Conservative candidate Gabrielle Loren is officially opening her Sunshine Coast campaign office Sept. 28 as the federal election enters its third week.
Loren, a 57-year-old former Canada Revenue Agency auditor who now runs her own tax accounting firm on the North Shore, was the first candidate nominated in West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country.
Shortly after securing the nomination, Loren, who also ran for a seat on West Vancouver council in 2018, told North Shore News, “It’s time for us to get away from career politicians.”
In an interview for Coast Reporter Radio, Loren said she defines a career politician as someone who “never really experienced life outside the political arena … making decisions where you actually have to suffer the consequences personally.”
“I think that when you are looking at politics in general, there is more of an appetite to look at people who can see all sides of a story,” she said.
Loren is trying to bring the riding back into the Conservative fold after the decisive Liberal win in 2015, but said she hasn’t been paying much attention to the polls.
“To me that’s not important. What’s important right now is to knock on doors and talk to real, live people and find out what their concerns are and find out what they would want from their MP,” Loren said.
She said for many voters, especially those under 40, the environment is a top concern and the Conservative plan to promote technology in the fight against climate change is resonating with younger voters.
“When you are in a situation where technology has gotten us where we are today, using technology to combat climate change is a good answer,” she said. “We have to approach it on a multi-tier level, we have to approach this globally, we have to approach this nationally, and we have to approach this locally.”
In rolling out the Conservative climate plan in June, leader Andrew Sheer said by expanding LNG export capacity, through projects like Woodfibre, Canada could help shift countries like China away from coal for a net reduction of GHG emissions.
“Promoting cleaner technology, which creates jobs, will help the economy at the same time,” Loren said.
Earlier this month, the chair of the Sunshine Coast Regional District said local governments would like to see derelict and abandoned vessels treated as a key issue in the riding – in particular the need under current programs for local governments or community groups to “take ownership” of a vessel and assume liability before getting funding to remove it.
Loren said there needs to be cooperation between all levels of government, along with making effective use of the legislation that’s now in place. “One of the platforms of the Conservative Party is to enforce the laws we have, and we have this law now as the result of a bi-partisan work of both former MP John Weston and current MP Pam Goldsmith-Jones – so having this law now, let’s work toward enforcement.”
A recent survey of people in Metro Vancouver ridings, including West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, found that along with the environment, affordability, especially housing affordability, is top of mind for voters this election.
Loren said the Conservatives’ recent promise to relax mortgage requirements, such as the “stress test,” and returning to a 30-year amortization period will help.
“There’s also making federal land available for housing,” Loren said. “One of the benefits of that that I see is throughout this riding we have a lot of NIMBYism. We don’t want a big high-rise beside our single-family homes, so to have the federal government say this is land you can use for creating affordable housing will actually have a huge impact.”
The Conservatives are also promising tax relief, including a Universal Tax Credit, and Loren said those promises can be honoured, while still balancing the budget over five years.
“Economics 101, you reduce taxes, people have more money to spend, the economy is generating revenue,” she said.
The opening for Loren’s campaign office at the Bella Beach Inn in Davis Bay is set for Sept. 28 from 3 to 5 p.m.
You can hear the full Coast Reporter Radio interview with Gabrielle Loren starting Sept. 26 at www.coastreporter.net/audio
