Telkwa’s Rod Taylor is taking his message on the road, which is convenient since the Christian Heritage Party BC Stikine candidate’s “campaign office” is a van.
Taylor is also filling in as the provincial wing of the CHP’s interim leader, and is already the federal leader.
The priorities for people in the riding, according to what Taylor said he has heard, include shortening health care waiting lists, choice in education or “restoration of parental rights in the education of their children” as Taylor describes it, and scrapping the carbon tax.
On health care, Taylor believes certification of foreign-trained doctors needs to be fast-tracked.
“We shouldn’t put obstacles in their path when they are ready to serve,” he said.
Equipment that is sitting unused for parts of the day should also be turned on with more night shifts. Private clinics providing public health would be expanded under a CHP government.
“We would re-direct health care dollars from abortion, gender reassignment surgery and euthanasia. Those are not health care,” said Taylor, who added when asked that the cost savings from such a measure were not yet calculated. On education, Taylor advocates for a voucher system.
“The dollars that are now used for children in the public school system, those who are not satisfied with the public school system and want to send their children to private school or Christian school, independent school, they have to pay twice. They pay for the public system and they have to pay for their kids to have the education they want,” said Taylor.
It makes sense financially and philosophically, according to the candidate.
“We don’t think it should be the responsibility of the state or the province to indoctrinate children in a lifestyle view or a world view that is contrary to and in opposition to their parents,” he said.
“I think the assumption is the direction they’re going, with multiple genders for instance, that the assumption is and the Province is enacting laws that make that the norm, whereas we believe the norm is a father, mother and children.”
“So to teach other lifestyles or made up genders as a reality is offensive to many who believe that we’re male and female. And for children, they’re vulnerable … They’re having issues thrown at them and have respect for their teachers and their peers, so there is a lot of pressure to conform to the latest norm, which is different than the norm that was 10 years ago.”
He added that he wanted creative design in science class, and that he believed weather is warming but it is not human-caused — a big reason why he opposed the carbon tax.
That said, Taylor is worried about the effects of fracking for LNG. He said he supports resource extraction, but that it should be processed in B.C. rather than shipped off raw.
He also wants to see more support for agriculture, and wants to see GMO (genetically modified organism) labelling on food products.