Member Of Legislative Assembly (Mla)
Maple Ridge - Mission
Served two terms as MLA for the communities of Maple Ridge and Mission. Served as Parliamentary Secretary for Métis Relations to the Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation and previously as PS to the Minister of Education for Independent Schools. I was a member of various Select Standing Committees including Children and Youth, Finance, Aboriginal Relations, Education, Public Accounts, Health, Freedom of Information and Privacy. I was also the Deputy Chair, Committee of the Whole. I regularly represented British Columbia on Francophone affairs at national Ministerial and Assemblée Nationale de la Francophonie conferences.I'm most proud of the work I was able to do for constituents of Maple Ridge and Mission. In health care, I advocated for and saw major expansions of the Mission Memorial Hospital, as well improvements to Ridge Meadows Hospital, including announcing our first MRI machine and increasing ambulances for both communities. In Education, for years I lobbied for a new school in Albion and was able to help secure this. I played a significant part in seeing school bus funding announced for our students in Maple Ridge and Mission and across BC after it had been cut off locally. I advanced and announced numerous transportation and infrastructure projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars including most recently additional 4 lanning of Highway 7 between Maple Ridge and Mission.I was very pleased to help steer Experience The Fraser, a legacy trails and tourism initiative which has as its ambition establishing trails on both sides of the Fraser between the Canyon and the Coast - 320 kilometres. This is a generational project, but I helped obtain important funding announcements for significant segments. Also, locally, I obtained funding for trail, bridge and park improvements such as the Gold Creek bridge in Golden Ears Park. All of this to allow residents and visitors to enjoy our magnificent outdoors and lead healthier lives.
