Liberals ignore rural issues, James says

By CAROLYN GRANT

Kimberley Daily Bulletin

December 8th 2008

Provincial NDP leader Carole James was in the Cranbrook/Kimberley area over the weekend to attend the nominating meetings for Norm Macdonald for Columbia River – Revelstoke and Troy Sebastian for Southeast Kootenay.

In his acceptance speech following his nomination, Macdonald said that he will continue to be a strong voice for Kimberley.

Macdonald reminded supporters that the years between 2001 and 2005, when Columbia River – Revelstoke had a Liberal MLA, saw the deepest service cuts in the area’s history.

“In Kimberley, the Campbell Liberals closed the hospital while the MLA from this area stood by and watched.  Instead of fighting for the people of Kimberley, she made speeches about all the improvements the Liberals were making to health care.”

Macdonald said he has noticed that the Liberal message still hasn’t changed.  When asked about the Kimberley hospital closure, Macdonald’s Liberal challenger claimed that ‘most people would acknowledge that hospital care is better because of the changes’.

“The closure of the Kimberley Hospital was symbolic of a larger rejection of the city of Kimberley.  The Kimberley mine brought tremendous wealth to the province, yet the moment the mine closed, the Campbell Liberals turned their backs on Kimberley.  Gordon Campbell responded by eliminating a whole range of government services.”

One of the issues that will be a large part of the NDP platform as a whole is problems specific to rural communities.  In addition to attending the nominating meetings, James is also on tour with her rural caucus.

“There’s no question that rural issues are big,” said James in a telephone interview with the Bulletin.

“When you take a look at the resources that support British Columbia; they come from rural areas.  And cuts in services in rural communities make things more difficult.  Schools closed and health care cuts.  The Liberal government is ignoring the forest crisis yet forest communities provided much of the wealth that built this province.  Rural communities don’t expect government to fix everything, but they don’t expect government to make things more difficult.  Rural issues are being ignored.”

James says her rural consultation tour is receiving a positive response.

“People are just so pleased to have someone listen to them,” she said.  “People recognize that climate change is an issue but they were so angry at the gas tax because the government refused to listen to their concerns. 

“The government thinks they know best.  They have all the answers.  In tough times the government should be working with communities.  We are an extraordinary province.  We have the resources, the land base, the people, but the government doesn’t respect the people of this province,” James said.

Macdonald believes strongly in supporting rural communities as well.

“People in my area believe we have responsibility to provide quality services to our seniors and to our children, here in our own communities.”

Macdonald also believes that rural residents feel strongly that they should be able to make their own decisions on issues that affect their way of life and has watched as democratic tools have been eroded over the last seven years.

“Democracy is about making our own decisions; it is about government that listens to the people.  People in this area believe in democracy and they reject Campbell’s attempts to remove our democratic rights.”