Dear editor,
My thoughts on our new North Island/ Powell River newly elected Member of Parliament. I have neither "pulled any punches" nor "minced my words" during the election campaign. He won fair and square. So, moving forward, what does it look like in a riding where 60 per cent of voters did not support him?
Aaron Gunn won. Now, he has to prove that he can represent the interests of all constituents in the riding, sixty per cent of whom did not vote for him. In his interview with CBC Victoria radio, he said all the right things and promised an open door policy in his constituency offices, which, as a rookie MP, he will have a steep learning curve setting up.
Will he staff them with party apoaratchiks and loyalists, or will he seek out through open job interviews the most competent office assistants and managers in this riding in order to assist him to serve the needs of the constituents in North Island / Powell River?
I believe he would be best served by choosing the latter unless he wants to be a one-term Member of Parliament. He will be held by many to the high standards of constituency office services that were delivered by Rachel A. Blaney and Canada’s NDP / Le NPD du Canada for the last decade over her three terms of office.
He will have to spend as much time dealing with the issues of the sixty percent as he does with those of his supporters. He cannot be perceived as playing favourites. Over the years I have seen this riding turn quickly on MPs who played favourites, and the voters dealt with such MPs quickly and summarily in the very next election. The "electoral guillotine" has a long history in this riding of being meted out without respect to or caring for any party or personality. Aaron Gunn has a much higher bar to clear than any newly elected Member of Parliament for this riding that I can ever remember, memories which only go back 35 years to 1990.
Will he and/or can he deliver on his vague promises to bring opportunities to the riding? Many of the issues he purports to want to tackle involve multiple layers of government, municipal, regional, First Nations, provincial and federal. He will quickly discover that only by building relationships and fostering goodwill and trust can he hope to have a prayer of making a dent in the problems, both real and some perceived and stereotyped, in the riding of North Island-Powell River.
That is to say, you don't solve problems by clear-cutting regulations and driving quickly upon "solutions." Consultations, especially with the 21 First Nations of this riding will be essential to any successes, perceived or real that he may achieve.
The riding is enormous. Does he have the physical stamina and fortitude to crisscross the riding for interminable, seemingly never-ending meetings with constituents and interest groups, and all this includes crisscrossing Canada by jet at all hours from Comox to Ottawa dozens of times a year? It's a 24/7 job to do it well. Ain't no walk in the park. And if he slacks off and skips attending to his duties in the House of Commons, as Pierre Poilievre was famous for doing in his early days as an MP, earning him the nickname Skippy from his erstwhile colleague and renowned hard-working M.P., Jason Kenney., this will become quickly known since in The House of Commons, just like in any school or workplace, attendance is taken and duly noted on report cards and job reviews.
I wish Aaron Gunn well. I didn't vote for him, but the election is over. Now, I wish him well in his endeavours to "deliver the goods and get 'er done" for the people, families and communities, large and small, of North Island-Powell River.
David Harper
Campbell River, BC
