Saturday October 12, 2019 ~ COWICHAN/DUNCAN & LANGFORD
by Mary P Brooke | West Shore Voice News
Liberal candidate Blair Herbert (Cowichan-Malahat-Langford) and his team have been hot on the campaign trail for a couple of months now. The riding is geographically large and demographically, diverse. The team has been splitting their time between Langford and the Cowichan Valley. Conversations with constituents reveal that the issues are as diverse as the riding.
Key issues across the board include keeping the economy strong while protecting and preserving the environment. Blair believes that the Liberal party is the only party that has both of these priorities front of mind and they have proven themselves on both of these files already.
In the last four years, he says the Liberal government has invested more in the environment than any party in Canada’s history, rolling out initiatives such as the carbon tax and rebate program and the Oceans Protection Plan. “The Liberals have accomplished this while creating one million jobs and achieving the lowest unemployment rate in over 40 years,” says Herbert.
According to the The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canadian families now have one of the lowest effective tax rates in the OECD, and the lowest in the G7. “This has been no small feat,” says Herbert. “Difficult choices have been made to keep this delicate balance between the economy and the environment.”
Blair Herbert’s team says that as the Member of Parliament he would maintain this balance, viewing all policies and initiatives through the lens of both the economic and environmental impact.
Transportation is top of mind in Langford. The federal government has contributed to improvements at the McKenzie Interchange but Blair realizes that the growth in Langford is almost outpacing the relief that the Interchange will provide. His plan is to examine other opportunities to remove transportation as a barrier to employment. Exploring rail is definitely on his agenda, to both improve transportation and lessen the load on the environment.
Food security on the Island is also on people’s minds. As a small farmer himself, Blair is concerned that we are not sustainable here on the Island. “We grow less than 10% of the food we consume as compared to the 1950’s when we produced 85% of our own food. We need to seriously look at changing this picture,” he says. Some ideas on Blair’s agenda to explore include abattoirs, keeping agricultural quotas here on the Island and developing value-added processing for produce from local farmers, large and small.
Polls throughout this election to date would suggest the Liberals and Conservatives are in a virtual tie to win and form government (majority or minority).
“I feel there is more at stake in this election than in the past,” says this Liberal candidate in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford. “The economy is strong and the environment needs our help. We cannot afford to go backwards on either of these files. I have so many ideas for my riding and, as part of government, could explore them and see them through with national support. I am excited for the chance to do this work and ask for your vote on October 21.”
Blair Herbert’s next two door-knocking events will be on Tuesday October 15 (6 to 8 pm) starting at the Tim Hortons at 845 Goldstream Avenue in Langford, and on Thursday October 17 (6 to 8 pm) starting at #2-470 Trans Canada Hwy (the Royal LePage office) in Duncan.
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Blair Herbert took part in an All Candidates Debate held at Brentwood College on Saturday September 14. See page 2 in the September 13-17 digest of West Shore Voice News .