Ahead of the Oct. 19 provincial election, Black Press conducted phone interviews with each of the four Kootenay Central candidates. Each interview included questions about the same general topics, which were not disclosed in advance. The candidates were also given the opportunity to speak on a bonus topic of their choice.
This interview is with NDP incumbent MLA Brittny Anderson.
Housing
Anderson was asked about home ownership and rentals.
Anderson said the government recently announced a plan that will help first time middle income home buyers with financing. She said the new program will finance up to 25,000 homes over five years.
"It will help thousands of middle class families break into the housing market every year by financing 40 per cent of the purchase price," she said.
For renters, Anderson said BC Housing intends continue the trend of providing apartment buildings in the West Kootenay including Nelson, New Denver, Nakusp, Kaslo and Creston for low-to-middle income residents.
She added that the province's changes to the short-term rental rules have shifted a significant number of units to the long-term rental market.
Climate change
Anderson was asked about the carbon tax and wildfire strategy.
Anderson said she is "interested in" a new movement to convince the provincial government to keep the consumer portion of the carbon tax ... and give the revenue to municipalities to respond to the effects of climate change.
But she did not commit to this.
"If the federal government is going to change or remove the carbon tax, as we know ... one particular federal leader is hoping to do, we would adjust. We're going to keep the carbon tax. We want the biggest polluters to pay."
She added that B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad "doesn't believe in climate science, and he wants to scrap our entire Climate Action Plan, and that is something that we absolutely cannot afford."
Anderson said the government plans to implement a wildfire strategy that originated in Argenta. This past summer when the community was evacuated because of a wildfire, a 20-year-old, well-equipped, well-trained citizen fire brigade stayed behind and worked with BC Wildfire Service.
"We are going to be working with the people of Argenta and bringing that model across British Columbia so that communities can get trained and get certified to map their watersheds (and to) work alongside BC Wildfire Service and protect their communities."
Asked if the government will incentivize or regulate the large timber companies to do wildfire mitigation on their tenured Crown land, Anderson said this is the government's responsibility, but it has only pursued it in a limited way so far.
Anderson said the government intends to do a full review of the role and operation of B.C.Timber Sales, the provincial agency that plans and designs logging operations and then auctions them to private companies.
Health care
Anderson was asked about the opioid crisis and the shortage of healthcare workers.
Asked about emergency room closures across B.C. caused by lack of staffing, Anderson said a number of government initiatives will take time but will show results, including increased roles for pharmacists and nurse practitioners, and the opening of a new medical school at Simon Fraser University.
Asked if there is a plan for the implementation of overdose prevention sites in the West Kootenay – how many sites and in what communities – Anderson said this depends on Interior Health, which has not so far released such a plan.
"My office has been working on it basically daily for the last few years," Anderson said. "We need treatment centres. We need recovery centres. We've been working on opening those up. We've purchased private centres across British Columbia. But we need more."
She said it is not just people experiencing homelessness that need this, "but community members that are working and contributing to our economy that are also struggling with with addiction and with mental health challenges as well."
Asked about an Auditor General report from last January that criticized overdose prevention programs for uneven standards and varying quality, Anderson said, "We've been working at standardizing the care to make sure that people get the care they need."
She added that in rural areas greater flexibility is required.
"What's going to work on the Downtown East Side is not necessarily going to work for people in Ymir or Argenta or Riondel."
Indigenous rights
Anderson was asked if and when the province would give the Sinixt Confederacy a status similar to other local Indigenous groups – consultation on resource projects, for example – following a 2021 Supreme Court of Canada decision that the Sinixt are an aboriginal people of Canada under the Constitution.
She said that first the federal government has to establish a relationship with the Sinixt because "there's a federal responsibility there."
Bonus topic: The NDP's record
Anderson said she and the NDP government have delivered benefits to the region including housing, childcare spaces, the under-construction Nelson Health Campus and support for Valley Community Services in Creston. She said she has been instrumental in creating the Youth Climate Corps and in supporting people through wildfire evacuations and recovery.
She said she wants to work toward a new elementary school in Salmo, long-term care beds in Kaslo and Creston, active transportation networks, improved transit, the paving of the Whitewater Road, support to the Cube Climbing Gym, and dialysis treatment at Nelson's Kootenay Lake Hospital.
