Account Login/Registration

Access KelownaNow using your Facebook account, or by entering your information below.


Facebook


OR


Register

Privacy Policy

Independent Candidate Silverado Socrates Answers Your Questions

Why are you the right representative for Westside-Kelowna?

I have represented Westside - Kelowna provincially, and internationally as both an athlete and frontline in tourism. The highlights of these achievements, at this time, would be this year's induction into the UVic's sports hall of fame, and being the president of the international institute for peace thru tourism, IIPT. I have been a member of both the Westbank and Kelowna chambers of commerce most of the past two decades. I have helped raise and empower many youth as they earned rides and income at my trail riding stables. I have also donated trail rides to dozens of charities over the years for various fundraisers. For many years I have been aware and helped homeless and various people with challenges. I have come to learn we are all in need of inspiration and understanding of each other’s situations. I feel I have had a unique view of the issues and potential for our valley.

Health Care: Overcrowding is a problem in the hospitals. Some patients spend days in the hallways due to a shortage of beds. What would you do or propose to alleviate this?

It seems to me that we have spent a lot of money on infrastructure but not as much on the care givers or ways to prevent illness in the first place. It is not something I can give a real quality answer to without more research.

Industry: Where do you stand on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline? How do we balance needed industry and jobs with environmental responsibility?

Personally, I am of the belief that the pipelines should not be coming thru our province. Costs are incalculably high when environmental damage to put the pipeline in is combined with the damage to our water, forests and animals due to oil spills. I think we should embrace our former tagline of "Supernatural BC" and really try to live up to being the place where local and visitors alike can be proud to patronize. I wonder why the rush to move greater amounts of oil? A friend suggested why not keep it in the ground til there are more efficient and cleaner ways to extract it. I think she has a good point. Money could be invested on education towards being more efficient in addition to research for other energy sources. Tourism and education are careers which are limited only by imagination. BC, and the Okanagan in particular, can be leaders in both.

Environment: What steps do you think that the provincial government should be taking in relation to environmental protection and sustainability?

I believe that the province should be taking a stand on no pipelines as well as no GMO's. Our nature, our people and our ability to grow our own food are three of our greatest assets. Allowing oil or GMO's could compromise both our nature's and our health. If second generation hamsters fed GMO food become sterile and have cancer, what will happen to our kids that grow up on GMO food? Like the Chilliwack song "no patent on the wind", once GMO crops are introduced, the control is lost. Unlike the HST, the laying of the pipeline or the allowing of the GMO's is not something that can be taken back.

Education: What improvements or changes would you like to see made to the education system? How do you propose that we make post-secondary education more accessible?

I was very fortunate to receive scholarships for my post secondary education. I was also lucky to have coaches who could channel my energy and give focus to my goals. Many youth have no idea what they want to do nor have any idea of the opportunities out there. Not everyone can enter their grade 12 with a gold medal from the junior pan am games but everyone can gain self confidence and self discipline thru apprenticeships, volunteer opportunities, sports, and art. By involving themselves in their community, the youth can also get a chance to develop new talents and expand their vision. I would love to see our community work towards setting aside funds for youth to further explore and educate themselves.

Jobs: Canada is fostering a new under-class; Young adults that are highly educated and overqualified, working low-paying jobs in retail and the service industry. How do you suggest that we solve this problem?

My answer from the previous question is a start. As we recognize that jobs are not just about money for the individual employed but a service to the community, we can begin to fill in needs of the community with people capable of filling them. Having people be more than their job is about having people involved in their community. Volunteerism, sports and art are ways to meld the two.

Are there any other issues that you are passionate about? Tell us about them and what you propose to do to remedy these issues.

For a couple years now I have been involved with the organization IIPT or the international institute for peace thru tourism. It was founded 25 yrs ago, in Vancouver, yet Canada did not have a chapter until I attended its world conference a couple of years ago. I would love to see our area own the title "the most peaceful place on the planet" and challenge other communities to beat us. The root word of 'competition' is 'strive together'. Competition can be a good thing as we work together for the same thing. It takes a healthy stable community to raise a healthy stable child.... I believe we should all strive for this and define what this is by being a living model of it.



If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.

If you appreciate what we do, we ask that you consider supporting our local independent news platform.


Weather
webcam icon

weather-icon
Fri
12℃

weather-icon
Sat
12℃

weather-icon
Sun
15℃

weather-icon
Mon
17℃

weather-icon
Tue
16℃

weather-icon
Wed
12℃

current feed webcam icon

Recent Livestream




Top Stories

Follow Us

Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Linkedin Follow us on Youtube Listen on Soundcloud Follow Our TikTok Feed Follow Our RSS Follow Our pinterest Feed
Follow Our Newsletter
Privacy Policy

Quick Links