On Sept. 9, four out of the five candidates for the upcoming Abbotsford-Mission provincial by-election came together for a debate hosted by the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce. In attendance were Pam Alexis for the New Democratic Party (NDP), Kerry-Lynne Findlay for the BC Conservatives, Stephen Fowler for the BC Greens, and Lakhwinder Jhaj for CentreBC. Jeff Monds for the Libertarian Party was not in attendance.
The debate was held from six to eight in the evening, and was moderated by Dr. Hamish Telford, a political science professor at the University of the Fraser Valley. The event was livestreamed, with no in-person attendance option. The debate is now available to watch on the Chamber’s YouTube channel.
Discussed in this debate was encouraging business competitiveness, the expansion of the point of sale tax (PST), international trade, increasing the workforce and job opportunities, the Sumas Prairie flooding, and potential transport projects.
The candidates were asked about which specific provincial transportation investments they would prioritize next, besides the congestion of Highway 1 for Abbotsford-Mission. Jhaj talked about speeding up the expansion of Highway 1 and issues with congestion on the Mission Bridge. Fowler brought up the issues of never-ending expansion, and the need to increase train and transit access in the area to ease the need for expanded roads. Findlay discussed serious issues with old and failing infrastructure across the province amid a growing population, while Alexis spoke about pushing forward the South Mission Transportation Plan that proposes a by-pass to ease traffic.
On Sept. 14 from six to eight at night, the same four candidates participated in a forum hosted by the Mission Chamber of Commerce at the Clarke Theatre. The event could be attended in person or watched via livestream on the Chamber’s YouTube account, where it is now available to stream.
The discussion centred around emergency room (ER) wait-times in Mission, the upcoming PST expansion, high school capacity in Mission, increasing housing supply, supportive housing, public safety, and work with Indigenous communities.
In the public questions portion of the debate, candidates were asked how they would support making post-secondary education more affordable for low income students.
Fowler went first and discussed post secondary falling under more federal jurisdiction, and passed on the question.
Findlay talked about general affordability, lower taxes, and more productivity, putting an emphasis on unleashing more resource jobs.
“We need to lower taxes, not increase taxes. We need to get productivity up. We need to unleash good resource jobs with good paychecks so that more students can afford education. I’m a big believer in education and I think that it should be more available. But we can do this by getting our house in order financially.”
Alexis highlighted her recent visit to UFV for a lunch hosted for the Chamber of Commerce and manufacturing sector, and spoke about the provincial government’s commitment to opening up more doors in trades education and job opportunities.
“I know that government is very keen on ensuring that, in particular, the trades are supported. And so more has been done to open up the sector for opportunities and numbers to get what they need in order to work on all those infrastructure projects.”
Jahj finished the subject, emphasizing the importance of education, and spoke of available grants and the possibility of those grants increasing. She also talked about having jobs that kept students in the community.
“There are grants available for secondary education, but we need to expand on that because it’s very important that everyone gets [an] education. If they’re trades, [UFV’s] where students should go get the trades and the healthcare education with grants there, and that way they’re studying in the community and then they get jobs right here in the community.”
Saturday, Sept. 26 is the general voting day for the by-election. Advance voting is available Sept. 18-23. More information on how and where to vote can be found at elections.bc.ca.
At the time of writing, it was announced that Kerry-Lynne Findlay officially resigned from her leadership position with the BC Conservatives. She is still running as a candidate to represent Mission-Abbotsford in the provincial legislature.
