3. What qualifications do you possess that make you the best candidate to represent the people of Vancouver Island North in parliament?
I grew up as an Air Force brat and my family moved to the North Island in 1959 when my father, a pilot, was posted to CFB Comox. I worked in the resource industry as a youth at Elk Falls and Western Mines, and returned to the riding after university to practice law in Comox. I've never thought of myself as a politician, but rather as someone who sees a problem or an injustice, and feels compelled to step up. I'm stepping up now because I see problems in the North Island – we need to build jobs, we need to help our seniors, and invest in health care and education. For too long our riding has bounced from the extreme left to the extreme right, and with rhetoric substituted for action our communities and needed progress has not been made. I'm encouraging the voters of Vancouver Island North to consider a prudent, pragmatic and moderate Liberal voice. All my career I've encouraged people to put partisanship aside and work together to do what's right, and what needs to be done. I want to bring that same approach to Ottawa.