mayor of Hudson’s Hope, long-time municipal councillor and member of many boards and advisory committees, is running in Prince George-Valemount. She says a major issue this campaign is democracy.
“One thing that made me decide to run was what happened with the arbitrary top-down decision to fold BC United. Members of BC United elected candidates to represent them in the upcoming election. That was a democratic process which we should all respect, whether we would have voted for them or not. But Kevin Falcon, the BC United leader, was able to arbitrarily withdraw all those democratically selected candidates, That was profoundly undemocratic. All British Columbians should be concerned about the flagrant erosion of democracy we are seeing before us.”
Steidle and Johansson are joined in campaigning in Prince George ridings by Quesnel-based garlic farmer Randy Thompson running in Prince George-North Cariboo. Thompson was not able to attend the kickoff event, but plans on attending the sustainability debate at UNBC Thursday night. None of the BC Conservative or NDP candidates attended Johansson’s debate on Tuesday and none are scheduled to appear with Steidle Wednesday night.
“The Green Party is committed to participatory democracy and one thing I believe in is letting voters know who we are,” said Steidle. “For too long vested interests in the Lower Mainland have dictated what happens in Northern BC. A vote for the Greens is a vote for an independent voice that will stand up for our interests and our concerns.”
