To ensure Sun Peaks has a voice in the federal election conversation, Sun Peaks Independent News (SPIN) surveyed readers to identify their top questions and concerns for candidates in the lead-up to the April 28 election.
SPIN took the most-asked questions on the survey and reached out to all of the candidates in the Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola riding. These candidates are Frank Caputo, Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), Iain Currie, Liberal Party of Canada (LPC), Miguel Godau, New Democratic Party (NDP), Jenna Lindley, Green Party of Canada (GPC) and Chris Enns, People’s Party of Canada (PPC). For more information about these candidates, visit our Sun Peaks federal election voter guide.
SPIN requested responses from all candidates for the Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola ridings. Despite multiple requests for comment via phone and email, candidates Frank Caputo and Jenna Lindley did not respond prior to publication. We will update the story if responses are provided.
Economic investment and development for tourism-based communities were among the top issues readers identified as key areas of concern. Below are the candidates’ responses. These responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What will you do to encourage private economic investment and development in Canada, specifically for tourism-based economies?
Iain Currie, LPC
I think there’s a couple of things I can say about since we’re talking directly to people in Sun Peaks.
The other thing that I heard from counselors when I was in Sun Peaks is concerns around a back road and improvements to the back road to make Sun Peaks more fire resilient and also to anticipate the potential due to Sun Peaks being geographically isolated, in of the middle beautiful forested area.
This is sort of tangentially related to supporting a tourist economy, but making sure that roads and emergency response, primarily a provincial jurisdiction, but as your MP, I would see my role as making sure that all of these interests of the communities are able to access the funds that are available.
For example, climate mitigation and advocating for specific projects that are important to the people in this case, Sun Peaks, but also, Barrier, Clearwater, Lytton, Liilowette, Ashcraftoft, Cash Creek, Clinton – make sure that the federal dollars are available to help with those programs.
The village of Sun Peaks tells me, as your MP, what are your priorities and I say okay how can I help to contribute to this and that doesn’t just mean support, but also means how do I find federal programs that connect to this that we can access our federal tax dollars and put them to work to help the specific issues in the riding.
Chris Enns, PPC
As a resident of Clearwater, I am acutely aware of the problems that face tourism-based economies. They are susceptible to the boom-bust cycle, as recessions and diminishing spending-power reduce the ability for people to travel. Economies need multiple engines. Canada is resource-rich, and our local riding is no exception. We need to stop discouraging corporations with the means to create good-paying mining and forestry jobs. We may need to regulate raw-log export so that more timber is milled locally again. These resource jobs will bring back the (diminishing) middle-class, and their disposable income will flow back into established tourism economies like Sun Peaks.
Miguel Godau, NDP
The NDP wants to strengthen and grow the economy by boosting EI to support displaced workers, building an East-West energy and electrical grid, making major investments in Infrastructure, thus creating employment and boosting productivity, and creating tax-free Victory Bonds to accelerate massive housing construction and building Infrastructure, which facilitates and supports tourism.
Additionally, Jagmeet Singh has announced a range of measures to help families by capping food prices, letting people keep more of their money before they start to pay income tax, taking the GST off essential purchases, and doubling the Canada Disability Benefit. A well-trained workforce, stable, thriving working and middle class is attractive for investors, as is a reasonable government that protects public services and respects rule of law (unlike the instability created by Trump) key to attracting investment.
Go straight to the source — here are links to the party platforms:
How do I vote?
Voting day is Monday, April 28. Visit SPIN’s voting guide for more information on where to go and what to bring.
Further reading
Candidates in this riding also answered questions for The Wren, our sibling publication in Kamloops. To view their responses on questions of healthcare, housing, affordability, the toxic drug crisis, climate change and sustainability and Truth and Reconciliation, visit our Kamloops election guide.
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