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-VALEMOUNT
BC Liberal Party of Canada: Shirley Bond
With close to two decades as an MLA in Prince George, BC Liberal incumbent Shirley Bond knows the drill during election periods and this time is no different.
Bond originally acclaimed the seat in 2001 when she received 8,033 votes (55.72 per cent), beating BC NDP candidate Tom Whitcome.
She's won re-election in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017 and winning on Oct. 24 would secure her sixth term representing the Prince George-Valemount riding.
"I continue to care passionately about the riding that I live in," she said in an interview with PrinceGeorgeMatters.
"I am a lifelong northerner. I have a very vested interest in wanting to serve this region, the province. We’ve raised our children here. Our son and daughter-in-law are raising our grandsons here. I care a great deal about ensuring that northern British Columbians have a strong, experienced voice in Victoria."
BC Green Party: Mackenzie Kerr
Mackenzie Kerr knows the pressure and amount of work needed to run as a candidate for government and now, she’s doing it again.
Kerr ran for the Cariboo-Prince George riding during the 2019 federal election for the Green Party of Canada.
She’s decided to try her hand again, this time provincially in running for the BC Greens in the Prince George-Valemount riding for the election slated for Oct. 24.
The 23-year-old announced on Sept. 26 that she had officially been acclaimed as the candidate.
She’s up against BC Liberal Shirley Bond, who has held the seat for five consecutive terms, BC NDP candidate Laura Parent and BC Libertarian Sean Robson.
Kerr says she decided to step up again and try to represent the north because she believes there are issues gone unchanged for a long period of time.
“I am running again because the issues I saw in our forest industry, our ecosystems, our democracy and political systems years ago, are still there,” she tells PrinceGeorgeMatters.
“I’m not going anywhere until I can tell my great-grandchildren that I did everything I could to make our community better than I found it and did it with grace, class and accountability.”
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.
BC NDP: Laura Parent
While many might believe Parent's age and lack of political experience won't get her far in this election, Parent believes that can be beneficial to the Prince George-Valemount riding specifically.
“Even though I’m young, I come from a family of loggers and healthcare workers so I know what that’s like. I know what it’s like to live in a resource dependant family," she tells PrinceGeorgeMatters.
“I have older people that I care for in my life and I’ve watched them struggle through the healthcare system and that is so upsetting. So I think I bring that empathy and compassion role to listen to people and what they need.
But despite the short time frame for campaigning and the Oct. 24 election date coming faster each day, Parent says she's motivated and ready, adding she believes it's time for a new face at the helm of the riding, which has been occupied by BC Liberal candidate Shirley Bond since 2001.
“It’s really important to have different perspectives in government. When you have someone new that can represent a riding, you get new ideas, change and energy into the role.
“I think it’s clear that the BC Liberals ideas in this riding have been tried and tried, and aren’t really making much progress. Those policies aren’t really applicable to northern B.C."
BC Libertarian Party: Sean Robson
It's been a while since either Prince George riding has seen a BC Libertarian candidate on a ballot, but this year, they're hoping to put large parties on notice.
In the Prince George-Valemount riding, Sean Robson was chosen as the candidate while Raymond Rodgers has been tapped for Prince George-Mackenzie.
Robson says the party believes the current government, and past large-party governments, have managed to go beyond its means while explaining his life experience and knowledge of the area helps him as a candidate.
He graduated high school in 2001, the year which Shirley Bond claimed the seat in the riding. He then laboured for roughly a decade followed by receiving his first welding ticket when he was 28-years-old and stayed in the industry for five years.
He then moved into driving trucks in 2015, which he still does to date.
“I have a great amount of experience, both in the area and in life, I’ve worked here my whole life basically," he explained to PrinceGeorgeMatters.
"I’ve gone to the military and what not, so I have a really good understanding of when I’m going to act when in government or when I’m going to act as their MLA if elected.
“Anything I want to do, I know how it’s going to affect them directly. Whenever I want to initiate a policy change or anything like that, I have a good understanding of how that will affect individuals and families in our community."
Robson says he doesn't have one specific area that he would be focusing on, but his area of concerns are taxes and regulations that he believes limit people's lives.
“I believe everyone has the right and should have the capacity to both save and spend at the same time. I think moving towards a government that allows for that by the mass reduction in taxes, will really help in all economies.
“I think voting for me would be a signal flare for the rest of the province. I think it would throw a big one up and say there’s people ready to start change and not repeat, rehash the same two different governments, that we’ve had for how many years now."
- Prince George-Valemount candidate profiles completed by Jess Fedigan, PrinceGeorgeMatters
