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BC Votes 2020: Still undecided who to vote for? Here's a refresher of Prince George-Mackenzie candidates

There are a total of 9 candidates between the two Prince George ridings
Prince George-Mackenzie 2020 candidates
[From left to right] 2020 provincial candidates for the Prince George-Mackenzie riding... Dee Kranz [Christian Heritage Party], Mike Morris [BC Liberals], Catharine Kendall [BC Greens] and Joan Atkinson [BC NDP]. (via [left to right] Christian Heritage Party of B.C./PrinceGeorgeMatters)

Today is voting day. If you're still wondering who you want to vote for, here's a refresher on who is on the ballot in each Prince George riding along with a profile of each candidate.

PRINCE GEORGE-MACKENZIE

BC Liberal Party: Mike Morris

Prince George-Mackenzie incumbent and BC Liberal candidate Mike Morris says this election cycle has been quite the change compared to ones he’s been involved with in the past.

First elected in 2013, Morris served as parliamentary secretary for Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations and then appointed the Minister for Public Safety and Solicitor General, a position he held until the 2017 change-over in government from BC Liberal to a BC NDP and BC Green minority.

“We were faced with this unnecessary election during a public health crisis and health emergency and we have to adapt and do the best we can,” says Morris, who has been critical of Premier John Horgan’s decision to call a snap election.

He’s also running alongside BC Liberal candidate and longtime MLA Shirley Bond in the Prince George-Valemount riding.

“People want some security for the future. They are looking ahead and thinking what is going to happen next year if this pandemic carries on and it will,” says Morris.

“Now more than ever we need strong representation in government and both Shirley and I have that experience in government. We are extremely familiar with the issues in the region, the economic issues and opportunities to diversify our resource economy, so this is when we need the experience on the ground.”

Morris says he’s focusing on getting people back to work and seeing families through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have seen a significant decrease in jobs throughout the province and Prince George region is no different particularly in the service sector or the tourism sector so people are wondering how are they going to do Christmas this year,” adds Morris.

“That is what we are focusing on is addressing that and making sure we have people working and that people are looking after their families through this crisis. It is going to take a long time.”

BC Green Party: Catharine Kendall

After years of working on the ground with grassroots organizations, BC Green candidate Catharine Kendall is campaigning to be the next MLA in the Prince George-Mackenzie riding.

Kendall ran in the Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies for the Green Party of Canada during the 2019 federal election and finished third behind incumbent Conservative candidate Bob Zimmer and runner-up Mavis Erickson with the Liberals.

Kendall received 3,448 votes, which equated to 6.3. per cent.

“I ran in the federal election and felt that things needed to keep going,” says Kendall to PrinceGeorgeMatters about her decision to run provincially in a riding that’s traditionally been a BC Liberal stronghold.  

“There seemed to not be a lot of people wanting to take that flag and run with it so I thought now is the time.”

The BC Green Party has a total of 74 candidates running under newly-elected leader Sonia Furstenau, who took over from Andrew Weaver, which means they weren’t able to see each riding with a candidate.

Both the BC NDP and BC Liberals have 87 candidates in the running.

One of the issues Kendall is tackling while campaigning is food security in rural northern communities.

“I think that some really creative solutions around community development and we definitely have food system issue that needs to be dealt with in the rural north,” says Kendall.

“We need to be thinking about how we can create some food security.”

Kendall is very active in local and regional agriculture, has been the Vice President of Eaglet Lake Farmers’ Institute for 12 years and is an active director of Local Food Prince George, a non-profit aiming to create a Prince George Food Charter and educate community members about food insecurity, buying local and growing more local food.

“As we have seen it with COVID, grocery store shelves get emptied out. We need to be starting to think about those kinds of things and that is something, local food systems, that is on the table for the Greens.”

As the downturn in the forestry industry is one of the biggest challenges facing the Prince George-Makenzie riding, Kendall says stopping the export of raw logs and the need for more value-added opportunities are key factors to addressing those challenges.

“Certainly in the federal election that was a big issue too and I’ve talked to a lot of people in Mackenzie and area and they really want to see logs staying in the province and really upping the value-added opportunities,” she explained, claiming it'll require educating students in forestry and creating small business infrastructure training.

BC NDP: Joan Atkinson

Joan Atkinson says she was excited at the chance to take the leap from municipal to provincial politics

The current Mayor of Mackenzie was asked to run as a candidate for the BC NDP by premier John Horgan himself and, though it’s her first time running for a seat in the legislature, Atkinson is no stranger to politics.

