Last week the Prince Rupert Northern View was informed that two other candidates had entered the May 2 election in the Skeena - Bulkley Valley riding competing with Rod Taylor of the Christian Heritage Party, Clay Harmon of the Conservatives, Roger Benham of the Green Party, Kyle Warwick of the Liberal Party and Nathan Cullen of the New Democratic Party.
Below are their profiles. For complete profiles on all the candidates in the running in the Skeena - Bulkley Valley riding for the May 2 election, visit our website at www.thenorthernview.com
Maggie Braun
Canadian Action Party
The Canadian Action Party has selected Maggie Braun as their candidate for the current election.
Braun is a resident of Jack Pine Flats, a small agricultural subdivision located outside of Terrace. She says she decided to run for the party because they offer “positive solutions” to the problems facing the riding.
Braun says that one of the reasons people should vote for her is that they will get an MP not bound by the strict party-discipline found in the other parties, which she says causes MPs to vote in ways that are not always in their riding’s interest.
“Our party is really looking at practicing different forms of democracy. We’re really bringing the power back to the people. Instead of voting for a member of a party who will have to tow that party line, voting for the Canadian Action Party means that you are voting for yourself because the concerns of the people in the riding will be the concerns I will be bringing forward,” says Braun.
The two biggest concerns of the Canadian Action Party’s platform are the preservation of Canadian sovereignty and civil rights.
Braun believes that so much is changing, and so quickly, on the international level, that sometimes the government doesn’t keep the preservation of sovereignty in mind while making deals with other countries. Braun points to a potential deal for an integrated border with the US and the potential selling of Canadian water sources to private businesses as two problems facing Canadian sovereignty,
On the economy, Braun says she would push to reduce the amount of interest payments the country has to pay on its debt through banking reform. The plan would be to pay off all federal debt owed to private banks and then only use the Bank of Canada. She says this would cut down on interest payments and free up more money to be invested in communities to create jobs.
“There is no reason why people can’t be working here. We have resources, an employable work force, and we have Canadian entre-preneurs with good ideas waiting for the opportunity to get this economy going again. And we’re spending so much a day on interest payments alone, we have to get out of that,” says Braun.
Braun says she believes that people in Skeena-Bulkley Valley are ready for a change.
“When I go out, I get a sense that people are dissatisfied with our current political system. They really want something to happen, I sense a lot of despair and if I can do one thing for this riding it will be giving these people back a voice.”
Laurence Knowles
Rhino Party of Canada
He isn’t in the race to win it, Laurence Knowles said, but he does want to make people think more about the issues in the upcoming federal election.
Knowles is running for the Rhinoceros Party, a party which operates more “tongue-in-cheek” he said.
“I’m just there to put some points out, that everyone keeps sidestepping,” Knowles said.
“I’m hoping the younger kids like my platform and want to get involved.”
His interest in politics, oddly enough, came from his apathy towards it in high school, he said.
As there was a federal election during the time in high school, they organized an in-school debate, with students dividing between the parties to discuss the issues. He and a few others were put in the Rhinoceros Party group.
“The idea was we could predict the election before the election was held based on how it went in the class. But our party won, so it backfired,” Knowles said.
Issues he would particularly like to bring up have to do with gun control. Hunters, he said, should have to use machine guns, the bigger the better, but the real issue here is the need for registering staplers. Another one of his stances is to see Haida Gwaii removed from Canada.
Knowles grew up in Prince Rupert, and now lives in Masset, B.C. on Haida Gwaii. A commercial fisherman from a young age who now works in the mining industry, it would be the best thing for the island, which is vastly ignored unless there is an election, he said.
“We don’t see any jobs up here,” Knowles said. “
Regarding the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway project, Knowles said he would, if Enbridge paid $1 billion per member of First Nations throughout the project, with a monthly rent paid afterwards.
Knowles hopes to take part in the all-candidates discussions, but it depends on funding, he said.