As the voting day for the BC Liberal leadership race approaches, one candidate stopped in Castlegar Monday afternoon for a meet-and-greet session.
Michael Lee was in the Kootenays making stops in Castlegar, Nelson and Creston. A stop in Trail earlier in the day had to be cancelled due to a flight cancellation.
Lee was elected as the MLA for Vancouver-Langara in 2017. He previously spent 20 years as a business lawyer in Vancouver working with forestry, mining, energy and technology companies across the province. He has also spent 30 years in community services including social, educational and children and youth organizations.
Lee recognizes that the Liberal Party has lost ground in the Kootenays.
“I think this region of our province — the Kootenays — is a very important region,” he said. “We need to regain, as the BC Liberal Party, strength in this region. In order to come forth as a candidate in this leadership race, we need to ensure that every region in our province is paid good attention to.”
“For me, it’s ensuring that members here, in Nelson, in Castlegar in particular and Creston tomorrow will have the opportunity to meet me in the last few weeks of this leadership campaign to get a better sense of me directly.”
Lee believes he will bring a fresh perspective to the party.
“I’m not the seasoned politician that the other five candidates in this campaign are,” he said. But he did point to his experience in politics from working with Kim Campbell when she was the minister of justice to working with and chairing various service organizations, volunteering provincially and municipally and being the past membership chair for the BC Liberals.
“I have a different combination of perspectives,” added Lee.
He also believes he brings a more balanced approach to the table.
“I believe it’s been a false choice to have to pick between a stronger economy and stewarding our environment,” Lee said.
He agrees that we need to lower our carbon footprint, but doesn’t think it should be done overnight the way he says the NDP and Green Party want to do it.
Lee sees health care as an important issue in this region.
“We need to continue to ensure that the Kootenay region is receiving the kind of services that it needs, for example here in Castlegar — looking at the way things are positioned with hospitals and neighbouring places like Nelson and Cranbrook.
“We need to make sure that we’re spending our resources wisely, but we need to make sure that we are providing the right level of care, whether it is emergency care, family physicians, doctors with specialities in these regions. Because I know that as we build our communities we need a longer-term plan to get through to ensure that we’re getting the best care to residents of this region in the best possible manner and in an efficient manner.”
Lee also sees transportation issues and aging infrastructure in the region as important as well as wildlife management policies.
“I’ve talked about wildlife management and the importance of science-based decision making … getting more data, putting resources to wildlife management,” said Lee. “We have a very strong eco-diversity in this province and wildlife is an important part and we should be managing it in a more responsible, reasonable manner.”
Lee’s policies include supporting the province’s hunting, fishing, and sports shooting heritage.
With homeschooling and distance learning being a popular choice throughout the Kootenay region, some of Lee’s education policies are also relevant to the area. He wants to enhance education choices for independent and home-schooling options and address funding inequalities.
“We need to ensure as a government that we support those options, that we can’t dictate to our citizens only one way,” said Lee.
He also wants to recognize that parents are the primary educators of their children and re-engage them in the educational process, giving them a voice in choosing the type of education their child receives including having input into curriculum and programming.
“I am all about ensuring that we have options, quality and innovation. I say that in healthcare and I say the same thing in education,” added Lee.
He also wants to increase investments in Head Start programs, school and community libraries, school infrastructure and make post-secondary education more affordable.
“After 16 years I believe we [the BC Liberals] need change,” concluded Lee. “We need to remain true to our core principals around balanced budgets, low taxes, building a strong economy.
“But our province’s future is more than just that. I believe I have a really balanced vision for this province, one that thinks larger in terms of the opportunities to ensure that our young people have the kind of opportunities to build their futures here in this province and in this region.”
The leadership vote will take place through online or phone voting Feb. 1- Feb. 3.