Growing up in Saskatchewan, Larry Koopman and his family didn’t talk about politics only at election time.
“Politics were always front and centre in our home,” the NDP candidate for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country says during an interview on, appropriately enough, Labour Day.
The legacy of former Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas, one of the NDP’s founders, instilled in him “the ideals of justice for all and the unwavering belief that a more equal society creates a healthier and stronger society that belongs to everyone.”
Life on a farm also taught him the importance of co-operation and pulling together when times are tough.
Those qualities and values are being undermined by the Stephen Harper government, especially with Bill C51 which is “infringing on Canadians’ liberties, freedoms and constitutional rights,” he says.
The current Conservative government has also gutted our environmental protection laws, laws which people in this riding hold dear, he says.
This is Koopman’s first foray into federal politics. A resident of the Sunshine Coast, he made an unsuccessful bid as a school board trustee. The idea to enter federal politics was born a couple of years ago when, as president of the federal riding association, he and his wife hosted and overnight visit with NDP leader Tom Mulcair.
“I formed insights into the man and his qualities — his honesty and integrity, how he genuinely cares about issues. He’s an extremely principled individual. These are the qualities I admired in Tommy Douglas and [former Saskatchewan Premiers] Al Blakeney and Roy Romanow. I wanted to be part of his team.”
Koopman acknowledges that as a Gibsons resident, he is not as well known as his opponents — incumbent Conservative MP John Weston, former West Vancouver mayor Pam Goldsmith-Jones, who’s running for Liberals, and the Green Party’s Ken Melamed, a former mayor of Whistler.
“I don’t have the profile of the other candidates but I’m out knocking on doors. I’m very active in getting out there and talking about the real issues that concern us,” he says. “Do I have the experience of a politician? No. I’m a hard worker, I communicate with people and I listen. The skills that are needed, I have.”
His campaign profile says that, “after earning his education degree, Larry dedicated much of his career to helping others.” He is Sunshine Coast community coordinator for the Opportunities Fund, helping people with disabilities access employment training. He also created, developed and managed the Greater Vancouver Business Leadership Network, educating employers about hiring people with disabilities. He helps promote the Sunshine Coast through his Gibsons-based cottage rental business, which he and his wife have owned for 14 years.
One of the local campaign issues that’s emerging is the Woodfibre LNG proposal for the Squamish area. Koopman says at the issue has become very divisive on the coast and that it lacks “social licence.”
“Howe Sound is a very sensitive area for such a massive and complex proposal,” he says. “There may be places for it along the coast but the Howe Sound is not one of them.”
However, he also wants people to think on a broader scale and, like him, be inspired by the sentiment best expressed by John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
“That’s the macro statement for all of us to adhere to,” he says. “We really have to look at how we balance jobs and economy” while protecting the environment.
