Cost of living is a big question at the doors; Albas

The incumbent in the September 20th election in Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola is Conservative Dan Albas.

Albas has served three terms as MP after being first elected in 2011. He most recently served as the Shadow Minister for Environment and Climate Change.

“COVID and forest fires have obviously impacted this campaign. This is no time for Justin Trudeau to be thinking we need an election, and I will tell you it’s caused a lot of anger and frustration at the doors. We aren’t seeing as many candidate forums and that’s unfortunate because I do think there are a lot of important issues,” said Albas.

Albas mentioned being in Merritt on the Sunday the writ was dropped and hearing shock from residents.

“At that point, Logan Lake was completely evacuated, and Merrittonians were being told to have their cherished possessions ready to go. People were angry and quite honestly they didn’t wasn’t to talk about politics because they thought it was insulting. You cant ask people to talk about the next four years when they don’t know where they’re going to be in four days,” added Albas.

Since the initial writ drop, Albas mentioned the housing affordability has been a big issue at the doors while talking to constituents.

“We’ve also heard about affordability in terms of groceries and gas. The cost of living is going up and many seniors are asking questions about how they’re expected to balance everything by the end of the month and Justin Trudeau doesn’t seem to be wanting to address these issues,” said Albas.

“The approach I’ve always had is to listen to people, I’ve been to Merritt several times on this campaign, listen to people, hear the issues, champion them in Ottawa and get results. That’s something I’ve also done and I hope with a mandate from the people I can continue that work. We have so much to do in this country, we need to heal our divisions, we need to come together, we need to get our economy back on track,” concluded Albas.

Candidates on the ballot in COSN (in alphabetical order)

Conservatives – Dan Albas (Incumbent)

Liberals – Sarah Eves

People`s Party – Kathyrn McDonald

New Democrats – Joan Phillip

Green Party – Brennan Wauters