She comes into the provincial race with an extensive resume that includes 18 years’ experience as a B.C. government employee, a member of several local and regional committees, and has sat on Mackenzie's district council since 2007.

“I know there are certain jurisdictions that the municipally elected have no control over,” explains Atkinson, who was elected mayor in 2018.  

“I love being a councillor for the District of Mackenzie and the mayor of the last couple of years, but I realized that in order to have a strong voice to initiate some change, particularly with the forest industry — because that is a huge economic driver in the north, my time would be best spend in Victoria fighting for those changes.”

She says her experience in politics and as a resident of northern B.C. for the last 22 years has allowed her to establish relationships with industry leaders, First Nations, and many provincial MLAs.

“I certainly am well aware of the issues of the north,” says Atkinson. “I am feeling very confident that my experience as a municipal councillor for the last 13 years and mayor for the last two, that I have made those connections that is going to be able to promote our needs.”

One of the key aspects of Atkinson’s campaign mandate is the collapse of the forestry industry in her community and in the region.

It was the NDP’s response to the downfall of forestry, and her involvement in the Timber Supply Area (TSA) Coalitions, that inspired Atkinson to wave the orange flag.

“Back in April 2019, Premier Horgan sent out letters to all of the CEOs of forestry companies in this province encouraging them to establish Timber Supply Coalitions and I applaud the premier from coming from it from that point of view,” says Atkinson, explaining Conifex Timber Ltd. stepped up and applied to form the Mackenzie TSA coalition.

“He recognized that it is the people on the ground and the people involved in the industry that know what the challenges are and what needs to be done to fix it.”

BC Libertarian Party: Raymond Rodgers

During his first time running in a provincial election, B.C. Libertarian candidate for Prince George – Mackenzie, Raymond Rodgers hopes to provide a voice advocating for smaller government with more personal freedoms for all.

Rodgers is described as a journeyman electrician in the mining, forestry and oil and sectors who has lived in Salmon Valley for the past year-and-a-half.

Rodgers whose been a Libertarian Party member for two-and-a-half-years says he was already planning on running during the general election next year, before this month’s snap election was called.

“As a libertarian, I am trying to find unity between traditional conservatives and liberals," says Rogers.

“We believe you should be able to do what you want with your own body and your own private property as long as you aren’t causing harm to someone else.”

He gave the example that Libertarians completely support the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, while also supporting the rights of gun owners.

Founded in 1986, the party's mandate says it advocates for individual liberty, lower taxes, free markets, and social tolerance.

Rodger’s says he believes in smaller, limited and a more accountable government.

“We believe individual freedoms for everyone will all go up when we have a more accountable and smaller government.”

One of the issues Rogers says he would like to see addressed is changes to the Agricultural Land Reserve, to give farmers more control over what they can do on their property.

“There are farmers who are up here who can’t build a second residence for their grandma and grandpa, an uncle, or someone to live on their farms and help out,” says Rogers.

“I would love to see changes to the ALR because it is frustrating to see the centralized decision making of Victoria limiting what people can and can’t do up here.”

Christian Heritage Party of BC: Dee Kranz

Kranz said she believes people's free speech is under attack, while saying there should be no consequences to those who choose not to vaccinate as well as medical professionals being allowed to refuse services because of a conscious level. 

“I am not a politician but I felt compelled to put my name forward because of my deep concerns of what I see happening," she said.

“The Christian Heritage Party is first and foremost, we want to restart the economy. We want free speech and we see that free speech is under huge attack. We find that without free speech we have no democracy.

“[There is] a massive amount of censoring and that has to stop. We want to maintain and keep our democracy."

She added the party wants to keep the U.S.-Canada border open while helping restart the economy. She also says there needs to be an investigation into the government for its handling of the pandemic, claiming there is no scientific evidence to prove so.

“We want to keep the U.S. border open. Again, I would really like to say that if you want change, I think I’m your candidate. Well, I don’t think I am, I know," she explained.

"I take a different approach. The World Health Organization (WHO) has just said they are for not blocking down countries, that this is not the best way. They’ve flip flopped many times on what they should be doing.

“We need to do an investigation as to the seriousness of this. There is no scientific basis for what has transpired and we need to hold this government accountable."

- Prince George-Mackenzie profiles completed by Hanna Petersen, PrinceGeorgeMatters and files from CKPG News