I am tired of living in a province where my values feel unrepresented. As a student and local worker, I have witnessed and frequently discuss the growing challenges that people in my community face. The dream of owning a home in the community where I was raised feels, now, entirely out of reach. With rising housing costs, fuelled the failure of this and the former government to introduce effective housing policies, we now have a market where local residents can no longer afford to live in their own neighbourhoods, and many struggling with property taxes and mortgages.

Housing, however, is just one many issues our province now faces. The cost of living continues to sky rocket with no relief in sight, making it difficult for working and middle class families to make ends meet. Basic necessities, such as rent or mortgage payments, food, and transportation, are becoming more expensive, pushing far to many into financial instability. Yet, the BCNDP and the BC Conservatives seem to have lack of urgency in addressing this growing inequality. They continually focus on getting a “one up” on the other, squabbling about one issue to the next, never making progress on solving any of them. Policies that would reinvigorate our faltering healthcare system or work to rein in the cost of living, maybe so called “boring policies” are bushed to the side in favour of ones that make the headlines. The gap between those who benefit in this economy and those who are simply struggling to survive is widening, and it feels as though the voices of families, workers, and our neighbours are being drowned out in favour of voices from outside our province.