Tuesday September 19, 2023 | VANCOUVER, BC [Updated 1:35 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends | POLITICS NEWS SECTION | BC NDP NEWS SECTION
Speaking with Island Social Trends from the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention in Vancouver, Adam Walker, MLA says it’s been a bit of a whirlwind since he was ousted from the NDP caucus on Sunday — it’s been barely 48 hours.
After a flurry of mainstream news coverage about how and why he got the boot from the NDP (it had to do with a staff complaint — which according to Premier David Eby yesterday wasn’t about sexual harassment and was’t criminal in nature), now we can look at what Walker says will be the benefits to the constituents of Parksville-Qualicum. Walker will be representing them as an independent MLA in the BC Legislative Assembly (fall session starts October 3).
He might get his legislative office and seat in the house moved around, but he’ll still be there, even though he’ll no longer be Parliamentary Secretary for the Sustainable Economy. The staff in his constituency office in Qualicum Beach will remain in place; they are employees of the BC government. | BC Legislative Assembly page about Adam Walker
The same challenges continue in his area of Vancouver Island as present themselves across the province. People on fixed incomes are struggling with the cost of living — there are many seniors in the Oceanside* area who have been impacted by the impacts of inflation. A lot of those seniors are also over age 75 and don’t have a family doctor, says Walker. He also sees the impact of a continually rising cost of living on small businesses who are shutting down stores. People move away from the region and don’t come back, he continues.
[*Oceanside an adopted name for a group of communities, including Qualicum Beach, Parksville, Nanoose Bay, French Creek, Lighthouse Country, Coombs, and Errington, on south central Vancouver Island as part of the Nanaimo Regional District. The area also encompasses two urban centres and several rural communities.]
“We don’t talk about these challenges enough,” he told Island Social Trends. Well, recently the Premier has been including a range of aspects of affordability concerns in his announcements and comments to media, but getting to the root causes of these issues is not discussed in detail enough for Walker. In Vancouver this week, he said he was shocked to see people living along downtown streets.
Walker feels he will have “more of a voice now” to talk about solutions to the socioeconomic challenges that face British Columbians. He will be able to speak up about the fact that 10,000 people in Oceanside don’t have a primary health-care provider… something he was told not to talk about when within the NDP tent.
Impacts on constituents:
Walker wouldn’t elaborate on what he though the Premier might have meant when he said the decision to remove Walker from caucus would have impacts on the constituency.
The next provincial election is only one year from now (in October 2024); the NDP usually supply a significant ground-game of volunteers to their candidates. Who knows, maybe Walker will be back in the NDP fold by then, depending on what is turned up from the current investigation into the staff complaint.
Perhaps Eby was also implying that by not being in the NDP caucus of a majority government that in some ways the constituents of Parksville-Qualicum would somehow lose out on some sort of benefits or edge.
Carrying on:
Either way, the 39-year-old Walker who was first elected as MLA in 2020 will carry on. The data programmer and marketer by profession (he owned a small business in the tech sector for 15 years) is clearly mentally sharp and highly personable, and keen to be a leader in his community.
He was a town councillor for Qualicum Beach from 2018-2020, so folks know him from that level of public service as well. He is also a farmer in the area, living in Qualicum Beach with his wife and two daughters.
===== RELATED:
Adam Walker MLA removed from NDP caucus (September 17, 2023)
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends reports on news through a socioeconomic lens, paying attention to political shift and root causes on a wide range of issues that matter to people and small businesses in their everyday lives. News is posted daily at IslandSocialTrends.ca .
Island Social Trends Editor and Publisher Mary P Brooke has now been covering news of the south Vancouver Island region (along with BC and national news as it impacts islanders) since 2008, through a series of publications: MapleLine Magazine* (quarterly colour print 2008-2010), Sooke Voice News* (weekly black-and-white print 2011-2013), West Shore Voice News* (weekly colour print/PDF 2014-2020), and Island Social Trends (online at IslandSocialTrends.ca since mid-2020). Watch for the brand-new print edition of Island Social Trends to start up before 2023 year-end. [*Archived at the Sooke Region Museum]
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