As a world champion athlete, motivational speaker and home-schooling mom, Michelle Stilwell has always been busy.
Now, she’s about to get even busier.
Stilwell, the newly elected MLA for Parksville-Qualicum, was officially sworn in Tuesday with 48 other Liberal MLAs at a ceremony in the B.C. legislature.
Shortly after, her colleagues voted her government caucus chair. It’s a “humbling” job, Stilwell said, and serves as an important link between Premier Christy Clark and her MLAs.
That’s in addition to her other responsibilities as parliamentary secretary for healthy living, announced last week.
It all contributes to a full plate of duties, both at home and in her new office.
“I’m very, very busy,” Stilwell said in an interview. “But that’s generally how my life has been. So I’m sliding in quite easily.”
Adjusting to life as an MLA is “definitely a work in progress,” said the 38-year-old Paralympic gold medallist.
“The first day [after the election], I woke up and by 10 a.m. I had all my calendars on the table — my sport calendar, my child-care calendar, my husband’s calendar, and I’m like, ‘OK, where do we need people, where do we need to be, how do we plan this out?’ It’s how I operate.”
Stilwell currently home-schools her 11-year-old son Kai, who has autism. She plans to have a support worker fill in on afternoons, along with a tutor in the mornings.
She’s already got her mind around being away from her family for the workweek at the legislature in Victoria.
“That’s part of the job I think will be a much easier transition for me. Having been a Paralympic athlete who has travelled the world, they are used to me not being at home for an extended period of time,” Stilwell said.
“I feel very fortunate I’m an MLA that lives on the Island and we’re only two hours apart.”
Her new duties throw into question the future of her sporting career, which has included multiple gold and silver medals in the Paralympics, as well as world records in the 100-metre, 200-metre and 400-metre race categories.
Stilwell said she’s already committed to the world championships in France in July.
Whether she can continue racing and training beyond that, while juggling MLA duties, is a decision she said she will make as she goes.
“I don’t know, I’m getting old,” she said.
“You have to adjust for what’s happening in your life. I’ve always said family comes first, and it’s always something I have to communicate with them and how we can juggle it or manage it.
“I’ve reached the highest level in my sport, broken the world record multiple times. I have nothing to prove. I just happen to have a passion for it.”
Vancouver Island’s only other Liberal MLA, Don McRae from the Comox Valley, was also sworn in on Tuesday.
Some municipal politicians have expressed worry that, with Liberals in only two of 14 Island ridings, the region lacks a voice at the caucus and cabinet table.
McRae, the Island’s lone cabinet minister, said he will try to promote projects in other communities.
“It’s important that when there [are] those good projects that come forward, whether I live in Comox Valley [or] Michelle lives in Parksville-Qualicum, we still know that Vancouver Island needs representation,” he said.
Stilwell said she’s already been getting calls from constituents needing help in other Island ridings.
“I’ll do the best I can to help where I can,” she said.
