Coast Reporter sent a Q&A out to each of the six West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country candidates for the 2025 election. The candidates include Jäger Rosenberg, Peyman Askari, Gordon Jeffrey, Patrick Weiler, Keith Roy and Lauren Greenlaw. Election day is April 28. See more at elections.ca.
Name: Lauren Greenlaw
Do you live in the riding? Where and for how long? Yes. I've lived in Squamish for 7 years
Social media: go.greenlaw (Insta), Lauren Greenlaw for Wv-Sc-Ssc (facebook)
Website: gogreenlaw.ca
Why are you running in this election? As a municipal councillor, I’ve seen how many of us are being left behind by our federal and provincial governments. I want to use my voice in Ottawa to bring electoral and tax reform, bring more money to affordable housing and healthcare and to end to fossil fuel subsidies.
How can the federal government help mental health and addictions support and recovery on the Sunshine Coast? By fully integrating mental health care under medicaid to help those affected by addiction. Investing in addressing the root causes of addiction and other mental health issues creates a strong community and switches our approach from curative to preventative. By supporting affordable housing initiatives
How would your party help address the need for affordable housing? By investing in building affordable housing that families and individuals can afford based on 30% of their income. We also want to stop corporations buying up homes and driving families out of the housing market and introducing protective legislation around Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
How will your party fight climate change? Stop subsidizing fossil fuel companies and instead put that money into funding public transit, investing in sustainable energy, and creating long term, sustainable jobs for Canadians. We would set science based emissions targets that will actually help mitigate the effects of climate change, and reintroduce federal oversight of industrial projects
There are more than 7,000 Sunshine Coast residents without doctors, on the federal side, what's your party's plan to support health care? The Green Party plans to introduce a Primary Care Health Act guaranteeing every Canadian access to a family doctor, nurse or community health team. In addition, we plan to make significant investments in healthcare training and compensation to raise the number of healthcare workers able to help Canadians.
Amid rising economic uncertainty, small businesses are hurting. How does your party propose to support them? We are creating an in depth inventory of businesses, services, growers and makers that spans the entire riding in the hopes of facilitating producers reaching their markets. In this way we hope to bolster local economy and uplift local businesses, while facilitating important initiatives like buy local and circular economy.
Small towns across B.C. are struggling with crime, what's your party's plan to address this? We believe in addressing the root causes of crime which are often poor mental health, addiction, and wealth disparity. The Green party plans to address all of these issues through investment in healthcare, raising the tax free threshold, and the creation of a Universal Basic Income.
Do you believe the coastal B.C. ferry system should receive federal financial support at a level commensurate with similar systems elsewhere in the country and how would you work to ensure that is achieved? Absolutely- infrastructure in our area is under-invested and I would work to bring more Federal funding to this area. Supporting public transportation is a key component to the global transition to a zero carbon future.
What's your party's plan to advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples on the Sunshine Coast? Act on all the calls to action from the Truth & Reconciliation commission and the call for Justice for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls Inquiry. We plan to fund restorative justice programmes & support Indigenous communities searching former residential school sites.
What's an issue you personally wish we talked more about in this election? How “strategic” voting undermines democracy, driving us toward a 2-party system favoring industry over people. The truth is: we have surpassed the ecological bounds of our planet and Liberal and Conservative actions consistently undermine climate change and environmental initiatives. There is a certain irony in voting “strategically” for the very party that failed to bring the electoral reform that would have eliminated the necessity of such “strategic” voting. If people truly want to vote strategically: vote late on Election Day. Watch who gets elected, and go vote with your conscience. Then fight for the electoral reform we so desperately need.
