West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP Blair Wilson was on the Sunshine Coast this week to meet with constituents before heading back to Ottawa later this month.
"I have been making the rounds meeting with different community groups to deal with some of the issues that are on the ground," Wilson said Tuesday afternoon in an interview with Coast Reporter.
On Tuesday Wilson spoke during a luncheon with Sunshine Coast Association for Community Living, followed by visits to child care and mental care facilities; then he was off to the Lions Club before heading to the Sechelt Rotary Club for a question and answer session in the evening.
Affordable housing and child care were two of the major issues that emerged on Wilson's trip, which he found disconcerting. Without affordable housing and adequate childcare, Wilson said the Coast will struggle to grow.
"When a family is looking for a place to move to, they look at the schools, the affordability of housing and at childcare options - and right now those are major problems here," he said.
He met one of these problems face-to-face Tuesday afternoon. "I was visiting some people who run a small child care facility and they were clearly in crisis mode. Small child care operations are falling through the cracks, and the Conservative government has not done anything to help," Wilson said.On March 19, when Parliament is back in session, Wilson expects child care to be a hot topic. "We are going to continue pushing it in the House and we are hoping it will be the big topic in the next election," said Wilson.
Another major issue, an issue Wilson has been dealing with since becoming a Member of Parliament in 2006, is Pan Pacific Aggregates. "This is obviously a big issue for people on the Coast, and we are going to do everything possible to put up a roadblock," Wilson said. The company's mining projects, which are still in the planning and assessment stages, have caused great controversy on the Coast. Wilson says he is going to continue to do everything possible to keep these projects from coming to fruition.
"I've written letters to the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Transportation. Based on my analysis of the situation, a fully comprehensive environmental assessment needs to be done, and the federal government needs to be more active," Wilson said. Wilson is taking the concerns of his constituency with him as he returns to Ottawa. With the federal budget set to be announced on March 19, Wilson says he is confident it will not lead to an election.
"I'm sticking to my original prediction: no election before 2008," he said.
