Sunshine Coast constituents can expect to see their new MP Pam Goldsmith-Jones on the Coast again on Jan. 17, 18 and 19. But the rookie MP doesn’t plan to open a constituency office here.
“We are beginning with one constituency office in Horseshoe Bay because, first, it is a central location, affordable, and the landlord agreed to improvements that create a fresh, welcoming place. Second, we’d like to try an approach where our staff on the Coast is flexible in order to provide better service, rather than be tied to one location and regular office hours,” Goldsmith-Jones said.
She’s hired Lucie McKiernan as a half-time staff person for the Sunshine Coast and said McKiernan will work from home and travel to events and meetings on her behalf, as well as shuttle the MP to and from the ferry and events when she visits.
“Lucie McKiernan returns calls right away, is able to meet with you and liaises with our constituency office staff, and me, on a daily basis. Lucie will also travel to the Horseshoe Bay office to be part of the whole team, and to support work throughout the region – and mainland staff will do the same on the Coast,” Goldsmith-Jones said.
“We have reached out to various community meeting places which we will rent throughout the Coast for community meetings.”
Dates, times and locations for the MP’s Sunshine Coast visits will be advertised and posted on her website at www.westvancouver.liberal.ca
On Jan. 14 Goldsmith-Jones will open her Horseshoe Bay constituency office at 6367 Bruce St. during a celebration that will run from 4 to 6 p.m. The community is invited to attend the event, where they can meet McKiernan and Goldsmith-Jones’ two full-time mainland assistants, Stephanie Kiernan and Deanna Regan.
The MP said a phone number for her Horseshoe Bay office will be released once new phone lines are installed and operating. In the meantime, constituents can reach her by emailing [email protected]
“Our staff monitors this account very closely,” she said.
Goldsmith-Jones said she’s been very busy since being sworn in last November, spending a great deal of time getting set up for and briefed on her new position as MP and her parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs appointment.
“Overall, it has been a blend of setting up our constituency office here in the riding, hiring staff, finding a place to live in Ottawa and learning about being a parliamentarian – throughout, I have been meeting with constituents, local governments and not-for-profit agencies whenever I am home,” she said.
She expects the year ahead to bring many more meetings with constituents, which will help her pinpoint priorities for the Sunshine Coast-West Vancouver-Sea to Sky Country riding.
“In the year ahead I will be consulting with community groups, councils, regional districts, First Nations, Islands Trust in order to get to know one another and establish local priorities for funding and other federal government policy issues. By the end of January, I will have hired the staff we need in the constituency and in Ottawa so we can support the community’s interests,” Goldsmith-Jones said.
“We will all need to pull together to prioritize infrastructure investment requests – of which there are many. I will host a meeting of local decision-makers in February to that end.”
Goldsmith-Jones said she knows the Woodfibre LNG project is a hot topic for many on the Coast who are waiting to see what the federal government will do with it.
She said she doesn’t know when the feds will make a decision regarding Woodfibre LNG but noted “this is an immediate concern of which I am very aware.”
“I am in conversation with Ministers Carr and McKenna and their parliamentary secretaries Kim Rudd and Jonathan Wilkinson as they tackle restoring trust in the review process and steward the decision-making process,” she said.
As for the other hot button topic on the Coast – BC Ferries fares – Goldsmith-Jones said she plans to raise the issue of federal funding for the coastal highway in the future.
“I look forward to raising the inequity in funding and working on creating greater affordability, reliable service and a restored federal highway system that includes ferry service,” she said.
