Here's a bunch of stuff about the local election candidates

Election day is Oct. 19

Oct 15, 2024

Last updated Oct. 18, 5 p.m. PT

Election day is Oct. 19 — this coming Saturday. If you are wondering how or where to vote, here’s a writeup on that. It also looks like thousands of people in the area have already voted. (UPDATE: Here are the exact numbers).

I wrote a summary of Prince George’s three ridings here. If you aren’t sure which riding you are in you can get maps here or you can type your address into this website and get your answer.

What follows is a bit of a roundup of the campaign material and interviews I could find on specific candidates in each riding. I tried to avoid repetitive articles, focusing on ones that had interviews or new info. The focus here is on material from in and around the campaign, some of these folks have longer histories, which you can find via Google.

If you’re looking for information abuot where or how to vote, Elections B.C. has you covered.

In Prince George, B.C., parties campaign for lost Liberal votes.
Free transit in Prince George on Election Day.
PG Daily News editor Bill Phillips is predicting one Conservative, one New Democrat and one Independent will be representing Prince George once the election results are in.
Only one leader visits PG: “Not a good look” (CKPG).
Local MLA candidates weigh in on involuntary mental health care.
This isn’t an article but councillor Kyle Sampson has posted about trying to get a committment from all parties/candidates for a UHNBC Patient Care Tower. He says while he has received a level of support in conversations with the John Rustad and Sonia Furstenau of the Conservatives and Greens, so far only the NDP have publicly confirmed therir support.
This one touches on calls for a pyschiatric care hospital in Prince George, though none of the parties have officially committed to it while expressing general support for the idea.
I’m honestly a bit confused about this one but CKPG says the future of the Urgent and Primary Care facility in Parkwood Mall is in jeopardy, without citing anyone indicating that is the case?? But anyways, it has John Rustad saying the healthcare system is not working, independent Coralee Oakes raising issues with the model and the NDP’s Adrian Dix saying his party will keep it open if they are re-elected because of how vital it is. UPDATE: The Citizen explains more.
The Tyee story “Why Both Parties Are Wrong About B.C.’s Forestry Crisis” centres largely on Prince George.
CKGP did a story on education, with the Conservative platform and critique from the NDP’s Shar McCrory, who sits on the PG school board and previously did so in the northwest. Article ends with ‘CKPG News reached out to Conservative candidates Sheldon Clare and Rosalyn Bird, but did not hear back.”
What electoral issues matter most to D.P. Todd students? (CKPG)
Conservative plans to replace SOGI 123 “raised alarm bells” for physicians (CKPG)
The Tyee has a piece up titled “Why Both Parties Are Wrong about BC’s Forestry Crisis” which is very much focused on Prince George and area.
The chiefs of five northern B.C. First Nations, including the Lheidli T’enneh, have a joint letter encouraging people to vote — and not for the Conservatives:

And the Citizen also has an editorial titled: “Involuntary care should be considered as a last resort.”
In PG Daily News, former high school teacher, now columnist, Gerry Chidiac writes about his memories of Rustad on the school board in a column titled “John Rustad must be stopped.”For what it’s worth, I did find a couple of articles about what Chidiac describes as Rustad having “set his sights” on closing Duchess Park in the newspaper archives. You can read more context, from me, here.

Prince George-Mackenzie

Kiel Giddens, Conservative Party
Shar McCrory, BC NDP
James Steidle, BC Green Party
Rachael Weber

Overview:

Kiel Giddens has not run for office before. He was going to be the B.C. United candidate for this riding, replacing Mike Morris who has held the seat since 2013 with what was then the B.C. Liberals, but then the B.C. Liberals changed their name to B.C. United, dropped deep in the polls and withdrew from the election altogether. Giedens was one of the B.C. United candidates invited to run for the B.C. Conservatives, which meant the already-nominated candidate for that riding, Rachael Weber, was dropped. Now she’s running as an independent with signs saying she is the “TRUE Conservative” option for the north, arguing the Conservative Party of B.C. is too centrist.

Weber is also a school board trustee and has attracted some controversy for her past Facebook posts (such as these ones and these ones). This is interesting because 1. Giddens used to be part of the B.C. United Party which dug up some of these posts to paint the B.C. Conservatives, which he is now a part of, as unready to govern and 2. The NDP candidate, Shar McCrory, is also a school board trustee and ran in a by-election campaign that was in some ways a refutation of Weber’s tenure as school board chair, particularly when it came to support for SOGI educational materials and inclusive classrooms. To my knowledge, she has not ran for public office previously.

Rounding out the campaign in this riding is James Steidle who came in 13th place in the 2022 municipal election and is known locally for his advocacy work with Stop the Spray, which aims to do away with the practice of using glyphosate sprays on forests to do away with deciduous species such as aspen and birch, and for his column in the Prince George Citizen. To further add to things, Mike Morris — who, as mentioned above, was the B.C. United MLA in this riding for about a decade — has appeared at rallies with Steidle on this issue, though I haven’t heard where he stands in this election. The B.C. Liberal MLA prior to him, Pat Bell, has put out his support for Giedens/Rustad in an interview with Radio-Canada.

