As Canada’s federal election draws near, get to know your local independent candidate for the Columbia-Kootenay-Southern Rockies riding: Jim Wiedrick.
Who is Jim Wiedrick?
Jim Wiedrick is an ER physician at the Kootenay Lake Hospital and lives with his family in Blewett.
He has practiced medicine in the Kootenays for 11 years, having previously worked across western Canada and the Northwest Territories.
“I love life in the Kootenays and I’m passionate about politics, and this is my absolute passion play.”
Wiedrick decided to run as an independent candidate after years of studying the Canadian political scene and seeing an increase in party corruption.
“The parties have an edge of corruption, they let money creep into them, and they’ve become vehicles where the only person’s voice that matters is their leader.”
His goal is to bring the representative back into representative democracy, vowing to be the “vehicle that takes information and transmits it to Ottawa” if elected.
“Right now, it’s flipped on its head. The leader tells us all how to think and the MP of that particular party just nods and says yes. I want to do it the pure way. Voting for me will mean you’re getting someone who wants to stay engaged, who is going to let you keep your power. Right now, you cast a vote for a party and that’s it. They don’t want to talk to you for the next four years.”
What voters are saying
According to Wiedrick, healthcare and healthcare accessibility are a priority for this riding.
Wiedrick says although the riding does better than other regions in BC, the new reality of healthcare is more fragile than bureaucrats will admit.
“Our rural and remote areas do not have equitable access to the best care. Transportation is a huge barrier. The lack of medical imaging options in many centres forces long-distance travel for many who have the most barriers.”
Although some may argue healthcare is a provincial matter, Wiedrick reminds constituents that the Canada Health Act and the Federal Ministry of Health exist for a reason.
“The federal government has leverage over the big frameworks and funding models, and these should be used. We need to be open to new frameworks, such as very successful blended service delivery models in Australia and Scandinavia.”
Historically, Wiedrick says the federal government was paying 50 per cent of the cost for universal healthcare. However, now, he says it pays about one-third of the cost.
He says these dollars are maneuverable, using the example of a potential federal fund to purchase enough CT scan machines to reliably facilitate care in all regions of the country.
“I’ve been a doctor for 25 years, and when I graduated in 2000, it was infrequent that we were using CT scans, but they are now the standard of care for many things. But we have one in Trail, one in Nelson, they’re both 14 years old and need replacing. And there’s a newer one in Cranbrook, but it has to service all the people in that area, which means a lot of travel involved, and all those folks deserve good care just as much as the next person.”
Wiedrick vows to advocate for the needs of his constituents when it comes to aging infrastructure and healthcare accessibility.
“We can do better if we just redouble our efforts and say, all right, let’s look at how we’re structuring healthcare in this country. And we need to start on a federal level and then bring that down to the provinces.”
Navigating trade tensions
In regard to US President Donald Trump and the trade tension between the US and Canada, Wiedrick says it’s important to understand the type of personality they’re dealing with and understand what he’s motivated by.
“He’s clearly a guy who enjoys ruffling feathers, trying to leverage over other people, and he’s classically what folks in the medical system would call a narcissistic personality. He wants to put us in a competitive disadvantage and make us respond to him. And logic doesn’t work with him.”
Wiedrick’s approach to President Trump’s threats is to explore new trading partners and ensure the nation is self-sufficient.
“Let’s make Canada as self-sufficient as possible. I think we’ve missed the boat on that the last 10 years, but we can fix that going forward.”
He believes the trade war is a direct result of the US government’s debt crisis, meaning the country is paying more in interest than it is in taxes, adding that the tariffs seem to be a method to bring down the interest on its government bonds.
“The way they are going to do that is by leveraging other countries to make deals. They’ll say, ‘we’ll put tariffs on, scare scare… if you do something for us and buy our government bonds at a more favorable interest rate, we’ll take the tariffs away.’ It’s a little game, and people have to understand that that’s being played in the background.”
Tackling housing and rising costs
Wiedrick believes Canada’s housing crisis is the result of “government micromanaging the housing file way too much and constantly messing it up.”
Potential solutions include federal actions to “stamp out” mortgage fraud.
“There is a lot of mortgage fraud in this country. The way the game is played is, if I, as an individual, go and apply for a mortgage, people have gotten so sophisticated that they will fake their tax documents for the bank, and they will get eligibility to buy houses that they wouldn’t have otherwise been eligible for.”
He says the solution to this is simple: legislation that mandates the bank to check a line on a tax document that confirms the accuracy of the buyer’s information.
“It would basically be a line the bank is allowed to check on one of the documents saying, ‘Did Jim or any particular buyer tell the truth?’ You wouldn’t have to release any tax documents to the bank, you could just confirm if it’s true.”
“If they did that, there would be a big swath of the troubles in those greater metropolitan areas taken away, and then it would have a rolling positive benefit to all the outlying areas, including ours.”
In terms of relieving cost-of-living pressures, Wiedrick says the feds need to shrink the pool of civil servants.
“The government taxes citizens, and our government got 40 per cent bigger over the last 10 years, but our government didn’t get 40 per cent better. We are going to need to shrink that back. If the government spends more wisely, it can return that to their citizens by taxing less.”
He says while other candidates may say the solution is more government micromanaging, track records show that doesn’t work.
“It’s time to say, ‘Hey Feds, stop getting so bloated. Become efficient. Do what you need to do well and do it right, and let folks keep their money.’”
Ensuring government transparency
A pillar of Wiedrick’s campaign is ensuring political transparency and the delivery of real results.
“I would like to see our system set up with digital means or any other kind of written or in-person communication, where you could tell your MP what they should prioritize, and how they should go about advocating for the hopes and desires of the region.”
He promises to bring the people back into the democratic process if elected.
“Let’s have a democracy again. What I want people to hear when they think about me is that he’s a guy who’s thought about this and has some good ideas, some good conversation starters, but I actually want to hear what their ideas are.”
Final words
Wiedrick says voting for him ensures constituents keep their power and see action.
“You get action on healthcare, action on proportional representation, action on the environment, action on infrastructure, action on affordability. You get action on any up-and-coming topic that the broad range of voters sees as important.”
As an independent, Wiedrick is not beholden to “some party leader,” as he says ongoing engagement with him means you, as a voter, keep your power and agency, not “lease it to a party for four years at a time.”
Canada’s federal election is on April 28.
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