Port Moody-Coquitlam MLA Rick Glumac sits down with We’ve Got Issues host Nancy Furness to discuss clean energy, his role as president of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, the Eagle Ridge Hospital expansion, and the cost of living in his riding. Rick says he was drawn into politics by the BC Liberal’s Clean Energy Act, which moved away from BC Hydro producing publicly-owned energy to privatized energy production. Some of the projects were costly, environmentally unsound and only produced seasonally. Rick says current energy management is more affordable and is being broadened to include solar and wind.

Burrard Thermal generation station was permanently shut down in 2016. Rick worked to remove the station from BC Hydro’s heritage assets in the hope of seeing Indigenous partnership in a clean energy project (eg. green hydrogen).

Rick serves as president of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region and Premier’s liaison to the Pacific Northwest which includes five US states. He is working to increase Canadian capacity on this cross-border initiative including workforce training for the electrification of BC and the impacts of a US hydrogen energy project. Rick is also involved in cross-border, decision-making frameworks for flood management and prevention, as well as the development of high-speed rail connecting Vancouver to Seattle and Portland. Thirty-nine new treatment spaces at Eagle Ridge Hospital with the capacity to manage infectious diseases and an Urgent and Primary Care facility have been added in Port Moody. Rick says emergency room wait times are partially the result of challenges with finding people to fill the roles. He feels entering into a new contract with family physicians, bursaries and flexibility for nurses, expanded responsibilities for pharmacists, and associate physicians, and a team-based approach to health care are helping to meet the challenge.

Rick says the NDP government is making life in the Tri-Cities more affordable by keeping taxes low without hidden fees, having credits for low-income residents, implementing paid sick days, and increasing minimum wage and affordable child care. On the environmental front, the Provincial Government has recently announced a $300 million conservation financing mechanism involving First Nations.