BC CONSERVATIVE - Shane Kennedy
If there is one thing Shane Kennedy is hoping voters remember when they head to the polls next week, it's this: they needn't cast a ballot for the NDP to get rid of the Liberals.
He is hoping they will consider the Conservative Party of B.C. and said his campaign in Coquitlam-Burke Mountain gives voters an alternative to the two parties that have ruled the province for more than 20 years.
"We are trying to position ourselves as the alternative," he said. "We want to show people what the Liberals stand for. Here's what the NDP stands for. We are the alternative."
He agrees with the Liberal's stance on bringing the Northern Gateway pipeline to B.C. but said the money it generates for the province should be used to fund green industry.
Kennedy also wants to see the government focus on long-term planning when it comes to infrastructure. He said the province should follow the United States' lead, where he said politicians overbuild things like roads and highways in anticipation of future growth.
"Costs are always going up," he said. "It is better to build now than later."
A similar way of thinking should be applied to the construction of schools, which his riding desperately needs, he said.
Improved bus service is also necessary in the area and more streamlined routes are needed to make the service more efficient, he added.
"Back when I was having to commute to Surrey, I had to take transit all over the place," he said. "If there was a bus that went over the Port Mann, that would have been much easier."
Federally, the Conservatives tend to run to the right of the Liberals and the NDP. But in the topsy-turvy world of B.C. politics Kennedy said his party is centring itself between the "Liberal's crony capitalism and the NDP's tax and spend policies."
"We want to look at what is the meat and potatoes and what is the cake," he said. "Some of the cake is going to have to go, but we are going to keep the meat and potatoes."
For more information go to www.kennedy4mla.ca.
