Posts Tagged ‘Surrey-Cloverdale’
Looking out for you in Surrey-Cloverdale
Mike Starchuk is a former Surrey firefighter, former Surrey City Councillor, and running to be re-elected as the MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale. A resident of Surrey for more than 50 years, he has dedicated his life to helping others in his community. In 2013, he received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his work.
Mike knows that Surrey-Cloverdale is a wonderful place to raise a family, and that people need a government that’s on their side looking out for them. He knows that’s not what people will get with John Rustad’s Conservatives. Together with David Eby and the BC NDP team, Mike is dedicated to making life better — by building hospitals, by investing in public transit, and by building homes for people.
You can trust that he’s on your side.
At The Heart Of This Election Is A Choice
An Opinion Editorial, written by Mike Starchuk, published in the Cloverdale Reporter:
This upcoming election in British Columbia presents a stark choice for voters across the province, and especially in Surrey. On one hand, David Eby’s BC NDP Government has consistently prioritised investments in critical public infrastructure to serve Surrey’s rapid growth and needs. On the other hand, we have John Rustad’s BC Conservative Party, which has chosen to be a party of conspiracy theories, extreme positions, and science denial.
Since the BC NDP formed government in 2017, Surrey has experienced unprecedented investments in its schools. Over $900 million has been invested, creating 8,240 new seats for students, along with new playgrounds, school upgrades and improved resources for teachers. By providing this funding, our government is ensuring that children of all ages and backgrounds have the tools they need to learn and grow.
In contrast, however, John Rustad and the BC Conservative candidates are advocating to roll back this progress. By advocating for policies that would greatly increase class sizes, Rustad would overcrowd our classrooms, undermining the quality of education that our children receive. Larger class sizes are known to strain our teachers, diminish attention to our students, and exclude children with special needs. This approach to schools is the opposite of what parents in Surrey want, which is more, not less investments in education.
The BC Conservatives have also proposed a staggering $4.1 billion cut to our healthcare system. This cut would be devastating to communities across the province, and especially here in Surrey. With the new Surrey hospital under construction in Cloverdale and expansions to Surrey Memorial, Rustad’s cut-and-gut plans would put projects like these in jeopardy.
At the heart of this election is a choice between two very different visions for our province and for our community. The BC NDP Government has shown a commitment to investing in services that matter most to people. Including record investments in education, major expansions in healthcare infrastructure, and a SkyTrain expansion that will connect Langley and Cloverdale to the rest of Metro Vancouver. These investments are just a few of the tangible ways that the BC NDP has been meeting the needs of Surrey’s growing population. On the other hand, Rustad’s Conservatives have shown that they are willing to reverse this progress. Rustad was a member and cabinet minister in the BC Liberal Government until they lost power in 2017. Under his party, we saw deep cuts to services and even the selling of a future Surrey hospital site.
Surrey deserves leaders who are focused on the real issues that matter. In this election, the choice is clear. Surrey can continue to move forward with a government that is willing to invest in the future, or it can turn back the clock with a party that denies reality and threatens to undo the progress we’ve made.