Kamloops Green Party candidates ramping up provincial election campaigns

Feb 8, 2017 | 3:23 PM

KAMLOOPS — With just three months before the provincial election, the Green Party candidates for the Kamloops-South Thompson and Kamloops-North Thompson ridings offically kicked off their campaign on Wednesday. 

Donovan Cavers and Dan Hines are the two candidates running in Kamloops, and unlike candidates with other provincial parties – both say they won’t be accepting corporate or union donations to fund their campaigns.  

“Our big one is banning big money,” said Cavers, the Green candidate in Kamloops-South Thompson. “We’ve chosen not just to say that we’re going to put forward legislation, but we’re proactively refusing to take money from big corporations.”

Locally, Cavers points to $55,000 that KGHM-Ajax has donated to the B.C. Liberal Party. 

For the Greens in Kamloops, they are budgeting $50,000 for their campaign. Cavers says people have already rallied behind the campaign promise and helped in the fundraising effort. 

“Because of that, from individuals we had a breakthrough fundraising year last year,” he said. “Locally, we’ve raised significant funds. We’re well on our way to meeting our goals.”

Hines says his focus on the campaign trail in the Kamloops-North Thompson is improving the forestry sector in this region and across the province. 

“The more stories that I hear out of industry, or out of the foresters themselves, when I talk to independent wood processors or loggers, what I’m hearing is there’s been an approach to forestry that’s been very short-term in its focus,” said Hines. “We need to look at long-term prosperity. We need to look at how we’re going to create jobs, and look at the future of these communities. Forest-dependent communities are struggling.”

Hines believes the province has to change how it manages B.C. forests. Both Hines and Cavers know they need to get their message out and stand out in their promise to be as transparent and respectful on the campaign trail.