Incumbent Council Candidate Brian Bogle - in his own words
By Contributor
I have been a resident of Castlegar since 2005, when I was transferred here to manage the Safeway store. My wife Cathy and I have 2 adult children and 3 awesome grandchildren! Since retirement in September of 2009, I have had more opportunity to become involved in our community, and when the by-election was called in 2021, I decided to run for City Council. This had been a longtime interest of mine, dating back to my junior high school days, and the opportunity to serve and give back to the community has been very rewarding.
We face the same multitude of issues that are faced in our Province by all communities large and small. Our biggest concern in my mind is our Mental Health crisis. We lack resources to aid the mentally ill, and as a result we are seeing a huge rise in homelessness, drug overdoses and property crime. We need to lobby provincial and federal governments for the resources to help in our communities. Steps are being taken at the local level to bring our community groups together to collaborate to help find solutions but more is needed and quickly.
Health Care major issue in Castlegar. We have many residents who do not have a family doctor. Our family physicians are doing an amazing job but like many rural communities attracting Doctors is not easy. We are short of paramedics to staff our ambulances, and staff to cover our E.R. and basic Health Services. This issue is known by our Provincial and Federal governments but requires a multi-facetted approach as what works in major centres does not work in rural areas.
The most pressing need here is our lack of housing. We need to work to create the opportunities for a variety of housing to be built including single family, multifamily, and seniors’ housing. These need to be a mix of market based, affordable housing, assisted living and B.C. housing projects. We have a solid housing plan in place. Now we need to look at each project proposed and find the benefits and work with the developer to make it happen, be that in reductions in development charges, expediating permits or in-kind contributions.
I am committed to the community and all its residents. I am always available to talk and discuss concerns. I have enjoyed my short time on council and look forward to four more years serving our community. I am a consensus builder and am able to look through a wide lens at issues, to see what I may have missed, need to review and discuss before coming to a decision for our community.
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