Todd Stone brought his pitch for generational change to Sechelt Dec. 21, the latest in a string of visits by candidates vying to lead the BC Liberal Party after Christy Clark stepped down last summer.
And, in an interview with Coast Reporter, the former minister of transportation in Clark’s government also gave his take on the recent Sunshine Coast fixed link study, BC Ferries service and fares, and the struggle to convince Ottawa that ferries on the Pacific coast deserved the same level of subsidy as Atlantic ferries.
At age 45, Stone, the MLA for Kamloops-South Thompson since 2013, says he’s “the youngest guy in the race by at least 10 years” and represents a new generation of leadership that’s needed to “really rejuvenate, renew, refresh” the party.
“I sit in the Legislature and I look across the floor at eight New Democrats elected that are under the age of 40. We have zero under the age of 40 – I’m one of the youngest on our side. They have more women. They have seven South Asian MLAs; we have one. They have five Chinese; we have two. Just to give you an example.”
As leader, Stone said, “I will be making a particular effort at reaching out to young people, women and also making efforts to ensure that we’re more diverse. That means inviting people in at every level of the party – the executive, the board – and recruiting great young candidates, great women candidates, great diverse candidates, and running them in ridings they can win.”
On the policy front, Stone said his aim is to make sure the BC Liberal message “is much more attuned to the challenges that people face. That’s why we’ve put out a detailed plan on affordable housing, on mental health, on education – a number of these issues.” Stone’s “bold platform,” he said, contains more detail than all the other leadership campaigns combined.
After “recruiting a great team and refining the message,” he said, “you have to have a messenger who is credible and who can authentically deliver the message. And so again, as a guy with young kids, as a guy who’s a tech CEO, I think I’m the guy that’s most relatable to millennials and the younger generation as I am to baby boomers. I’m as relatable in Williams Lake as I am in Yaletown in Vancouver and that’s what it’s gonna take to win.”
Stone is running against fellow MLAs Mike de Jong, Andrew Wilkinson, Sam Sullivan and Michael Lee, as well as former Surrey mayor and Conservative MP Dianne Watts. With just over a month to go before the Feb. 1-3 vote, Stone said he would place his campaign “in the top two or three. I’m very pleased with where we are two-thirds of the way through this campaign – we’re a bit further ahead than we expected we would be at this point. There’s a sense of momentum that’s building.”
On the Coast
As transportation minister, Stone commissioned the Sunshine Coast fixed link study in 2015. When it was pointed out to him that a fixed link was not included in his transportation platform, he noted that “there’s a lot of detail that will come in the months and years ahead” and said he still hadn’t ruled out the viability of a fixed link.
“I’m not convinced that the study that was completed and signed off by the NDP government and released recently truly reflects all of the necessary analysis required to be able to properly assess whether or not the time has come for that kind of an investment. So I would want to take another look at it.”
At the same time, “we also need to look at what more needs to be done to improve the reliability of the ferry service, particularly out of Langdale.”
BC Ferries has said it will take at least five years to implement hourly service on the Langdale-Horseshoe Bay route. Acknowledging that an hourly sailing schedule “is the level of service that is actually needed today, not five years from now,” Stone said he “would hope that timetable could be accelerated somewhat.”
Regarding the imbalance between federal subsidies for Atlantic and Pacific ferries, Stone said it was an issue that he raised continuously with Ottawa when he was minister.
“We pressed British Columbia’s case that the level of subsidy granted the Atlantic provinces versus British Columbia, in terms of their respective ferry systems, is grossly out of balance. And it’s not just a few million dollars. We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars out of balance.”
Ottawa is aware of the issue, he said, but has been unwilling to budge. “They make the argument that British Columbia gets billions of dollars in infrastructure funding for other types of infrastructure, like rapid transit projects in Surrey and Vancouver. But that’s cold comfort to people who actually live in Sechelt and Powell River. I think communities, the province, all political parties – we all have to come together to make our case.”
Stone said he supports the 15 per cent reduction in ferry fares for minor routes that’s expected to be part of next month’s NDP budget, adding that lowering fares was “always the goal” when service cuts and other measures were taken four years ago to strengthen BC Ferries’ bottom line.
“And I would want to work with BC Ferries to accelerate some of the fare reductions across the minor routes, plus the routes to the Sunshine Coast, in light of BC Ferries’ much stronger fiscal situation,” he said.
