Name: Laura-Leah Shaw
Party: Greens
Profession: Realtor
Education: Diploma and ongoing UBC courses
Achievements: REALTORS Care Award 2002, 2011, 2013 for community service
Theme Song: I am Woman by Helen Reddy
Three Priorities: 1. Protecting our coast and Fraser River 2. Healthy economy 3. Food security and jobs.
It may not come as a surprise to read that Laura-Leah Shaw’s first priority has an environmental undercurrent.
In saying she would “work to protect the coast and the Fraser River,” the Green’s candidate for Steveston-Richmond East said her party is the only one that’s come out against all of B.C.’s proposed pipeline projects.
The companies behind the projects, said Shaw, tend to “abdicate their responsibilities when something goes wrong. If you can’t fix it, why would you start it?
“The Fraser River is too important an estuary to risk.”
As for maintaining a “healthy economy,” Shaw focused on the frailties of the statements emanating from the mouths of her main rivals.
“The recession is off or on, depending on which party you’re listening to,” she said.
And you “can’t go into an election saying you have a surplus while (formerly federally funded) programs are dying,” added Shaw, referring to the Conservative Party.
Shaw said her party would structure a minimum living wage to ensure every household had at least $20,000 coming in annually.
“I know it’s very modest, but it’s a start.”
In terms of enhancing food and job security, Shaw wants more emphasis placed on local production and reducing transportation.
“We need to encourage small farms, which have decreased by 70 per cent between 1931 and 2006,” said Shaw.
“And we would reverse that by helping young people get into farming and by investing more funding in farming education.”
