No matter where he goes in the riding, Keith Roy, Conservative candidate for West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea to Sky Country, is hearing a similar tune from constituents with a federal election looming this spring.
“Volunteers and I are knocking on doors and talking with people, from remote Pender Harbour to Pemberton, West Vancouver, every community across the riding, hearing what they’re looking for," he said. "There’s an overwhelming desire for change."
Roy, who won the Conservative nomination March 2, 2024, said voters are looking for a change in results from the federal government, whether it pertains to the rising cost of housing, food bank use, lack of clean drinking water on reserves, the carbon tax, the fall economic statement, or the crumbling Liberal party.
“Every metric by which you can measure our country is an abject failure. Housing costs have doubled. Whistler Community Services Society had its busiest food bank use day ever. That is an absolute tragedy. We see that across the country,” he said.
“I would like people to be open-minded when meeting with me so I can listen to them and hear what issues matter to them. I’d like them to be open-minded to a new Conservative government focused on four things: axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, stop the crime.”
Campaigning on less government
The Conservatives have been vocal that removing the carbon tax is the answer to easing the cost of living for Canadians, which Roy echoed, adding another need is reducing “red tape in government.”
“There is too much government and too much bureaucracy," he said. "They didn’t hire firefighters and nurses. The federal government has hired these people who’ve done nothing, and they could have redistributed to people to make their lives better.”
While Roy thinks cost of living is the most important issue for the riding, the uniting feature is traffic congestion.
When asked how regional transit could improve congestion on the Sea to Sky highway and what policies he’d champion, Roy said that would be left up to local governments.
“I don’t think that’s up to us to decide … the job for a local MP is to make that happen from a federal funding perspective. I don’t want a situation where we’re telling Whistler what to do,” he said.
A hands-off approach is a theme for Roy and the Conservatives.
“This goes to our approach when we form government. We don’t believe Ottawa knows best," he said. "This is particularly important for Indigenous groups. [Ottawa] cuts cheques and tells them what to do with the money. In three successful elections, they promised clean drinking water on reserves. They’re trying to do this from Ottawa."
In 2015, soon-to-be-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on a promise to end boil water advisories on First Nations reserves by 2021. According to the Government of Canada’s monitoring, 147 long-term drinking water advisories were lifted since November 2015, and 31 remain in effect as of Nov. 7, 2024.
Other issues Roy will campaign on include reducing gun crime, violent crime, and hate crime, which he said are increasing.
Statistics Canada's reporting on firearms and violent crime in 2022, which was released in 2024, aligns with Roy’s statement on firearm-related violence. In 2022, police reported firearm violent crime increased by 1,400 incidents compared to 2021. The rate of violent firearm-related incidents increased by 8.9 per cent from 2021 to 2022, which is “the highest rate recorded since comparable data were first collected in 2009.”
Housing policy
Roy, a Whistler real estate agent, didn’t mince words about keeping the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF).
“The housing accelerator fund will not continue with a Conservative government,” he said.
The HAF provides funding for municipalities to streamline bylaw zoning to create medium-density and multi-family complexes, and Pemberton was allocated $2.7 million in March 2024. The village has used the money to create a housing strategy and housing needs report, with an estimated 271 homes needed by 2029.
Roy proposes a model where funding is attached to units built instead of a policy aimed at spurring development.
“The HAF is designed so that local governments get paid for checking boxes, not delivering results," he said. "You can apply for a HAF, and if you meet the criteria, the money shows up. A lot of the homes don’t get built. Our government would give the money when the homes get built and the keys get handed over.”
Since the HAF was only recently announced in spring 2024, it’s impossible to say with certainty whether the homes will or will not get built at this time.
Roy suggested a percentage scheme where cities would receive, for example, 15 per cent more infrastructure funding if they produced 15 per cent more housing units, with pledged money held in a trust and delivered once houses were built.
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has also said he would halt the HAF and instead proposed removing the federal sales tax on homes sold for less than $1 million.
‘A lame duck’ government
With Trudeau announcing his resignation as Prime Minister on Jan. 6, Roy said it was too little, too late, and all Liberal Party lawmakers are culpable for the country's direction. Trudeau’s popularity plummeted amongst voters in the last year, and his finance minister and deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigned in late December, further pushing calls from within and without his party for new blood.
The resignation comes against a backdrop of a potential trade war sparked by incoming U.S. president Donald Trump.
“The Liberals aren’t apologizing for what they’ve done. They’re getting rid of him because he’s an election liability… these are all the same people who’ve been there for the whole ride that gave us the results we’ve had," Roy said. "Even those who’ve criticized him aren’t saying the Liberals are the wrong choice. They just want a new guy. Our country is a lame duck, with the threat of tariffs and a rudderless government. We didn’t need him to resign. We need an election.”
Roy noted the New Democratic Party could have toppled the government in the fall with a non-confidence vote and provided citizens with an opportunity to go to the polls. Alternatively, the Liberals could have called an election instead of having an internal leadership race and proroguing parliament. He also criticized the riding's current MP, Patrick Weiler, for supporting the fall economic statement and other Liberal policies he said have led to the current state of Canada, despite Weiler’s calls for Trudeau to resign.
“Patrick Weiler could have prevented this," he said. "He voted in favour of every single piece of government legislation. He could have voted to bring down the government. He voted for the fall economic statement; he is just as guilty as the rest.”
The next federal election was expected to occur on or before Oct. 25, but Canadians will instead head to the polls in the next few months after the Liberal Party decides its new leader. The Liberals will then either call for an election themselves, or the NDP and Conservatives will call for a non-confidence vote.
