Burnaby North-Seymour: Competitive, diverse battleground with pipeline at its centre
VANCOUVER – Burnaby North-Seymour spans the Burrard Inlet, encompasses components of Burnaby and the District of North Vancouver, and connects districts reminiscent of Capitol Hill and Burnaby Mountain on the south facet with Seymour Heights and Deep Cove within the north.
On the heart of the using is the terminus of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, which Ottawa nationalized in 2018 and whose well-developed enlargement was authorised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal authorities in 2019.
Liberal Terry Beech has gained two elections right here, the primary after beginning equestrianism in 2015 when he defeated Carol Baird Ellan of the NDP and Mike Little of the Conservatives.
In 2019, Beech gained a second time period, beating Svend Robinson of the NDP with 35.5 % of the vote, in contrast with 32.3 % of Robinson.
Heather Leung was ousted by the Conservatives forward of election day and ended up in distant third place with 19.4 % of the vote.
Now, Beech faces a problem on the left of Jim Hanson, a private harm legal professional and two phrases on the North Vancouver District Council.
At proper is political newcomer Kelsey Shein, an entrepreneur who runs a small enterprise in North Vancouver.
The Greens lead environmental advisor Peter Dolling.
And the Folks’s Occasion of Canada candidate is Brad Nickerson, a threat administration and insurance coverage skilled.
The candidates from the Greens and the Folks’s Occasion acquired 9.6 and a pair of.2 % of the vote, respectively.
CTV Information spoke to the Liberal, NDP and Conservative candidates in regards to the points they care about, why the pipeline continues to be on their minds, and the message they hope will get by to voters.
Candidate responses have been edited barely for brevity and readability.
CTV information: How would you describe Burnaby North-Seymour and the individuals who reside right here?
Terry Beech, Liberal candidate: Burnaby North-Seymour is likely one of the most stunning locations on earth. The group right here may be very shut. They care in regards to the setting, they care about creating good jobs, they usually care about the way forward for our planet.
Jim Hanson, NDP candidate: I used to be out on the doorstep. I’ve spoken to lots of of voters previously three weeks. I’d say this using may be very assorted.
Kelsey Shein, Conservative Candidate: I’ve spent the final three or 4 months knocking on doorways day by day so I actually acquired to know individuals. They’re good arduous working individuals. We’ve small enterprise house owners. We’ve working class individuals. I do know it very nicely as a result of we personal a small enterprise on the North Shore and I grew up in Burnaby.
CTV information: Why are you the suitable particular person to signify it in Ottawa?
Hanson: I’m a two-term district councilor within the North Vancouver District and was requested why I used to be concerned in public service. I’ve had the consideration of dwelling in each North Burnaby and Seymour, and I am right here as a result of I wish to battle for these communities. I wish to battle for a clear setting. I wish to battle to cease the TMX pipeline. And I wish to battle for households and houses that folks can afford.
Certificates: I am a grassroots advocate, I am a small enterprise proprietor, and I am a proud Metis lady. After I converse to individuals at their doorways, like me, they’re very involved in regards to the path of the nation. And the Canadians are on the lookout for a plan. And I feel our occasion has a plan to safe our future and put us heading in the right direction.
Beech: Folks fear about affordability. You might be involved about local weather change. They fear in regards to the economic system and, after all, the conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic. I labored arduous right here day by day. I did not take a single day without any consideration.
CTV information: What one or two key points do you suppose are most vital to voters right here and why?
Certificates: Housing and healthcare. Persons are contemplating housing as a result of they not solely care about themselves, but in addition about their kids and our future. I feel we’d like a plan to get our provides below management so we are able to create a future the place everybody has the chance to reside, work, and personal in our stunning group.
In healthcare, I imagine we have now some vital gaps that this pandemic has revealed. We’ve to take psychological well being management, and the Conservatives will.
Beech: The 4 issues I hear about probably the most are: affordability, local weather change and the setting, ensuring we increase the economic system, and naturally all the issues we face in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hanson: Local weather change and, secondly, affordability, particularly the affordability of housing. Housing prices on this group rose by 50 % throughout Trudeau’s administration. And we at the moment are in a disaster section, we have now been right here for just a few years.
CTV information: What is that this election about?
Beech: I feel this election is in regards to the path Canadians wish to go. We put ahead a plan to maneuver ahead for everybody. Personally, I acquired into politics as a result of I wished to ensure that individuals had a good and equal likelihood of success.
Hanson: This election is about local weather change, affordability and a steadiness sheet of failed and damaged guarantees on the a part of the Trudeau Liberals. Trudeau Liberals will not be all in favour of local weather change. In the event that they did, they would not purchase a pipeline that spits out bitumen.
