When Vancouver Quadra member of Parliament Joyce Murray arrived in Creston on Thursday, she wasn’t fumbling with a map, wondering how long it would take to drive from Cranbrook. The Liberal MP is a former Riondel resident, where she and her husband, Dirk Brinkmann, founded a silviculture business.
“I always love coming back to the Kootenays,” Murray said. “I love to get back into rural communities.”
Now in her second term as MP, Murray visited with community leaders in Fernie, Kimberley, Cranbrook and Creston to discuss key local issues as they relate to her role as critic for small business and tourism, Asia Pacific Gateway and western economic diversification.
“A robust small business and tourism sector is essential for the development of a sustainable and diverse rural economy,” she said. “I am travelling to hear what people say so I can inform [Liberal Party] work on issues that are important to them.”
Murray said she was hearing about the enormous opportunities in this recreation and resource rich area, but also that marketing, infrastructure and skills training strategies are not being implemented to support the full development of these opportunities.
“During this time of economic uncertainty, the Conservative government is still preparing to cut corporate taxes for the largest companies in Canada,” said Murray. “Instead they need to help grow small and medium sized businesses — the job creators and real engines of our economy. No one is asking for a handout, but there is much more that can be done. …
“I’ve focused on learning about what is working in the business and tourism sectors and also to learn what is needed to protect and create jobs. For instance, skills training and jobs strategy are working, but we need to focus on an economy that makes sure young people are able to settle in rural areas and find productive work to support their families. We need to create strategies to address projections that say in seven years we will have 1.5 million people without jobs and 1.5 job openings will be unfilled because we will lack people without the skills to fill them.”
In the Kootenays, Murray said, she has heard that there is a need to diversify.
“Some communities’ economies are driven by one or two industries and are completely dependent on global factors,” Murray said.
Another common theme on her Kootenay tour was the need to showcase the province’s rural areas to the world.
“We need to showcase places like the East Kootenay and Creston Valley internationally, so the world knows there is more to B.C. than Vancouver and Whistler,” she said.
In her work on the Asia Pacific Gateway portfolio, Murray said Canada needs to focus not only on trade with countries like China, but on their growing tourism demands.
“Attracting tourists from the Asia Pacific will help open up trade, too,” she said.
Murray continued her Kootenay tour into Nelson, Trail and Castlegar after she and her husband spent the Labour Day weekend in the Riondel area.