Press and social media

Giddens:

McCrory:

NDP website
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
Shar McCrory ro run for NDP in PG-Mackenzie riding (My Prince George Now)
NDP candidate McCrory says “it is time” for voting shift in northern BC (My Prince George Now)
Prince George Citizen Q&A
McCrory calls on Giddens to denounce extremism
Local NDP candidates ready for October 19 (CKPG)

Steidle:

Weber:

Debates/forums

Meet the four Prince George-Mackenzie candidates (My Prince George Now)

CFIS Prince George-Mackenzie All-Candidates forum (note: Spotify has wrong title, but this is the link to the Mackenzie one)

Candidates agree forestry is key but offer different solutions at debate (Prince George Citizen)

CKPG debate featuring Gidden, McCrory and Steidle:

UNBC Sustainability forum with Steidle:

Prince George-North Cariboo

Denice Bardua, BC NDP
Sheldon Clare, Conservative Party
Coralee Oakes, Independent
Randy Thompson, BC Green Party

The intrigue in this riding is that unlike Giddens in Prince George-Mackenzie, the B.C. United candidate here was not asked to run with the B.C. Conservatives after her party withdrew from the race. That means Coralee Oakes, an MLA since 2013, is now running as an Independent, a handful of former B.C. United MLAs around the province to be taking this step. She’s up against Sheldon Clare, who is past-president of a group called the National Firearms Association. Clare kicked off his campaign by circulating an op-ed which the Citizen refused to print, saying they don’t take op-eds from candidates, but which they reported on:

"I’ve been accused of inappropriate behaviour such as forming social connections with former students and owning firearms, all of which have been twisted to question my integrity," he wrote. "I want to be clear: I have always taken my role as a mentor and educator seriously, and any relationships I’ve formed have been based on mutual respect. My love for the shooting sports is well-known, and as a firearms safety instructor, I have always emphasized responsibility and discipline."
..
He called allegations that he harbours feelings of racism and misogyny "deeply painful," saying they don't align with his principles.

The article ended with:

Clare was contacted by The Citizen Friday morning and said that with the exception of one minor error he stands by the statement. He said he would follow up with an explanation of the error but could not be reached later in the day.
Citizen staff were unable to find any online evidence of the things Clare wrote were being said about him, and the paper has not received any tips or other information about Clare.

The full editorial was printed by the right-leaning Western Standard and in the time since, a bit more of a clear picture has emerged of what he was referring to, such as here and here.

Clare ran as an independent in the 2015 federal election, receiving 657 votes in Cariboo-Prince George— fifth place, in which Todd Doherty of the federal Conservatives (unaffiliated with the B.C. Conservatives) got 19,688 votes.

Neither the NDP nor the Green party candidates have an electoral history I’m aware of. Denice Bardua (NDP) is listed as a payroll assistant for Quesnel’s School District 28 and has not shown up at any events or forums. Randy Thompson (Green) has on his website that he works for the City of Quesnel.

Press and social media

Bardua

Debates and forums

Prince George-North Cariboo candidates on housing (CBC)

Meet the four Prince George-North Cariboo candidates (My Prince George Now).

CKPG debate (Thompson, Oakes, Clare)

Quesnel Chamber of Commerce (Oakes, Thompson, Clare)

UNBC Sustainability (Oakes and Thompson)

Rosalyn Bird, Conservative Party
Gwen Johansson, BC Green Party
Clay Poutney, BC NDP

This is the most straightforward of the three Prince George ridings. With longtime MLA Shirley Bond opting to retire from provincial politics rather than contest her seat as an Indepedent, we have newcomer to the region Rosalyn Bird with the Conservatives, the former mayor of Hudson’s Hope and Site C critic Gwen Johansson running with the Greens and Clay Poutney, former chief of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, running with the B.C. NDP.

Press and social media

Bird

Johansson

Green Party website

Poutney

Debates and forums

Meet the three Prince George-Valemount candidates (My Prince George Now)

CFIS Prince George-Valemount all-candidates forum part one and part two

Candidates differ on future of DRIPA at Prince George-Valemount debate (Prince George Citizen)

Prince George-Valemount candidates address derogatory online comments (Prince George Citizen)

CKPG debate (Johansson, Poutney, Bird)

UNBC Sustainability (Johansson)

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Send feedback by emailing northerncapitalnews@gmail.com. Find me online at akurjata.ca.

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Here's a bunch of stuff about the local election candidates

Election day is Oct. 19

General articles

Prince George-Mackenzie

Press and social media

Giddens:

McCrory:

Steidle:

Weber:

Debates/forums

Prince George-North Cariboo

Press and social media

Bardua

Clare

Oakes

Thompson

Debates and forums

Prince George-Valemount

Press and social media

Bird

Johansson

Poutney

Debates and forums

Discussion about this post