2024 BC Provincial General Election Series: The Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce has invited all candidates running in the five Tri-Cities ridings to answer our questions, and provide a 60-second introductory video. Come and meet the candidates in person at the Chamber's Business Showcase on Tuesday, October 8th. Learn more >
Nicola Spurling, MLA Candidate for Coquitlam-Maillardville, BC Greens, Fall 2024
"I'm an average British Columbian just like you. I struggle with the housing affordability crisis. I worry about our economic and environmental future," says Nicola Spurling. Watch the video>
1. If elected, how would your government encourage more business investment, job creation, and higher wages in British Columbia?
The BC Green Party will shift away from subsidizing outdated industries and toward supporting new and emerging sectors. This shift will encourage more investment in BC, create more opportunities for entrepreneurs, and ensure better job security for workers.
As some industries slow down and others increase, we will support workers by creating opportunities for retraining that will allow them to smoothly transition. We will also ensure that the industries BC’s economy relies on are managed sustainably, so they can remain profitable well into the future.
Small and medium size businesses are struggling with affordability, and a BC Green Party government will take measures to eliminate unnecessary costs.
For more specifics, stay tuned to bcgreens2024.ca for the release of our full platform.
2. How would your government address the rising cost of living, to make life more affordable in the Tri-Cities and throughout the province?
When British Columbians and people in the Tri-Cities talk about the ‘affordability crisis’, they’re generally referring to the costs of housing, food, and/or transportation. In the case of business owners, it could be the high costs of running a business.
The BC NDP has had 7 years in government to clean up the mess left by their predecessors, but instead of making life more affordable, it’s become significantly less affordable. Clearly our government needs to be doing far more.
Some options that can be explored with regard to housing would be to build more units, make use of unused units, set percentages of affordable units within new market-rate builds, and limit rental increases. Any and every option needs to be considered when people can’t afford to live where they work.
Some other options to consider would be to implement a universal basic income, so workers who are in transition won’t fear losing their homes. Increased disability rates are long past due, so those who can’t work are still able to live.
Addressing grocery prices falls more under federal purview, however the provincial government can put pressure on the federal government to reduce instances of profiteering, and to cut costs for food producers and suppliers, so those savings can be passed along to consumers.
As for the costs faced by business owners, these can be addressed by removing triple-net leases that make commercial renters responsible for paying tax on windfall received by owners, limiting rental increases, and providing incentives when the work in question serves a public good.
3. What is your party's priority with respect to addressing the labour challenges we face today?
While BC’s unemployment rate is currently lower than average, it’s been on the rise for the last year. People have struggled with changes in how we do business since the pandemic, and more and more people are having to rely on the gig economy and working multiple jobs to pay the bills.
When it comes to ensuring everyone has the opportunity to be gainfully employed, if they so choose, the solution is diversification. When a province relies too much on one industry everyone suffers when that industry declines. We’ve seen this cycle with the oil & gas industry dependence in Alberta, and we have to make sure BC doesn’t fall into that trap.
While the BC NDP has been talking about $10/day childcare for 7 years they've made little progress, and while the BC Conservatives have no plans to support parents, BC Greens want to see more investment in early childhood education, thereby creating free childcare and more learning opportunities. This is a chance to set the next generation of British Columbians up for success, while giving parents more flexibility.
4. What are your party's vision and priorities for the transportation infrastructure and public transit service in the Tri-Cities?
BC Greens have announced plans to make public transit free and to expand public transit. These measures will create more affordable and accessible options for those needing transportation, while freeing up the roads for those who still need to use them.
This will be paid for by reallocating existing funds and investing $720 million annually to double BC’s transit operations, with $420 million from the provincial budget and savings from improved efficiency.
In the Coquitlam-Maillardville riding I regularly hear concerns about getting to skytrain stations. Either the buses only run at certain times, there aren’t buses, or there’s nowhere to park & ride. With the current and planned densification of this area, this is becoming more of an issue, and one that will be solved by the BC Green Party’s plan.
https://bcgreens2024.ca/bc-greens-to-announce-plans-for-transit-in-british-columbia-2/
View a map of the Coquitlam-Maillardville electoral district here.
5. If elected, how will you work with industry to help establish frameworks that enable both economic and environmentally sustainable growth?
The future is Green. Whether we like it or not, renewable energy is a goal governments around this planet are working toward. We have oil & gas and it’s not going anywhere yet, but the goal is to depend on it less. So, what replaces it?
The obvious solution for growing BC’s economy is to invest in the emerging economy of renewable energy. Instead of sending our tax dollars to an established industry that can support itself, let's become world leaders in an industry that will be profitable well into the future.
We see BC-based companies, like Edison Motors, considering moving to the US or Alberta because the costs to run their business are prohibitively high. We see them fighting against a corrupt grant application process that the BC NDP is doing nothing to fix. Why are we sending our tax money to billion dollar corporations when small and innovative businesses, like Edison, are left unsupported?
This could be immediately rectified by implementing fairer governance structures, and providing channels for businesses to see what our government is doing for us, and to hold our government accountable for their inaction.
6. What would you do to help the homeless throughout the Tri-Cities, and in particular those camped at or near businesses, impacting the business owners' ability to stay in operation?
The primary concern here has to be that people are unhoused. We have few primary needs in this life and shelter is near the top of that list. So, the first question we need to ask ourselves is - why are these people unhoused, and what can we do to fix that? The secondary issue of businesses being inconvenienced by homeless people is resolved when the primary issue is resolved.
A great aspect of housing people who are unhoused is that it costs our society less than leaving the problem unaddressed. The costs of policing people on the streets, placing people in prisons, admitting people to hospitals for living in unhealthy conditions, cleaning and more, are mostly solved when people are given a place to live. So, addressing this issue makes good financial sense, in addition to being the humane thing to do.
We get to a place of keeping people housed by addressing the factors that led them to becoming unhoused. Subsidized housing and shelters can fill the gaps, while other factors can be eliminated by addressing the housing crisis, our inadequate healthcare system, family supports, high transportation costs, job creation and more.
7. What changes would you implement to improve healthcare?
Currently, our healthcare system is stretched to the limit. BC Greens have proposed the Dogwood Model, increasing access to medical care within our communities. This will create many new job opportunities in addition to improving the health and safety of us all.
The ‘Dogwood Model’ will establish a network of Community Health Centres across the province. Spaces will be leased and administered by the province, allowing healthcare professionals to focus on patient care.
British Columbians will have access to doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, and specialists like dietitians and physiotherapists within their community. This model streamlines complicated referrals, ensuring timely, comprehensive care all in one place. Once the system is fully built, people will be seamlessly transferred to a unit in their new location when they move. https://bcgreens2024.ca/bc-greens-introduce-dogwood-model-to-transform-primary-healthcare/ More information about this, and other platform planks, will be coming shortly.
8. Please provide a link to your website and/or contact information where readers can follow up with you should they want more information.
https://www.nicolaspurling.me/coquitlam-maillardville
teamspurling@bcgreens.ca
@NicESpurling on Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads, TikTok, and YouTube
https://bcgreens2024.ca/your-candidates/nicola-spurling/
View more Candidate videos and Q&A stories here.
The Tri-Cities Chamber is neutral in all elections, as it is stated in its bylaws to not support any particular candidate for public office. We do encourage everyone to learn about local candidates, their positions on issues, and party platforms. Please vote on October 19th.
Authorized by Chamber of Commerce Serving Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, registered sponsor under the Election Act, 604-464-2716.