MPs gear up for election

Photo: Contributed

MP Stephen Fuhr, left, and MP Dan Albas.

With the election period officially underway this week, Central Okanagan MPs are setting their sights on the future, while noting their accomplishments over the past four years.

After serving as a Penticton city councillor between 2008 and 2011, Dan Albas was voted into Parliament as the Conservative MP for the Okanagan-Coquihalla riding, before he was elected to his second term in the renamed Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola riding in 2015.

He'll be seeking a third term come Oct. 21, and he says he has plenty more to accomplish.

“I've introduced more private members legislation than any other B.C.-based MP,” Albas said. “It's no secret that I'm very policy orientated. Every summer I do a listening tour, and from that ... I meet with not-for-profits, I meet with individuals, I meet with municipalities and all sorts of different groups to try and find out what are the things that Ottawa needs to do better with.”

Locally, Albas says the big issues for him going into the 43rd Canadian election include continuing to break down interprovincial trade barriers, working to support lumber industry workers by funding training for new industries, protecting Okanagan Lake from invasive mussels, funding Oliver's agricultural irrigation system and ensuring trade access for cherry exports.

“Protecting and allowing our agricultural producers to grow and to have those opportunities to trade, but you can't do that if the infrastructure isn't working or if you can't get access to a market, and then also helping more interprovincial flow, while also protecting our water,” Albas said.

In 2015, Stephen Fuhr became the first Liberal MP to represent Kelowna since 1972.

“We've seen some of the best federal investment and visibility in this riding ever,” Fuhr said. “Some big ones that people will recognize would be water infrastructure money, flood protection money, big investment in UBCO, investment in rails to trails, investment in families, arts and culture.”

Fuhr says some of the biggest local issues going into the upcoming election include affordable housing funding, homelessness and substance abuse. He says while these issues mainly fall within the province's jurisdiction, he wants to ensure the federal government's funding around these issues makes its way to the Okanagan.

While Fuhr was widely considered an underdog in the historically conservative-leaning Okanagan last time around, he says he has a record to lean on in 2019.

“I'm quite optimistic and I am very, very proud of my record, and I hope people will take the time to look at what's come to this community,” Fuhr said.

The next Kelowna candidates forum is scheduled for Sept. 19 at the Kelowna Senior Citizen's Society hall near Richter Street and Fuller Avenue. 

A full list of all the candidates running in the Okanagan can be found here.