Tuesday October 15, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Green Party candidate Lydia Hwitsum (Cowichan-Malahat-Langford) was the star of her own show this evening at a rally for her campaign. Featuring guest speaker David Suzuki, Hwitsum was given the pleasure of a long and effusive introduction by Green MLA Sonia Furstenau.
In a long and suitably detailed speech during the 2-hour rally held at Bear Mountain Resort, Hwitsum covered a wide range of reasons why she is running, and where she feels both the Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding and the country should be heading in terms of equality for first nations as well as dealing with climate change.
Saying people are connected to each other and the environment, “if we hang onto that we will find collaborative ways forward,” Hwitsum told the crowd of about 250 people.
The Green Party’s ‘mission possible’ climate action plan was mentioned, but Hwitsum went in many directions talking about her family, the importance of community, and the urgency of dealing with not just climate matters but the way in which politics is done in the region and in Canada. She spoke about her experience with bringing leaders together over water issues in the Cowichan region.
Hwitsum said hundreds of thousands of jobs can emerge by working toward a green economy, and that Canada needs to just “live out the lifetimes of the pipelines we already have” and not build new ones.
When it comes to housing, she said that affordable housing is about a range of homes and the right to have a home.
Hwitsum received a huge round of applause for her statement that addiction needs wrap-around supports “for people when they’re ready” and that addiction is “a health issue, not a criminal issue”. On that topic: “We need to make investments in humanity.”
Herself indigenous, Hwitsum said that “the Indian Act has run our lives for far too long”, which brought significant agreement from the audience. “We have so much work to do and it’s an uphill challenge,” she said on bringing first nations people fully into Canadian society.
The Lydia Hwitsum campaign office is at 134 B Fourth Street in Duncan. Contact info for the Campaign Office: 250-597-VOTE (8683) and email cmlgreens@greenparty.ca
On election day Monday October 21, the Hwitsum team will be waving signs in Duncan on Trunk Road and Trans Canada Highway, and at the Highway Pedestrian overpass. To participate, RSVP online.
============= ARTICLES:
Lydia Hwitsum 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 .