NATIONAL FORESTRY WEEK
CENTS TAKE HOME OPENER
It’s that time of the year again! The Herald takes a look at an industry that fuels the Valley
But with two other losses, they have plenty of work to do if they want to take this weekend’s game / Page 17
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MERRITT HERALD FREE
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
HALF WAY TO ELECTION DAY
DAN ALBAS
KARLEY SCOTT
ANGELIQUE WOOD
With the Oct. 19 federal election date less than a month away, the Herald spoke with the three local candidates whose parties all sit neck and neck in the polls at the federal level to find out what they’re hearing from voters. Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
Biosolids, the economy and health care are just a taste of the issues the local candidates for the Central OkanaganSimilkameen-Nicola riding have been hearing about along the campaign trail. Incumbent Conservative candidate Dan Albas said he’s been hearing concerns in Merritt from ranchers and the forestry sector of an anti-trade government being elected. Liberal hopeful Karley Scott said a lot of what she’s heard in Merritt surrounds the issue of biosolids. “It’s not the only issue, but I think that the group who are advocating on behalf of being heard are very effective at being For all your landscaping needs call the professionals at
heard, and so I hear a lot from them,” she said, noting the Friends of the Nicola Valley anti-biosolids group wants the federal government to get involved in the issue. New Democrat Angelique Wood also said the biosolids issue dominates the conversations she’s had with Merritt voters. Although biosolids are regulated at the provincial level, both Scott and Wood have ideas about how the federal government could get involved. Scott said the government could get involved in the conversation, and after hearing about the issue believes there is a lack of impartial science regarding biosolids. “One of the Liberal Party’s platform pieces that is very clear is that policies will be evidence-based and they will be driven by science,” she said.
In order to help deal with the biosolids issue at the federal level, Wood said the NDP plans to reinstate protections taken out of the Fisheries Act by the Conservative government.
JOBS
Currently Canada sits in the midst of a recession, with the dollar in the mid-seventies compared to the U.S. and oil dropping to about $40 a barrel. When it comes to the economy, Scott said she’s hearing a lot of concerns about jobs around the riding. “People are feeling the pinch because our economy is stagnant, it’s just not growing, so that’s also something that people talk about — needing good jobs in their communities and an economy that’s growing and robust,”
Scott said. She pointed to Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau’s election promise to invest $125 billion — up from the current $65 billion — over the next decade in federal infrastructure as an area of growing the economy. “We’re in a recession, and when you have record low interest rates and you’re in a recession economists agree that investing in infrastructure is going to be the best injection and is going to provide the best return on growing an economy quickly,” she said. In the area of jobs, Albas said the government needs to focus on supporting the ones people have at the moment, noting mining is a critical industry in Logan Lake.
See ‘Federal’ Page 5
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