Here is a list of potential questions you can use to ask your candidates during public meetings, debates or if they knock on your door!

Affordable Housing:

• How do you plan to address affordable housing across the Cowichan Valley?

Child care & Poverty - For more information on this visit The Council for Children & Families of the Cowichan Region and Communities:

• How do you plan to make child care more affordable for working families?
  • You can ask your candidates to support the $10/day daycare plan through the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of BC.
• If you are elected as MLA, what concrete action will you take to implement a Poverty Reduction Plan for BC?

Economy, jobs, living wage:

• How would you transition to a sustainable economy that will support local business and create reliable, living wage jobs for residents in Cowichan?
• It's been identified that the 2016 living wage for Cowichan is $18.81/hour. What is your plan to work with government and businesses to reduce the gap between a proper living wage and the current minimum wage?  

Education:

• What do you consider to be the top priorities for improving education and, if elected, how will you work to ensure these priorities will be addressed?
• Do you support providing tuition free basic adult education?
• How do you plan to make post secondary education more accessible?

Electoral Reform/Proportional Representation - For more info check out Fair Vote Canada:

• "Do you think that if a party gets 30% of the vote they should get 30% of the seats?"
• "What are you and your party committed to doing to make sure that this is the last first-past-the-post election in BC?" 

Environment, water, local food security, climate change - pledge to vote for water with the Canadian Freshwater Alliance:

• What do you consider to be the top priorities for sustaining a healthy environment and, if elected, how will you work to ensure these priorities will be addressed?
• One Cowichan has been facilitating a petition for the federal government to allocate adaptation to climate change infrastructure funds to raise the Cowichan weir for the Cowichan River. How will you work to bring the provincial government to the table as an active partner to move this initiative forward?
• If elected, how will you support the work of the Cowichan Watershed Board which includes partnerships with Cowichan Tribes and the CVRD as they pursue some level of local management of the Cowichan Watershed?
• As an MLA, how will you work with the elected government to implement and enforce the new rules to protect water as outlined in the new Water Sustainability Act?
• How will you work to increase food security in the Cowichan Valley?
• How do you plan to support local farmers and protect agricultural land in Cowichan and BC?
• Do you believe in climate change? If so, how will you support efforts in the Cowichan Valley to adapt to climate change?
• What do you see as priorities for the Cowichan Valley to adapt to our changing climate?

Energy, oil & gas/pipelines/LNG, Site C, renewable energy:

• What is your position on expanding oil and gas infrastructure?
• Do you support the Kinder Morgan pipeline and tanker expansion project?
• Do you support the proposed Bamberton LNG project?
• What is your position on the Site C dam?
• Do you support developing renewable energy projects, such as solar or wind? If you support these projects, how do you plan to promote the development of such projects in Cowichan?

Health care - for more information and to take a pledge to vote for health care, visit the BC Health Coalition:

• What do you consider to be the top priorities for improving health care in Cowichan and if elected, how will you work to ensure these priorities will be addressed?
• How will you work improve health care for seniors?
• What is your plan for increasing access to primary care and for reducing wait times?
• Do you plan to eliminate MSPs?

Reconciliation:

• If elected, how will you support moving forward on reconciliation with First Nations in British Columbia and locally within our riding?

What questions would you ask that are missing here? To add your question to the list, please email Rosalie at [email protected]