Tara Reeve, Independent
A 37-year-old stay at home mother and activist from Fort Langley
BIO:
I’m a mother to three beautiful kids. A 20-year-old, a four-year-old, and an almost two-year-old. I am the wife of a hard working, handsome man who I have been blessed to spend eight years of my life with this Thanksgiving. I am the daughter of a veteran who spent 20+ years serving our country in our military as well as the Royal Canadian Airforce and of my deceased mother (RIP) who instilled in me a genuine love for all people no matter their race, background, gender, sexual orientation, religion or economic standing. I am an activist for many causes. I am passionate about freedom, good health, and prosperity for all.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tara-Reeve-for-MLA-Langley-East
Twitter: @TaraReeve
Website: www.tarareeveformla.com
Phone: 250-215-7145
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CANDIDATE Q&A:
To help voters make their choices on election day, the Langley Advance Times is asking local candidates a series of questions on issues of importance, asking each candidate to participate.
They were asked to a ‘yes’, a ‘no,’ or a ‘don’t know’ (Y,N,D) response to EACH of the numbered questions for the grid published in the Oct. 15 edition of The News. Candidates were also invited to expand on ANY OR ALL of the questions (to a maximum of 200 words each), with one of their choice to be included in our print edition on Oct. 22. Here’s all their replies.
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1. Would you vote to fund additional supportive housing units in Langley to reduce homelessness?
Answer: Yes. I do not want to just reduce homelessness I want to end it. As someone who experienced homelessness as a teenager and as someone who has recovered from trauma and addiction, I feel, I am uniquely prepared to do what it takes in helping our homeless population heal and get off the streets. I would be following the model Medicine Hat, AB used to cure their homelessness issue. Provide homes, counseling and addiction services, training for basic jobs, and provide support while they transition since people living on the streets can experience something like being institutionalized when leaving it behind. Giving up what you know is hard to do. The funding would come from what I plan to give back with my salary, fundraisers, and whatever funding for the initiative I can get the Legislative Assembly to vote in favor for. This would need to involve organizations already in the area helping the homeless and likely hire more staff to ensure the programs success thus creating more jobs.
2. Is lowering taxes the best route to economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession?
Answer: Don’t know. To know the answer to this, I would need to know what taxes would be lowered, if other taxes were being raised higher, and who would benefit from said taxes being raised or lowered. I personally think we need to be focusing on getting Covid restrictions lifted on small business owners, tourism, and entertainment industries. I would do this by showing everyone what Public Health and the NDP is not showing to the public. We can recover from all this craziness quickly if we looked at how data is being collected by Public Health, current news coming out about treatments, PCR tests, looked beyond the TV and listened to the thousands of scientists and doctors speaking out about all these measures. The amount of information I can share on Covid, is enough to show these restrictions are not warranted. Considering there are now two treatment regimens for Covid with thousands of doctors around the world reporting a near 100% success rate, there is no reason to keep things shutdown. Now the question should be, why is Canada and BC not allowing these treatments and why have you not heard of them?
3. Should the province provide B.C. residents with a universal basic income?
Answer: Absolutely not. Temporary assistance will be better than giving away tax-payer dollars indefinitely. That does not actually solve the problems that keep people poor and destitute. This also sounds like communism to me. Giving “free” money creates situations where people are not driven to reach their full potential thus remaining dependent on the system enabling them. Not to mention it is taxpayers that would be funding it, not those introducing it. I think giving rebates like what Ralph Klein did in Alberta would be a better goal. We need to solve the problem of a $13.5 billion dollar deficit before we think it is a good time to be providing U.B.I to everyone in BC. How about we create jobs, we make new deals with those we trade with, we stop trade with certain foreign political parties, we implement protective tariffs on our imports, we get our products to market for good prices by planning new projects properly instead of the fiascos with Kinder Morgan or Trans Mountain. First Nations are allies we should treat with respect and care. Helping their communities (with their consent) and ours would make BC strong and united.
4. Should the B.C. government restrict large, industrial cannabis greenhouses from operating in
the ALR?
Answer: No. Blocking industrial cannabis greenhouses potentially causes the economy to lose out on billions of dollars. A better way to solve this problem between farmers and industrial growers would be to develop partnerships between landowners and cannabis companies. Landowners could get a stake in the profits that the growers generate, the province gains through the shared use of land, and the growers and farmers can operate without having to compete for space. Another option would be to sell the least arable land to industrial cannabis growers as those farms are less desirable for crop cultivation.
