With the fiery prospect of an autumn federal election still in the air, if not quite as thickly, Liberal Member of Parliament candidate Daniel Veniez toured Squamish to become better familiarized with a riding he calls "a microcosm of the country."
Riding Association president Steve Drinkwater organized the meet and greet at The Burrow Tapas Lounge on Tuesday (Sept. 22), where a handful of supporters showed up praising Veniez's blunt style of addressing issues.
Local voters like traditional Liberal backer Bianca Peters attended the meet and greet, saying they are refreshed by Veniez's straightforwardness.
"I wanted to come out and meet him and throw my support behind him because he's a viable candidate," she said. "Honesty is key, and sometimes ironic in politics. But he's an honest guy, a very good communicator, looks you in the eye and tells you the truth. I admire that."
Veniez referred to Squamish as one of the most "blessed" towns in the region because of its location and access to a good workforce. And although carrying out sustainable development is difficult, its immediate need is a harbinger of a healthy future.
But action like dredging the Mamquam Blind Channel must be done in order to facilitate growth, he said.
"I think it's a no-brainer," said Veniez. "It's about $1 million according to how the preliminary engineering study quantified it. And how the federal government can't facilitate that, which would be a generator of lots of economic activity and growth, is beyond me."
He said he realizes his bluntness is often, but not always, welcomed.
"I've probably lost several votes in the last two weeks, but it wouldn't be worth it to me to do anything but," he said. "I'm not doing this for any other reason than a deep desire to serve. I'm not a professional politician and I get the strong sense that people just want someone to be straight with them."
Veniez said it takes honesty to face difficult facts - like Canada's healthcare system being in shambles and needing to be modernized -even though that is sometimes not what people want to hear.
Even though Veniez doesn't foresee an election until spring at the earliest, he said the Liberal Party is already better prepared to attract Canadians, especially those in the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky region where, in last October's election, the Liberals "got hammered."
He admits the party imploded last election. It had an unpopular leader in Stéphane Dion, an unpopular platform in the Green Shift, a Liberal MP, Blair Wilson, joining the Green Party, and a candidate appointed at the last minute in former Squamish mayor Ian Sutherland. To the last item, he added, the fault was not Sutherland's.
"Under the circumstances, a huge amount of credit is due to the man for having the courage to step to the plate when he did and how he did."
