The following is a late submission by Green Party candidate Calvin Beauchesne who is running for MLA in Columbia River-Revelstoke.
I have a BA in environmental studies and MA in sustainability studies from Trent University. I’ve worked in the outdoor tourism industry for many years as a ski instructor, ski patrol and sea kayak guide. Over the past few years I’ve been very active with climate action initiatives in my community. I am on the board of directors of Wildsight Golden and I work as the air quality coordinator. Previously I worked as the electric vehicle car share coordinator for Golden Community Resources Society, and invasive plant program coordinator with Wildsight Golden. I was responsible for Golden committing to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050, and Powell River endorsing a global treaty to phase out fossil fuels. I also obtained a grant from Columbia Basin Trust to install solar panels on Golden Secondary School. I’ve lived in Golden for five years.
I wanted to get into politics because my entire life I’ve been frustrated by the lack of action to address the biggest challenge of our time – the climate crisis. Every year climate disasters get worse, more records get broken and another town burns down. Yet we still have politicians in BC that say climate change isn’t even a crisis. I wanted to run for the BC Green Party because they are the only party that is willing to act against the climate crisis with the seriousness and urgency it demands.
I’ve chosen to make climate a central part of my campaign. British Columbia is on the frontlines of the climate crisis: wildfires, atmospheric rivers, heat domes. I want to see BC make large-scale investments in real climate solutions like clean energy, energy efficiency, local food production, conservation, public transit and ecological restoration. Instead the provincial government continues to subsidize fossil fuel companies and log old growth forests.
I would also love to see universal mental health care in BC, which would allow thousands of people to get help who need it. Mental health is just as important as physical health, and research suggests the two are interlinked.
I’m also focusing on addressing the rising inequality in our province, fuelled by corporate greed. I want to see a windfall tax on oil companies, and also grocery store companies and real estate companies. The government could then use the revenue from this tax to assist people who are struggling right now to pay for fuel, groceries and rent. I also would really like to see proportional representation in BC. Our first past the post voting system forces people to vote against fear, instead of voting for their values. That is in essence a flawed democracy.
Affordability is definitely top of mind for a lot of people, and rightly so. Everything these days is more expensive. A lot of this discussion has centred around the carbon tax, which is unfortunate because most people in BC are actually getting more money back in rebates than they pay through the tax. According to research from Statistics Canada and Bank of Canada the carbon tax’s impact on inflation and food prices is pretty much negligible. On the other hand climate disasters such as mega-wildfires are costing our economy billions and raising the cost of insurance and food. A windfall tax on oil companies would help raise millions that could be used to help people during this affordability crisis. But you never hear about politicians talking about the economic costs of climate change or the benefits of a windfall tax on corporations; they choose to focus on the carbon tax because saying we should get rid of it is an easy sell for a lot of people.
I want to turn more people onto politics and inspire as many people as possible to vote. I have a lot of friends who are relatively concerned with environmental and social issues but don’t know much about politics. I think a lot of people turn off from politics because of its divisiveness, which is unfortunate because the only way we’re going to solve these big problems is through policy changes. For that to happen we need people to stay informed on government decisions to hold our leaders accountable, and we need people turning out to the polls.
I especially want to see increased youth voter turnout, because they are the ones who have their whole lives ahead of them. If I can get an extra 20, 50, 100 or 500 people to vote this election, and turn them into voters for the rest of their lives, then I’ll be happy.
There are lot of things BC Greens are proposing that will help the people of this riding; whether it’s increased public transit, better wildfire management practices and cooling centres, community based health care centres, vacancy control and more non-profit housing built on public lands.
Having a Green representative means having an MLA who is actually working for you. The Green Party is the only party that doesn’t whip their votes, meaning the representative can vote for policies based on how they choose, even if that’s different from the rest of their party.