Jordan Sturdy joined a succession of Liberal MLAs, winning the B.C. election for the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky riding on Tuesday, May 14.
Sturdy won the seat by 52 per cent, defeating NDP candidate Ana Santos, who finished second with 32 per cent. Richard Warrington of the Green Party came in third with 10 per cent. The West Vancouver-Sea to Sky riding, which includes Bowen Island, Lion's Bay, Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton and the western portion of West Vancouver, has been a BC Liberal stronghold since the early 1990s. In 2005, Liberal candidate Joan McIntyre won the riding, then known as West Vancouver-Garibaldi, by more than 5,500 votes, following Liberal Ted Nebbling who held the seat for successive terms. In 2009, McIntyre was re-elected with 6,019 votes.
Sturdy has been the mayor of Pemberton for three terms and says that his community's approach has been to look for opportunities to diversify the economy so more people can work locally, which benefits the local businesses sector, family life and community.He believes that this is applicable to other communities as well and promises to "work to support Bowen with initiatives and investments that enhance economic opportunity on Bowen while retaining the essential character of island life."
Sturdy told Bowen Islanders that "some hard decisions have to be made about BC Ferriesprovincial subsidy increases, service reductions, management efficiencies, and even higher fares are the key variables that have to be traded off, in order for communities to thrive." He suggested that a committee of all MLAs representing ferry-dependent communities could work together with constituents to sort these issues out instead of relying on top down directives.
He also believes that continued economic support with programs such as Build Canada, Municipal Rural Infrastructure Funds and access to Federal Gas Tax revenues is critical to acting in a timely way on local projects such as water supplies, road and trail upgrades, community centre and recreation improvements.
"I will be a strong voice at the provincial level ensuring that these program funds continue to be accessible to small communities with a minimum of red tape and bureaucracy and not syphoned off into general provincial revenues," he said.
