SUSAN CHAMBERS
BC LIBERAL
Susan Chambers is in some ways an ideal BC Liberal candidate. A strong, hard-working and polished entrepreneur who claims a successful career in sales and marketing, Chambers speaks enthusiastically about her party — It’s the one that makes the economy grow, she says, and it has a proven track record.
She pumps her fists and preaches the BC Liberal gospel during a campaign office photo shoot.
Chambers says she had been asked to run for political office before but now, with her connections established, she believes she’s well positioned to take on a powerhouse such as MLA Mike Farnworth in an NDP stronghold.
She admits she jumped late into the race (she was nominated just four weeks ago) but is making up by taking time out of work to pound the pavement, meet with local officials and listen to constituents and fellow business people.
Listening, she says, is her best attribute. As a child of a pulp-and-paper worker, her family moved often and “I was always the new kid,” the Ontario-born Chambers says. “It’s a good life lesson: You have to know how to make friends and how to be part of a community as quickly as possible.”
For the record, she does not live in PoCo, or even the Tri-Cities.
The 56-year-old lives in Maple Ridge — “It’s just a place I rest my head,” she says — but from 1999 to 2015, she called the Tri-Cities home. She remains a member of the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce and, in the past, has taken part in New View Society events, the Evergreen Cultural Centre board, the Kinettes soup kitchen and the PoCo homelessness count.
Chambers flips through her notes — each page dedicated to a specific party policy — when asked to comment on three PoCo issues.
THE ISSUES
• On homelessness, Chambers ties the issue to the opioid crisis — a disaster that last year claimed 914 British Columbians — and lists the annual spending the governing BC Liberals have committed for mental health and substance abuse. Housing affordability “has always been a challenge,” she states. “When I bought my first house in Port Coquitlam, it was just over $150,000 in 2000 and I had to borrow money from my mom and dad.” It was a hefty investment, she says, “but the price of that house then and now is driven by the market — it’s not by the government.” Chambers also warns the NDP’s plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour will result in “thousands of job losses” for low-income earners.
• On recreational marijuana, Chambers says she wants to strengthen the impaired driving laws prior to the federal legalization next July. As well, the BC Liberals “will form an expert panel to advise on the regulatory framework… We want to keep marijuana out of the hands of minors and we want to prevent organized crime from profiting on the sale of marijuana, and ensure the quality is maintained and the products are properly labeled. People need to know what they’re getting.”
• On delays in the courts, Chambers didn’t have an immediate response, saying only, “If the men and the women and the children of this riding determine that that’s something I need to put my time into, I will definitely do that.”
To contact Susan Chambers, call 604-945-0598 or visit
bcliberals.com/candidate/susan-chambers2017.
