Brenda Rowe, who declared her candidacy for Sechelt council last week, but wasn’t available for an interview before Coast Reporter’s deadline, said she considers water, affordable housing and solid waste among the top issues in the campaign.
During an Aug. 24 interview for Coast Reporter Radio, Rowe said she sees those three issues are all interconnected because they’ll all have an impact on how Sechelt looks 10 or 20 years down the road.
Rowe, who works for Vancouver Coastal Health, said as the community ages it also needs to be open to supporting younger families, especially people who work in the health care and service industries.
“We can’t be a seniors-only community, so we need to look at what we can do to improve the climate for younger people to move here as well,” she said. “A healthy community needs to have a broad range of people that live in it and that are able to provide services and I think we have to move forward as a community through that… If not my backyard, then whose?”
Rowe also said she’s been talking to several people who’ve been following the water situation and that she’s not convinced the current approach being taken by the Sunshine Coast Regional District will solve the supply side of the equation, especially the $5-million Chapman Lake drawdown project.
“For me it’s about balance,” she said. “I don’t see the balance of spending that much money, and the whole park issue, [if it] doesn’t actually equal providing us with more water or anything that will stop us from getting to Stage 4. I need to have a better understanding of that before I could support it.”
Rowe said she considers herself an independent candidate, and doesn’t plan to talk publicly about whether she’s endorsing a particular contender for mayor until after the nominations close and all the candidates are known.
The full interview with Rowe will be posted on the episode of Coast Reporter Radio available Friday at www.coastreporter.net/audio
