3. What qualifications do you possess that make you the best candidate to represent the people of Vancouver Island North in parliament?
I have 35 years experience in the private and nonprofit sectors. I’ve been a small business owner and consultant; I’ve volunteered and had paid work doing everything necessary to achieve missions of a variety of agencies within limited resources. I have managed budgets where every nickel counted; recruited, trained, retained and recognized hundreds of paid and unpaid workers. I’ve negotiated with governments, with foundations and private investors and donors. I’ve developed and implemented client-centered programming and agencies and have the flexibility to change – ideas, processes, and short term objectives – as dictated by both internal and external pressures while keeping true to a vision.
I have the passion (without which there is no compassion) to work to create a world where equality and social justice is the norm; where every child is born into a safe, clean and healthy community and has what is needed to live and eventually die with dignity. I know there are millions of Canadians who envision that world too and I have the ability to listen to and learn from them and facilitate cooperation and collaboration to achieve goals. I can also make decisions and take action if the need is urgent, as with global climate change. I am confident in my ability to recruit and recognize learned people for advice and in my habit of life-long learning to understand, weigh and parse all sides of a discussion; see the big picture and all the complexities contained therein. I am pragmatic, practical, and ever the optimist.