How Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola candidates would tackle infrastructure spending

KELOWNA — As one of the longest federal election campaigns in Canadian history inches closer to its end and voters gear up to hit the polls on Monday, Global Okanagan spoke to candidates in the new Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola riding about infrastructure spending.

“In the first eight years of a conservative government we actually put in over $4-billion and we continue to do that,” says incumbent Conservative candidate Dan Albas.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "In the first eight years of a conservative government we actually put in over $4-billion and we continue to do that," says incumbent Conservative candidate Dan Albas.

Albas was elected MP of the riding, formerly known as Okanagan-Coquihalla, in 2011. He says with some of the most rapidly growing communities in the country located in the central Okanagan, his government will continue pushing for infrastructure grants to support that growth.

“West Kelowna and Kelowna are some of the fastest growing areas in Canada. Kelowna has been known to have the fastest population growth in Canada so Ron Cannan and I need to keep that heat on to keep the money flowing this way,” says Albas.

Candidate Karley Scott says the Liberals would ensure infrastructure projects move ahead effectively while meeting environmental standards though a $125-millions distributed over 10 years. Through that investment, Scott says municipalities should receive more money from the federal gas tax for infrastructure improvements.

“Roads, transit, infrastructure, social affordable housing infrastructure and waste water treatment plants are all big things that a lot of municipalities are talking about right now,” says Scott.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Roads, transit, infrastructure, social affordable housing infrastructure and waste water treatment plants are all big things that a lot of municipalities are talking about right now," says Scott.

Meanwhile, the NDP says the party has plans to repair crumbling infrastructure in the country.

“One of the strong platform planks is a massive infrastructure overhaul throughout all of our Canadian cities,” says Wood.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "One of the strong platform planks is a massive infrastructure overhaul throughout all of our Canadian cities," says Wood.

Wood says her party would ensure that also means creating jobs.

“Survey work, road building, bridge building. Any project over $10-million we would include apprenticeship training built into these programs because we want to see young Canadians accessing those higher paying jobs and getting the training that they need moving forward,” says Wood.

Green candidate Robert Mellalieu says his party is also focused on creating jobs through infrastructure investment.

“We are going to go out and refurbish streams and look after all the environmental damage so there’ll be a whole lot of jobs created from that and that’ll be a four year plan just to get the start of the whole system of looking after the environment,” says Mellalieu.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We are going to go out and refurbish streams and look after all the environmental damage so there'll be a whole lot of jobs created from that and that'll be a four year plan just to get the start of the whole system of looking after the environment," says Mellalieu.

He says the party’s plan is to make Canada carbon-neutral by 2050. All parties agree that investing in green technology is a priority but whose plan gets the go ahead won’t be decided until sometime Monday night.