Ogasawara disappointed in legislature

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Sherry Ogasawara, NDP candidate for Prince George-Valemount, said she was disappointed that little was accomplished in legislature this session.

“It was short, and I think i was somewhat disappointed at how that actually went. This session was completely riddled with scandal and conflict, and dealing with that,” she said. “We didn’t get to the business at hand for the people of B.C. The only thing they actually accomplished was legislation to get us back to the PST.”

Though, as she pointed out, people are still paying HST.

“I think that shows this government, the B.C. Liberals, are not equipped to deal with those challenges facing B.C. today,” she said. “It is self-evident they’re really more concerned with their own political future than with the people they serve.”

She added she felt the throne speech was empty with nothing in it for the North.

“The budget that then followed has been called the bogus budget. There’s nothing in it that’s actually credible. There’s a fire sale of our assets and speculative gains which are hinged on the success of LNG,” she said. “If the NDP are successful and take government, we know we are faced with a huge deficit.”

Ogasawara added she would have liked to see some of the bills that didn’t get a chance make it to the floor.

“We brought forward some bills that had some real solutions,” she said.

She added her party took the lead on a bill on cosmetic pesticides, not the Liberals. Another issue she sees is the lack of social services, so she’s excited about a seniors’ advocate.

“Social services is a big issue for folks in Robson Valley. Having the seniors’ advocate in place help seniors looking for support and assistance, so they don’t have to navigate some online system or a phone loop. We can’t expect seniors to be technically  literate. That’s not their generation.”

She added they bought forward legislation to  end waste spending

‘We’ve seen this government spend $16 million on partisan advertising,” she said.

She added they are trying to reach a new generation of voters.

“One thing I’m totally encouraged about is the legislation we brought forward to register young voters,” she said, adding this would bring the voter’s age to 16, “The focus is that will lead to a greater participation in the democratic process. Democracy is like a muscle. We have to use it to strengthen ourselves. It’s a real solution. It’s practical.”

She’s also happy with workplace bullying prevention act legislation.

“Unless there’s traction teeth in policies or guidelines, they simply don’t cut it. This will support people coming forward who are hesitant. She can feel a bit stronger about that, have support going through the process,” she said. “I think that part of things is encouraging. I would like to have seen more of that. The Liberals really should be taking the lead. They’re spending  priorities are all wrong, but on the other hand we were able to move quite a few things forward. Now the legislation session is over, so we wait for the writ to drop and focus on what we have to do in the interim.”