It has been an incredible privilege to serve the people of Cariboo-Chilcotin as your MLA over the last three years. We live in an expansive, diverse, and beautiful region — representing it as an MLA has given me a greater appreciation for our communities, and an even stronger drive to advocate to government to secure the support needed to address our unique challenges.
Working in this region means a lot of time on the road, and that is set to increase following the next election. Many have already heard the news that the Cariboo-Chilcotin electoral district will get larger in the next election, expanding to include the communities of Ashcroft, Cache Creek, and Clinton. These changes come as a result of the work of the Electoral Boundaries Commission, which re-evaluates the boundaries of electoral districts after every second election.
It was a surprise to many people, myself included, to hear the final decisions of the commission, as they included significant changes from the preliminary report published months ago. Originally, the commission was planning to expand Cariboo-Chilcotin to include much of the North Thompson Valley, including communities like Barriere and Clearwater.
However, these places spoke up and rightly pointed out that their main service centre is Kamloops and maintaining a connection to the Kamloops electoral areas was important to them. I’m very glad that these communities had the opportunity to express their thoughts on the changes, but I do wonder why Ashcroft, Cache Creek and the other towns now being added to our riding were not given the same opportunity to provide feedback or express any concerns they may have.
Local representation is the foundation of our electoral system, and it’s very important to me, and my BC United colleagues, that our constituents feel adequately represented and that they have the ability to easily access their MLAs. We had hoped that the electoral boundaries in rural B.C. wouldn’t be changed much at all, as they already cover massive geographic areas.
No matter where you live in B.C., you should feel like you have a local MLA to whom you can raise concerns, or reach out to for help in an easy and timely manner.
Therefore, if I once again have the opportunity and privilege of representing Cariboo-Chilcotin after the next election, I am committed to making sure everyone in my constituency, whether you live in Williams Lake, Ashcroft, Anahim Lake, or 100 Mile House, knows they can count on me as their representative in Victoria. I will continue to work hard every single day to ensure that rural voices are heard by government and that our communities have the support they need to thrive.
newsroom@100milefreepress.net
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