Kamloops-South Thompson MLA, Todd Stone was in Revelstoke on Monday, December 4th for a tour of some of our community staples such as Vic Van Isle and the almost complete, Mackenzie Village.
Stone met many of the local Liberal supporters in the Begbie Room at the Regent Hotel for a campaign promise speech and a question and answer period for those that had them.
The 45 year old Kamloops native sat down with the Revelstoke Current prior to the shoulder bump gathering. When asked what frustrated him with our current government, Stone had no problem diving right the issues that concerned him.
“The NDP increase taxes, kill projects and have not kept their campaign promises. They killed the Massey Tunnel Project which was a 2.7 Million dollar project that would have produced numerous jobs for families; delayed Site- C which in turn, has caused an increase in cost because of those delays.” Stated Stone.
The Strong Economy campaign the BC Liberals pushed as the marketing brand in the previous round was well received in Northern British Columbia and the Interior, however, it fell short in the lower mainland.
Vancouver- Quilchena MLA, Andrew Wilkinson is running along side Stone for the prime role. Wilkinson’s campaign is not much different than the previous marketing brand. Stone claims that it is “Tired and timid. We are not going to beat the NDP by being tired and timid, we need to bring the fight to them. My campaign is about a new generation leadership, which means being really bold.”
If elected, Stone plans to immediately rollback the recent tax hikes, decrease PST by one point for small businesses on business input costs and to neutralize Carbon Tax Revenue.
The current NDP Government are in support of Proportional Representation moving forward, which would change the way we vote indefinitely. For small markets such as Revelstoke, Golden and Cranbrook, there could be very little representation for each market as they would be all clumped into one riding.
“You would be lucky to get an MLA here in this region at all.” Stated Stone in regards to the Currents question about his thoughts on Proportional Representation.
Stone is the youngest member of the Liberal Party, and the only one running who is not from the lower mainland. Stone feels that his age is a benefit to the situation. That it is time to infuse young blood into the party and to try and win those votes they lost to the Green Party in the last election.
“i don’t think it matters where you are from or what your address is. Do you have a vision and a plan…That’s how you win. Your address doesn’t determine your success. I will get those seats back.”
The decision of who will be the next Liberal Party leader will be Saturday, December 3rd through a ranking system. Only card carrying BC Liberal members are able to vote, the cut off for a card membership is December, 29th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKY8Tywn7V4
