KelownaNow
and KamloopsBCNow reached out to all Member of Parliament candidates
running in the 2015 Federal Election in the
Central-Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola riding and asked them questions
pertaining to their electoral district.
Responses
received from those running in the Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola
riding will be posted live on KelownaNow.com and KamloopsBCNow.com
between September 7th and September 11th in a randomly selected order.
Robert Mellalieu
I am Canadian. I am a small business owner – the largest employer in Canada. I am a parent. I am not a lawyer. I am not a politician. I can relate.
2. What is your stance on legalizing marijuana in Canada?
Yes. Now.
The greens use “Evidence Based Decision Making” We take facts from all sides and organize them and analyze them. We look at the history of cannabis (even why some people still call it marijuana). We ask:
What are the benefits?
What are the harms?
What are the precedents?
Has anyone else legalized it?
After carefully adding it all up – it is without a doubt one of the most ridiculous laws there is. I would want cannabis treated the same as cigarettes or alcohol.
3. How are you planning on building and maintaining a political relationship with local First Nations?
Respect.
The First Nations are the closest thing we have to a working Senate. They are acting as our sober second though.
We are all learning from the First Nations. We are learning about respecting Mother Nature. We are learning about their respect for elders. We are learning the power of a peaceful protests. We are watching their willingness to help with solutions
4. What are you going to do to ease concerns and contentions regarding the dumping of biosolids in the Nicola Valley?
Water Quality is a major concern for the Green Party. We believe that healthy food is a cornerstone to good health.
There has not been enough study done on the long-term effects of human feces as a fertilizer. The test they have done to search for chemicals are what we call false negatives – unless you know what to look for you can’t find it. There are many things they have not tested for.
There are other uses for human feces that have not been fully investigated.
Again - “Evidence Based Decision Making” not all the evidence is in yet. The evidence we know so far says we should not be using human feces for agriculture.
5. The population in the Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola region is expected to continue to flourish, posing a threat to our unique environment and rich biodiversity. What will you do to see that our fragile environment is protected amidst consistent growth?
I always giggle when I hear the term “Sustained Growth” – It is not logical to have sustained growth on a finite planet.
Yes, of course, the protection of the ecosystem is paramount. That isn’t to stay we can’t have growth too. The technology exists to build homes and business that have minimal impact on the environment and do it economically.
6. How will your party support the provincial/national economy? Do you think the Canadian economy is slumping into a recession?
Recession, Slump, downturn, less than expected - Semantics aside I can tell you the Canadian Economy is not BOOMING. Why isn’t our economy booming? We have more resources per capita than most countries. We have a population of well educate people. Everyone wants to move here. The question is - Why isn’t our economy booming?
The Conservatives have fallen for the get rich quick scheme that the Chinese sold them. They have put enough of our economic eggs in the Chinese basket that now that the Chinese’s economy is failing and oil process are dropping it is enough of a hit to our economy that it drags all the other sectors down with it.
Proper resources management. We have been blessed with these resources get the most out of them. Extract Copper and make it into stuff – don’t ship the ore over a border. Log the trees (in an environmentally safe way) and cut ‘em into 2x4s. Don’t ship raw logs. Extract oil, turn into gas and diesel – don’t ship dill bit overseas – that is our jobs the Conservatives are shipping.
Divest ourselves from fossil fuels – it is poison to our health, environment, and economy.
Invest in Clean Tech – there are already more jobs in Clean Tech than in fossil fuels – without subsidies. Can you imagine how far ahead of the rest of the world Canada would be if we had stopped investing in oil and investing it clean tech? We would be the envy of the world. The Green Party has a long term vision and plan that your great grandkids will be thankful for.
7. What will you do to help promote and improve the regions exports? For example, how will you open up the door for trade in wine, cherries, and timber?
OK, here it comes – honesty. I am not an expert on trade barriers. Within the Green Team there are many experts on this subject and when I get to office we will sit down and talk with them. Then I will sit down with all exporters in the region and listen. Then I will use some more of that “Evidence Based Decision Making” to figure it out.
I am proud of being part of such a great team that I am very confident that this can be solved.
8. British Columbia is suffering from a doctor shortage, what steps do you have in place to address this issue?
Again – why the heck is this happening in Canada? This seems pretty simple to solve. Many doctors form other countries immigrate to Canada to find that they can’t practice medicine until they go through complete retraining. I think if we can get the Doctors that server me coffee at Starbucks and drive my cab back to practicing medicine that might help.
There are many other professions that have immigrated and are not able to work in their chosen profession for reasons other than their skills. We need to make the most of these immigrants – they came here to be Canadian – all we have to is let them.
9. Wildfires have been plaguing B.C. for the better part of 2015, pushing our expenditures into the hundreds of millions, how will you push for more federal involvement in terms of funding, resources, etc?
Yes, I would help with this. I have been evacuated several times in the last 20 years. This is no small problem though. The land area is massive. Again I would have to sit down with the people who know more about the problem and the solutions
10. By mid-August, most of Interior B.C. was under a Level 4 drought classification, how would you push/promote for better water conservation in British Columbia?
Actually our precipitation hasn’t changed much. The pattern has though. We are going to see big rain and snow events – downpours and large snowfalls. The net amount will be similar.
What we need is better water storage.
There is actually an idea that creates energy and stores water. Wind mills pump water into reservoirs high in the mountains – those reservoirs can be used for “on-demand” electricity as well as irrigation. I love this idea two birds – one stone – and not a drop of fossil fuel
11. Dwindling streamflow levels are a growing concern in this region, particularly threatening our wild salmon. What will you do to ensure conservation efforts?
I am avid fisherman. This question is close to my heart. There is also the factor of water temperature being too high.
Wait! - Is it possible that the reservoirs that I spoke of could solve this problem too? Deep cool water in a reservoir can be used to keep the streams at optimum levels and keep them cool.
12. Is there anything else you would like voters to know?
Please read the Vision Green http://www.greenparty.ca/en/our-vision. This will answer any question you may have. It will also impress you with how thorough it is. I warn you though, I once was a conservative, but really I had been a green all these years and didn't know it.
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