New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate Lynn MacWilliam wants to give Bow River riding residents an alternative to local governance.
“I’ve always been politically aware of what’s going on, I’ve always supported the NDP, I strongly believe in what the NDP has to offer Bow River, it was perfect for me to run,” MacWilliam said.
“It will improve the lives of Canadians with our expanded health care, with our climate change program, we’ve got a good agriculture plank, we got a lot of good things,” MacWilliam said.
“I want to be a part of it. I want to be there working with the government, bringing forward all these good initiatives for the people who live in my riding,” she added.
It is important for MacWilliam to expand health care to include pharmacare, dental care, and potentially vision care.
“Those are things that everybody uses, and everybody needs,” MacWilliam said.
In the long run, adding pharmacare to health care will save Canadians money because the infrastructure is already in place.
Along with expanding health care, MacWilliam wants to increase seniors care and seniors housing.
“We need to be able to take care of people, we’ve got to subsidize, and we’ve got to make it affordable,” MacWilliam said.
To ensure seniors have appropriate care, MacWilliam is developing a tiny house project.
The tiny house project would include village’s for seniors to live comfortably, be self-sufficient, and be surrounded by their peers.
“It’s very beneficial to seniors, and then to their families to know that they are able to stay in their own homes, and still have all of the benefits to a senior complex,” MacWilliam said.
An essential topic for MacWilliam is to make post-secondary education accessible to everyone, capping tuition, so students know how much they will pay each year, with no interest on student loans.
“The average person leaving post-secondary education has a $27,000 debt that they have to pay off. You can’t even start anything, when you’ve already got that on your back,” MacWilliam said.
MacWilliam also wants to focus on slowing down climate change.
“We have to work at getting it all under control. We’ll never reverse, but we hope to slow down and stop what’s happening,” MacWilliam said.
Adding, “In 1993, I become aware of climate change, since then we’ve gone crazy. It’s become a life and death situation for us as people.”
MacWilliam does not support the Gateway pipeline, because it was going through areas of northern B.C. that have never been touched.
“Federally I know they are not happy with the pipeline, but Alberta is unique,” MacWilliam said.
The pipeline will create additional jobs within the county. However, MacWilliam believes that the process of developing renewable resources should be a priority.
The potential for a spill concerns MacWilliam as she was working in north Burnaby in 2007 when there was a spill that destroyed residents’ homes.
“It was a gusher. People’s home was destroyed because they went right through backyards. People had their windows open, so this oil got into their houses. People are still cleaning it up,” MacWilliam said.
MacWilliam recognizes that rural crime is an ongoing issue in the province and encourages any landowners to call 9-1-1 if they are experiencing rural crime rather than defending their property.
“RCMP answer the calls the best that they can, but they can’t be everywhere. As far as the communities are concerned, they do a good job in the community,” MacWilliam said.
“A lot of farmers are saying they will defend their own properties. That’s just making it more of a mess. You don’t want to go shooting up people, that’s not a healthy way to do it,” she said.
