New candidate to run in BC election for West Kootenay riding
By Kyra Hoggan
A third horse is in the race for West Kootenay MLA – alongside two-term incumbent Katrine Conroy and BC Liberal nominee Jim Postnikoff, you’ll be seeing independent candidate Joseph Hughes.
Hughes, a 29-year-old father of three from Nakusp, is a small business owner, journeyman carpenter, and elected official in his second term in village council.
“It won’t really be official until, probably, tomorrow,” he said in an interview this morning. “I’ve thought about running for higher office for several years now.
“I’ve always seen a fatal flaw in party politics. Your representative has to take your concerns, first, to the party caucus. Then they make a decision, and that’s what they take to the Legislative Assembly – and that’s where the democratic process breaks down.”
He said an independent candidate actually offers more power to the voters by being able to go straight to the source – taking issues directly to the Legislative Assembly without fear of veto at the party level.
“The squabbling and partisan politics bother me,” he said, adding government continues to implement big-centre solutions that create problems rather than solving them for smaller communities like those in this riding, from seniors’ health to education to employment.
“I don’t think our advocate is being loud enough,” he said. “On council, I’ve seen the way government is downloading their responsibilities onto the backs of municipal budgets without the financial contribution or infrastructure to support that.
“We are being handed down increasingly restrictive policies and procedures that don’t work for small businesses or small communities, and that are making it increasingly hard to do honest business,” he said, pointing to his neighbour as an example: a farmer who can no longer sell him meat because of something that happened in some far-off community with little relevance to local farming practices.
He also said this election is critical in that 2014 is when Canada will announce its intentions regarding the Columbia River Treaty, which is up for renewal, abandonment or reworking in 2024.
“The vice-president of the World Bank himself said, recently, that wars in the next 100 year won’t be fought over oil, they’ll be fought over water,” he said, adding the push to define water as a commodity under NAFTA will strip locals of their rights where water is concerned.
“The treaty was written in 1961 – it’s a completely different world now, we know now that we can’t just trample on our resources.”
He said now is a time when the West Kootenay needs a loud, strong voice untempered by the outside priorities dictated by party politics.
“We someone young and who is as hungry for change as we are, and who wants to hand a better democracy to our children, and who will not stand for the continuous erosion of our rights.”
He acknowledges his budget will be a fraction that of the NDP and Liberals, but says he doesn’t think that’s the be-all and end-all.
“I think I have an excellent shot, if I can inspire everyone who believes we need a new solution in our country, for people who believe our democracy is failing them,” he said. “Government now is so short-sighted – it’s all quick fixes and short gains.
“I want to be the solution that people have been hoping to see on their ballot for years now.”
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