5. Should the B.C. government speed up the widening of Highway One into the eastern Fraser Valley?
Anser: Yes. I can not tell you how many times I have been stuck in traffic on Highway one. Yes, we absolutely should speed up construction. Hundreds of idling cars can not be good for the environment. The faster we get the cars moving with a wider highway the better.
6. Should cities and school districts be allowed to go into debt during the pandemic?
Answer: Don’t know. Again, if we had Covid restrictions lifted due to the unsurmountable amount of evidence showing that we should not be locking down the healthy population at all, there would be no reason for schools and cities to go into debt. I imagine most cities and school districts already have gone into debt. I would say there should be debt forgiveness without strings attached. It was the provincial governments choice to lock everything down. They caused the accumulation of debt in the first place. Perhaps John Horgan, Adrian Dix, Mike Farnsworth, and Dr. Bonnie Henry would like to foot the bills for their choices? It is my understanding that all of this will be coming to light in the lawsuits that are being brought forth against the Federal Government and Public Health officials across Canada. A Constitutional Lawyer from Toronto named Rocco Galati is heading this litigation. Action4Canada is also going forward with litigating the BC Government for the same issues with these orders. The emergency measures were unlawful and did not fit the description needed to implement the Emergency Measures Act as well, the measures being taken violate multiple sections of the Charter of Rights.
7. Should the province stop prosecuting drug possession to help fight the overdose epidemic?
Answer: Yes. An addict should never be charged for having an addiction. There should be stronger repercussions for those dealing such heavy drugs to the public and those stuck in the cycle of addiction should be given the help that they need to get better. We need better social programs that focus on the betterment of all of society. Turning someone into a criminal for something they can not control is inhumane and cruel. If we want results we have to be willing to approach things differently and this is one area where we can make a ripple effect of positive change if we do things with love for those who simply need a hand up.
8. Should the province divert funding away from policing and towards social and mental health services?
Answer: No. There is an Indigenous group called “Strength in the Circle” and The Line in Manitoba who is advocating that their police force get more funding. They want officers to get sensitivity training so they can connect better with people in high tension situations. They also want to implement cultural studies for officers with local indigenous peoples. This will help build relationships, trust, and understanding between these officers and First Nations. Most police officers are good hearted people who genuinely care about their communities. We can not punish the many for the actions of the few. Instead we should severely reprimand any officer that acts unlawfully and aggressively when the matter does not call for it. Violence should always be a last resort.
9. In the era of Black Lives Matter, should B.C. increase the penalties for hate speech?
Answer: Don’t know. I feel this is a slippery slope. It all depends on what would be considered hate speech. As a country that appreciates free speech one would think that painting such a broad brush could be counter productive and end up causing more problems in the end. Free speech includes the speech that we find repugnant. I detest derogatory terms, racism, and prejudice but does that mean I can silence someone through the law for saying it? That would be government over- reach. If we give our Government the power to restrict what people say what makes us think that it would stop at what the government defines as “hate speech?” That all being said, if we were to penalize someone for wrong speak I feel it would be for using their words to incite violence and/or destruction of property. “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” ― George Orwell
10. Would you support more public schools moving to a year-round education model?
Answer: No. As someone that knows all too well the effects of bullying on a child, I feel it is important that children have that freedom over summer. It is an escape away from the stresses of school. I have some of the best memories from my childhood summers. I do not want to take that away from the kids that do not want year-round education. I also understand that many children thrive on a routine. This makes the year-round model enticing to those that need this structure in their children’s lives for them to function normally. I feel there should be an option offered to parents and their children. Give them the choice. There will be students/teachers that want the summer off and there will be students/teachers that want to attend year-round. How that would be structured is yet to be determined but where there is a will, there is always a way. I believe in having the freedom to choose. I do not want to put everyone into the same uniformed box because that restricts the freedoms of those who may not agree with the change. I prefer balancing the two by providing the choice to those using the service.
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OTHER LOCAL CANDIDATE Q&As:
Langley Riding:
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Langley East Riding:
Candidate Q&A: Margaret Kunst, BC Liberals
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