Many of you have been following my journeys here on my blog, and supporting my family and I by offering kind encouragement, and supporting our businesses. As many of you know, I have a deep love of our shared communities, and those I’ve met along the way in my travels on Vancouver Island, British Columbia and beyond. For that I thank you.
Journey to Become a Green Party MLA
The next chapter of my life has quickly come upon me and some of you will already know that I am now the BC Green Party candidate for North Cowichan-Nanaimo in this provincial election. My journey here has been long and full of twists and turns, so when someone asks me, “why are you running for the BC Greens?” I have to give them some context. Some of you will know this story, some will not, so let’s buckle up for a trip down memory lane.
Living in Chemainus, and spending my days photographing and traveling throughout our amazing local communities and ecosystems, made me quickly realize that the industry I was working for wasn’t aligned with my appreciation of the natural world and the people I share it with. I realized that the industry wasn’t adapting to the scientific reality of the crises we find ourselves in. I wrestled with the decision, but every time I went out mountain biking and hiking, or visiting a local coffee shop, or seeing neighbour’s kids’ play, I couldn’t imagine myself working for that industry knowing the harm it was causing to our environment and our future. That’s when I decided to change course and pursue a new and more community-driven direction in my life.
I have always done my best to help enrich the warm and helpful community that welcomed my family and supports our local business. My community building work exposed me to the frustrations of my neighbours and fellow business owners. I quickly came to understand that the most important problems we need to fix are ultimately in the hands of the provincial government, and those hands were fumbling the response at every corner.
Every request for funding for mental health, affordable housing, small business funding, or homelessness always went to the provincial government. Relying solely on volunteers to support these initiatives is not how to make progress to ensure everyone in our community gets what they need to thrive. Their hands were tied with the limited resources we have here on the ground. However, instead of getting fed up with the lack of response from the Liberal and NDP governments, I got inspired. I’m here now to bring a voice to those that work so hard in our communities, but are rarely heard. That’s why I’m running to be the BC Green Party MLA for Nanaimo – North Cowichan.
We need a unifier. We need someone who can bring together the various voices of our strong communities to ensure we are on the right track and can whether this pandemic storm together. We need to work together as a community to support those in need like small businesses, displaced workers, those that suffer from homelessness and addiction issues, and those who find themselves without jobs because of the pandemic and are just trying to make ends meet. I’m not here to cater to big businesses and their wealthy influencers, I’m here for my neighbours, our communities, and each and every person in this riding and beyond.
I sincerely hope you will join me in this journey and be a part of the positive change I’m hoping to bring to our corner Vancouver Island.
If you live in the region and want to get involved, learn more or donate you can head over to my campaign page over on the BC Green Party Website; https://www.bcgreens.ca/chris_istace
Here is a direct link to the 2020 BC Greens Platform to see where I stand; https://www.bcgreens.ca/platform
Some of my previous writing here on my blog that I am passionate about and I feel relate to my campaign to become the BC Green Party MLA representing Nanaimo North Cowichan.
Walbran Valley : Hike an Ancient Forest
Ancient Old Growth Forests of Port Renfrew
Truth and Reconciliation – Becoming One People in Canada
Is Environmental Balance A Reality for the Trans Mountain Pipeline
Environmental Impact – Changing The Perception
Ecological Footprint – Your Privilege is Killing the Planet
ECOFrugality – The New Consumer Mindset
You mentioned you were considering running as an MLA, but I didn’t put it all together until I saw you were running for the Greens!
I can’t imagine a more perfect role for you, or a more ideal candidate for the job. What an amazing way to give back and lift up your community.
THIS is an ideal FIRE life in action. You’ve freed yourself from the financial constraints of an ordinary life, and now you have the time and energy to make a difference.
Best of luck to you, Chris. You’ve got a big supporter in me (too bad I can’t vote for you)!
It is an exciting time and I am confident I will get the chance to serve as MLA and work hard for our communities. Thanks for the support Chrissy
Wow, getting into politics is something I’d never consider but kudos to you Chris! Good Luck!
I want to put my free time to productive work Dave and make use of my privileged extra time. There are key issues with mountain and forest land access, old growth forests and BC Parks investment that those like you and I in the outdoor community value and understand. Cheers
Lawn signs available?
Hi Leonard , this week yes we will have some. Please email voteistace@bcgreens.ca with your information
What’s your stance on oil and gas subsidies? Will you fight to shut down projects that are destroying the environment like Site C, TMX, or logging in the last remaining old growth forests on Vancouver Island?
Hello Jack, thank-you so much for your comment on my blog post today.
I am running in part due to my passion to protect the remaining low valley ancient old growth forests. This is something I have written about a few times on the blog. https://www.chrisistace.com/category/opinion/
I support stopping any further investment or support of TMX as there is a current over supply of conventional crude in North America and Bitumen is an outdated high cost fossil fuel that is a decade past the point of being a relevant energy commodity.
SiteC is an unnecessary power project that only exists to support the continued expansion and investment of fossil fuels. Furthermore it is a devastating environmental loss from the pending flooding of lands, disregard for unceded first nations territory and cultural history.
The above concerns don’t even touch on the ongoing out of control costs and subsidies that BC is on the hook for if we continue down this unnecessary path that does not take into account our dire future if we do not address climate change now.
HI Jack, sorry I missed this comment as the campaign was very fast and busy. If you follow the links at the bottom of this article you will see I have advocated against old growth logging and environmental degradation for many years. We need to change course, we need to respect the rights & title of First nations and yes we need to end O&G subsidies.
Whoa! Good luck! Politics are intriguing for the potential for real and impactful work, but it all just seems so unattractive to me. Kudos to you for trying to wade through the BS and make a difference.
Love the blog Chris! You seem like a genuine, down to Earth person and certainly have my vote! Keep up the great work. I truly admire your ambition!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog Tyler. The election went well even though I wasn’t successful but was a great life experience. I will continue to enjoy the outdoors but also mix in posts on my perspective on how we navigate through life.