Cowichan-Valley MLA Sonia Furstenau, was in Creston on Tuesday for a community forum, hosted by the B.C. Green Party’s Nelson-Creston Riding Association.
Furstenau is House Leader for the B.C. Green Party and currently sits on six parliamentary committees, including the Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth, and the Legislative Assembly Management Committee.
Furstenau listened to the concerns of Creston Valley residents for an hour and a half, discussing climate control, health care, and transportation.
“We recognize the importance of transportation and particularly public transportation, and its part of one of the initiatives that we have really championed for CleanBC, which has within it a transportation element, recognizing that part of how we’re going to reduce our emissions is to create more accessible public transportation,” said Furstenau.
“Is the government moving fast enough? No, they are not, and I know that this is a deep frustration, not just here, but widely,” said Furstenau. “It’s good to reinforce that. This helps me to go back and say ‘it’s not just this riding or that riding, you need to move on this, we need to put a plan in place. I know up north (Highway 16), they did move quickly to get a bus up there. And we want to see that same urgency here.”
Furstenau has long been involved in grassroots advocacy and encouraged residents to enlist help from local and regional government to address the issue.
“The province has a role to play in supporting that funding so if the regional district comes forward and says, ‘We have got a solution, and it meets the needs’, they can go to the province and say, we need you to support this.”
When asked what Furstenau thought of the turn out for the community forum, she said, “The turnout was what we expected, we had a great conversation tonight.”
Furstenau continued her Kootenay tour to Nelson on Wednesday.
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