Certificates: This alternative is in regards to the future. And this election, I wish to say, can also be about reconciliation from my private perspective as a Metis lady. We’d like actual reconciliation actions as a result of it’s too vital for the individuals of this nation to reside with the nationwide disgrace that we would not have entry to wash ingesting water from reserves. We’ve to do higher and we have now a plan for it.
CTV information: How or why do you stand out from the opposite candidates on this race?
Hanson: I stand out as a result of I’ve the expertise as a district councilor and three a long time as a lawyer who fights for individuals in opposition to firms and governments. I look ahead to combating for this group in Ottawa.
Certificates: When Erin O’Toole was first elected chairman of the Canadian Conservatives, he mentioned in his very first speech that he wished to see extra younger individuals, extra ladies, extra indigenous individuals working and seeing one another in our occasion. And I noticed that as a private name to motion. Reconciliation isn’t just a subject of dialog for me. It is my obligation and it is in my blood as a Metis particular person.
Beech: I’d say I’m one of many hardest working parliamentarians in Canada. I turned MP of the 12 months in 2019. I knocked on doorways and referred to as on the telephone for six years and the individuals on this group actually invested in me and I did not take that without any consideration.
CTV information: Which opponent or which occasion do you suppose is your largest problem and why?
Certificates: I feel Burnaby North Seymour is an attention-grabbing three-way cut up. For me, after I converse to voters, they’re deeply on the lookout for a change. So I am doing all the pieces I can to have a optimistic marketing campaign and share our imaginative and prescient.
Beech: The NDP has all the time finished nicely, however the using has all the time been held by the Liberals or the Conservatives. The dynamic works like this, if the NDP rises, the Conservatives may be capable to cut up the vote to get within the center. It is all the time been a detailed three-way race, however I do not actually concentrate on that. I concentrate on my optimistic message and the contribution I wish to make to this using. And that’s what I’ll proceed to concentrate on on this election.
Hanson: Terry Beech is the incumbent, and Terry Beech is clearly the particular person we have to beat in an effort to make optimistic change for these communities.
CTV information: Who’s Terry Beech? Jim Hanson? Kelsey Shein?
Beech: Earlier than I turned a politician, I ran a nonprofit that taught highschool youngsters learn how to win school scholarships. I used to be an entrepreneur. I used to be a instructor, taught economics and finance at SFU and UBC. I got here from a household the place my father was a caretaker and we did not have some huge cash and we grew up in a Canada that invested in me. I wish to ensure that our nation retains this promise and that everybody in our equestrian sport has the identical alternatives that I had as a baby.
Hanson: Jim Hanson is an ideal (alternative) with the expertise – the life expertise, the political expertise – to maneuver ahead and make optimistic change within the vital areas of housing and local weather change.
Certificates: I’m a lifelong conservative. I’m a fundamental organizer. I’m a small enterprise proprietor and entrepreneur. I’m a Metis lady and a passionate Canadian.
CTV information: The Trans Mountain Pipeline enlargement was authorised in 2019 and building is in full swing. How does this have an effect on this alternative and what’s your place on it?
Hanson: I’ll do all the pieces I can to withstand the pipeline, cease it. Now is just not the time to double fossil gas exports. I’ll double the pipeline stopping and I’ll double public security too. The pipeline and tank farms convey so many risks to this group and I’ll handle and defend the group from these risks to verify we get the sources we have to defend this group.
Certificates: Persons are upset that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau purchased the pipeline. You’re feeling lied to and betrayed. I hear this time and again from individuals on all sides of the spectrum. If this pipeline is protected and may get our sources to market, I might help it.
Beech: I’m one in every of two Liberal authorities MPs who voted in opposition to the pipeline as a result of I mentioned I represented the views of our group, not the views of Ottawa.
Folks in the neighborhood at the moment are involved about local weather change, the marine air pollution response plan, and marine conservation. Our west coast is now higher protected than ever earlier than. They’re additionally involved in regards to the hearth and emergency procedures on Burnaby Mountain, the place the tank farm is situated. I lately introduced with the fireplace chief and mayor that I’d be opening a brand new hearth station proper subsequent to it. I’ve labored arduous on the underlying implications of enlargement.
I additionally wrote a 25-page place paper that displays my group’s views. And to totally reply that query, I am not into bumper sticker politics. I’d recommend to my constituents to learn this place and browse in regards to the work I’ve finished on the topic over the previous six years. As a result of no person on this nation has labored tougher on this subject than me.
CTV information: What do undecided voters wish to find out about you?
Certificates: I’m not an expert politician. I’m a involved Canadian who is worried about our future, I share your considerations and I feel sufficient is sufficient. I feel our nation deserves higher and I wish to get us on the street to restoration.
Beech: My work ethic. I work arduous I work arduous day by day.
Hanson: That I’ll maintain my guarantees.
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