This is a candidate profile for the April 28, 2025 federal election.
All candidates have been asked the same four questions, and were given a 600-word limit.
Some responses may be edited for length, grammar and spelling, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rewind Radio News and Pattison Media.
Advance voting days are April 18, 19, 20 and 21. More info here.
1) Why are you running to be a Member of Parliament?
We’ve had 10 years of the Liberals, and it’s certainly time for some change where we become more productive, have more money, and have more people working.
I find that helping people in Kootenay-Columbia as opposition is wonderful, but it would be nice to be the ones that are in government to be able to make some really positive changes for our area.
2) Why should people vote for you, and what skills do you have that make you suitable for this role?
A long time in the RCMP has made it so that I’m very easy to talk to. I find myself willing to work with others, and being the [incumbent] Member of Parliament, it’s so critical to be able to work with the other parties to come to a resolve on issues that are important.
It’s not to be combative and to disagree with everyone all the time– it’s to work and try to get the best possible bills passed so that they help everyone in Canada, including rural people. For example, for us in Kootenay-Columbia, the skill really is to be one who can work with others, even when it’s stressful, it still is important to be respectful and to work with others.
3) What will you advocate for; and do you intend to fully toe the party line?
I’ll advocate for a few things, and one is that we need to start approving some big projects a lot faster than we are. For example, the Fording River expansion, where we have the highest grade steel metallurgical coal in the world in the Elk Valley. It’s taking up to 18 years to get mining permits, and we need to fast-track that.
I’ll also be advocating for Pipeline East-West, and I’ll be advocating for natural gas sales. We just missed out on a $1 trillion sale to Japan, where they went to the U.S. because the government of the day did not see a business case in that.
[I’m] basically advocating for people working, especially in rural areas like ours. That means looking after the smaller people, the ones who are in the businesses we’re losing. So many small businesses are going bankrupt, especially in our tourism hospitality areas, because they just can’t afford the taxes, so we’ll be advocating, for example, removing the carbon tax– not pausing it, but removing it.
[Regarding the] party line, we are allowed to have our own votes. Most of the time, we agree because we’re trying to move a bill forward, so we get to do our own voting. If […] you’ll see times where the Conservatives have voted, we don’t always vote the same.
4) How do you believe Canada’s federal government should tackle its current predicament with the United States, and where do you sit on Canadian sovereignty?
I sit solid on Canadian sovereignty. I’m a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police, so I am very, very loyal to Canada. I love our flag, there’s no way we’re going to lose our sovereignty.
This is very serious. We have to be firm with them, with tariffs, their tariffs, or our tariffs. I think once we form government – and it’s really hard without government to do anything, really – [we should] go down and reopen CUSMA, which is a Canadian-US-Mexico free trade agreement. It’s due in 2026, so let’s get it on the table and let’s hammer everything out. Let’s also include softwood lumber, because they’ve been excluded, and we have a lot of sawmills and logging enterprises in our region.
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