In Response: Green MLAs can have impact

By THERIN GOWER

“Impactful.” It was the word someone used to describe Adam Olsen at his celebration. I wonder if Jason Mogus was there, and if it changed his opinion as expressed in the Sept. 11 Driftwood.

Because oddly, Jason doesn’t think Adam could do anything as our “great MLA” to get us “material benefits” because he wasn’t a member of the party in power.  I guess he was too busy worrying about garbage cans and water treatment systems — very necessary things that are not part of the provincial mandate and couldn’t be fixed by any MLA.

In doing so, he missed out on some of the wonderful things Adam did accomplish for our community, such as an extra $1 million for the Lady Minto Hospital Emergency Room, and about $50 million for road upgrades.  He advocated to have the shelter open year round, to have Salt Spring Commons built in partnership with BC Housing, and to have the Drake Road project go ahead. (And these housing initiatives proceeded despite Salt Spring being exempt from affordable housing provisions, an exemption put in place by the very NDP for which Jason wants your vote.)

Adam accomplished all this while being in the Green party.  Ask anyone in Victoria whether their housing, transportation and medical care issues have been solved by their NDP MLA.  They’ll laugh in your face.

Nor is the NDP what I would call “progressive” in values. Their support of LNG, their pitting of settlers against First Nations in the Land Act, their continued allowing of clear-cut logging while “talking” about preserving old-growth forests, and the carbon tax are all retrogressive.

So if you want to vote strategically to keep BC Conservatives out, it’s an easy call in our riding.  The majority of voters are Green.  You can carry a wonderful Green legacy forward by voting for Rob Botterell.  I haven’t known Rob long, but already his actions show that some of the other words used to describe Adam apply to him, too:  caring, intelligent, inclusive, wise, bringing people together.  Let’s give Rob Botterell our vote so he can be impactful too.

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