Home »
Laurel Ralston / Green Party – Columbia River-Revelstoke
Election 2013
Laurel Ralston’s answers to e-KNOW questions:
1Q. Please provide a brief history of yourself – recent work experience (career), accomplishments and other things important to you as an individual.
A. I work as a professional musician – a trumpeter and flautist, choral and wind conductor, accompanist, and teacher – and self-employed writer and editor. I’m fortunate to be able to support myself doing what I love, while living in a place I love! Previously, I’ve worked as Outreach Coordinator for Wildsight, as Arts on the Edge Festival Coordinator, as a research assistant during my graduate studies, and in the Policy and Planning and Public Affairs branches of the Canada Revenue Agency.
I am currently in my fifth term as President of the Kimberley Arts Council, an experience that has been both highly challenging and highly rewarding. I’m very proud of the progress that we have made as an organization over the past four years, becoming a thriving centre showcasing exceptional talent in the visual and performing arts, and providing a growing number of engaging arts education opportunities for all ages. I have also served as a director of the Kimberley Chamber of Commerce, and on several volunteer committees.
I love to learn, and I value curiosity, critical thinking, ingenuity, and the pursuit of excellence. I have a bachelor’s degree in music and a master’s degree in philosophy; the skills that I acquired through my studies serve me every day. But perhaps more than anything, I value compassion, kindness, and integrity – these are qualities that bring people together and bring out the best in us all.
2Q. Why are you a Green?
A. I identify most strongly with the Green Party because it values social justice, ecological wisdom, and participatory democracy most highly. The Green Party’s policies reflect a genuine concern for taking care of one another and taking care of the Earth, for thriving economically and encouraging business to be an agent of positive social change, and for allowing individuals and communities to participate in decisions that affect them.
3Q. In one sentence, please describe your political philosophy.
A. The more we come together through challenge, the more we attend to ideas instead of ideologies, the more we work creatively and compassionately, the more we will succeed now and for generations to come.
4Q. What are the four most important issues facing your riding? (Please rank one to four in importance)
A. 1. Maintaining steady economies year-round, and year after year.
2. Ensuring access to high quality education.
3. Supporting healthy lifestyles and ensuring access to high quality health care.
4. Ensuring the environmental and economic sustainability of core industries, such as forestry and tourism.
5Q. What can/will you do about those issues if you are elected?
I work hard to bring people together to make good things happen – highlighting common goals and values, staying focused on issues themselves, and encouraging creative, solution-oriented thinking in the face of challenges such as those above. The Green Party platform proposes excellent ideas relating to all four of those key issues – a range of policies relating to supporting small businesses and co-operatives, new approaches to educational strategy and funding, a shift in focus toward preventive medicine and health care alternatives, and incentives and support for traditional industries needing to reduce their environmental impact. So I would start by learning all I could about the specifics of local issues, research potentially successful strategies to address them, and advocate on behalf of those most affected.
6Q. If you could wave a magic wand, what single thing would you like to make happen for your riding?
A. I would love for this riding to be home to a world-class, world-leading cultural, scientific, or technological institution – one that would invite even more creativity and innovation to our area and have a positive impact well beyond it.
7Q. Let’s say you get elected… who/what do you represent first – your riding’s best interests or your party’s?
A. Definitely my riding’s! During an election campaign, I represent my party – giving a face and voice to Green values and policies so that voters can decide if those are values they’d like more of in the legislature – but once elected, my job is to represent those who chose me, as well as those who didn’t, and give them a voice.
8Q. What has been your biggest ‘ah ha’ moment during this campaign?
A. I can’t pin down a single moment! Through this campaign I’ve been able to travel within the riding and get to know its communities better, and that has led me to the realization that although each has a distinct character, what we have in common is determination, resilience, and strong connection to each other and to place. With all of that going for us, how can we help but succeed?
9Q. Project forward 20 years – how is your riding doing economically and socially – based on current trends and how your government (if your party is elected) will conduct itself?
A. I believe that the Green Party will play an ever larger role in B.C.’s legislature over the next two decades, and I hope that will lead to stronger, more autonomous, more diverse local economies and communities. Twenty years from now, the people of Columbia River-Revelstoke will be healthy and content, proudly supporting homegrown businesses, enjoying vibrant cultural scenes, caring for and connecting to thriving ecosystems, having access to locally-produced food and goods, and sharing the remarkable wealth that we have here.
10Q. One final comment… Please use this space to make a final statement to voters. Anything you want.
A. Please vote in this election, and then stay engaged afterward – pay attention to the work your elected officials are doing, to the discussions and changes that are taking place – and demand excellence from your government. Demand integrity and cooperation. Demand vision and innovation and adaptability. Our province deserves nothing less, and we need these more and more.
– Answers provided by Laurel Ralston, Green Party candidate for Columbia River-Revelstoke riding. You can reach Laurel at: www.laurelralston.ca.
e-KNOW
