Outgoing District of Sechelt Mayor John Henderson is running for the Conservatives in Powell River-Sunshine Coast.
Henderson says he is familiar with the large riding, having lived on the lower coast 23 years in Sechelt and his wife, Leslie, grew up and went to school in Powell River. He has travelled to Powell River on a regular basis since 1970.
As a mayor the last two terms, Henderson says under the current NDP government, priorities for the Sunshine Coast are not moving ahead.
“We’re still waiting, I think that’s the word I’d use. There’s a number of issues that have been on the radar for this government for years and I have not seen enough if any action on things like ferries, on how we relate with our Indigenous neighbours…crime and safety, community safety,” Henderson said in an interview with Vista Radio.
When it comes to developing Powell River’s mill site, Henderson says it’s an “extraordinary asset” and the province needs to be “extraordinarily welcoming” to new business investment.
He says getting people working is the only way to get B.C. out of a projected $14 billion deficit.
“We need to be open for business. Yes, we can do with Tla’amin (Nation) and Cranberry Business Park but the way we’re going to get out of this terrible debt, the terrible deficit, is by growing our tax revenue and that comes from creating viable businesses that employ people, all of whom pay tax,” Henderson said.
He was also asked about the problems with BC Ferries and complaints from local politicians about cancellations.
He said the service has to be resilient and had to be careful with his words or he could set up “quite a competition” about who has it worst between routes 7 (Earls Cove to Saltery Bay), 17 (Westview to Little River) and 3 (Horseshoe Bay to Langdale) with either breakdowns, staffing, cancellations and scheduling.
“That’s not a good place to be. We don’t want to be talking about who has it worst. What we have to confront is what are the real costs of providing this service and address how we’re going to pay for them. We can achieve good service, better service on BC Ferries but it has to be based on reality,” he said.
The outgoing Sechelt mayor calls this campaign a perfect opportunity after he decided not to run a week before Premier David Eby called a snap election.
Henderson is running against NDP Randene Neill and Green Party Griffin Lea.
Advance voting in the B.C. election is from Oct. 16-21. Election Day is Saturday, Oct. 24.
