Nelson Election Survey 2022

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P
1		Janice Morrison (elected)	John Buffery (late submission)	John Dooley	Mike Zeabin	Tom Prior	Ainsleah Hastings	Brenton Raby	Glenn Sutherland	Jesse Pineiro (elected)	Jesse Woodward (elected)	Kate Tait (elected)	Keith Page (elected)	Kyle Wilkinson	Leslie Payne (elected)	Rik Logtenberg (elected)
2	Which office are you running for	Mayor	Mayor	Mayor	Mayor	Mayor	Councillor	Councillor	Councillor	Councillor	Councillor	Councillor	Councillor	Councillor	Councillor	Councillor

3	Scroll to right for more candidates. Scroll down for questions and responses. Candidates are arranged by office and alphabetically by first name.
4	1. How will you engage with your constituents to ensure you are forming climate policy that best represents/benefits everyone?	I have always been open and available to meet with individuals and groups to discuss climate issues and policy. There are many passionate members in our community who have significant expertise in the area of climate policy, and it will be key to continue to collaborate with them. Working with this broad cross section is what led to the development of the Nelson Next document. Social media, the thought exchange platform, community meetings/town halls, ambassador programs, and the youth climate corps activities are some of the ways we can engage with our constituents	Using Nelson Next as a guiding framework, lets develop a transparent summary of deliverables and the costs associated. In the same assessment we will outline delinquencies missed and solutions to capture action towards implementation.	We were the second community in the province of B.C. to sign on to the Climate Action Charter in 2008 and that set us on a path of including actions in our Official Community Plan around the climate. This Plan is developed in consultation with community groups and the general public.	No response received	I would continue as a peaceful Metis environmental/ Indigenous land defender activist. Action speak louder than words. Myself and 2 other Metis elders/land defenders and supporters have saved thousands of hectares of the "Inland Temperate Rain forest". We stopped clear-cut logging(for now) in a number of large local drainages, including the Westfall and Incomappleaux rivers. (Answer truncated due to space.)	By implementing strategies to get young people and members of the renter class engaged in civic processes. In the 2018 Nelson election, 44% of eligible voters did not vote. I am interested in understanding why that is, and increasing engagement in ways that empower all residents.	I understand the role and procedures of local government. Often I hear that people are not aware of an issue or opportunity and miss the time line to address council on policy decisions. I have attended meetings and participated in City government for many years. Personal outreach and connecting with the people and institutions who might be impacted so that they know when and how to participate is a way to best policy.	Reach out to leading organizations, industry leading experts, best practice leaders either directly, or through stakeholder networks, social media, - any engagement that is productive.	It is important to me that people feel enfranchised and a part of the solution when it comes to tackling the problems presented by climate change. To this end, we as a council have to communicate with all sectors of the community to find climate solutions that benefit, and are accessible to everyone.	I will use the "Nelson Next" climate action document, that I helped to craft over the last 4 years on Nelson City Council, as my foundational document for moving the City of Nelson and its citizens towards a healthier and more sustainable future here in the West Kootenays.	On council, I will encourage my colleagues to seek input from the community: residents, homeowners, business owners, and others to help guide the directions of Strategic Plan. Outreach and communication are imperative to understanding our constituents and representing their needs in a democratic system. Surveys, open houses, forums, and online engagement applications are ways to reach out and listen.	One person at a time. I do my very best to show up within the community and have these conversations 1-1.	No response received	For the widest possible adoption of climate policy, council needs to build an engagement and education plan around values. Catherine Heyhoe’s book Saving Us demonstrates many examples.	Incorporate Nelson Next into our Official Community Plan, a process that will involve intense community engagement through surveys, public meetings, social labs, and more. I also use the Planetary Health Framework, a tool that helps me engage with a broad cross-section of constituents while balancing their competing interests. Click here for more: https://re-elect-rik.earthnet.world/p/1251
5	2. How will you apply a climate lens to all your work with your fellow elected representatives, given competing priorities?	The purpose of the development of Nelson Nest was to set a pathway that successive councils could follow as we incorporate adaptation and mitigation strategies into ALL the work we do to become more carbon resilient. We need to not only consider climate justice in our work, but also social justice, keeping in mind that indigenous and marginalized community members are often hardest hit by climate change.	Forming a climate lens in our vision statement will always be weighted during collaboration and consultation before any action or every decision is made.	All decisions are made with a climate lens. At the City of Nelson, every department applies a climate lens to all decision making. As examples, re equipment, buses, cars and trucks, we are in constant search mode for the most fuel efficient product and use battery power where possible. Two weeks ago we made a submission to the Provincial Government for electric buses .	No response received	My reputation as a peaceful "environmental activist" is obvious and well known. Much of my adult life has been dedicated to advocating for a Sane economic paradigm shift that will reverse human caused destruction of our biosphere. I was an early volunteer with the West Kootenay Eco Society, I helped establish the "Cottonwood Farmers Market ". There are no "competing priorities" for me personally to a "Sane Shift" away from our current direction.	Given the dire state of our planet, I don’t know how it’s possible not to apply a climate lens to every single thing we do. Every decision, every action, every choice I make is framed by a deep concern for the future of our world.	I will work to ensure that council continues to utilize the best elements of the 2019-2022 Strategic Plan. Strategic plans are foundational. Nelson's Strategic Plan include: • Enhance Sustainability of City Services and Infrastructure • Strengthen Neighbourhoods. The City of Nelson will also be undertaking a statutory update of it's Official Community Plan. This process will require council to listen to community priorities and be diligent in ensuring draft OCP documents are representative of Nelson's community priorities. I will arrive prepared and work hard to understand issues and effective process. (Answer truncated due to space.)	Good Governance ensures that a climate lens is applied to decision making, providing meaningful insights, improved choices, risk mitigation, and potentially better resilience and sustainability , these all contribute to better decisions and incent behavioral change for a cleaner future	As outlined in Nelson Next, the most effective climate solutions will also benefit the social fabric of the community, the economy, and the most vulnerable people. Therefore, new building developments, transit, or even community events all have an opportunity for climate action and solutions. Our environment is not separate from our everyday existence it is fundamental to it.	The global climate change crisis will absolutely and dramatically effect all of our lives over the next 5 to 10 years so, for me, it is the central and core lens that I have been looking through and will continue, if reelected, to look through when crafting and developing future city policy. The climate crisis is really the key issue moving forward as all other issues will be impacted by this accelerating global crisis. A good indicator of how big this issue is was how it was the main focus and foundational dilemma at every workshop and discussion I attended while at the recent 2022 UBMC conference in Whistler. (Answer truncated due to space.)	Since the Nelson Next plan has been adopted by the City, I am optimistic that we can consider climate impacts and benefits in the work we do. We can continue to build a culture of collaboration among the diverse stakeholders in municipal decision making including staff, developers, residents, council, and climate allies.	By ensuring that we are pushing for quality data to guide our decisions making process. Nelson Next envisions a community that is generating tactics to address the aspirations within the plan. That means we must have the built-in capacity as an organization to consult the public and conduct feasibility studies on the tactics and design methods to test our assumptions.	No response received	Most of my adult life has been guided by the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. “Begin with the end in mind”. Do we have a clearly articulated vision? Does this policy, program, bi-law, etc. serve the vision? If so, move forward. If not, more work needs to be done to achieve the desired outcome.	I use the Planetary Health Framework (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13563890221107044) in all of my decisions. I will also continue to take every opportunity to keep Nelson Next (and it's pathway to low carbon resilience) front and center in council discussions. Click here for more: https://re-elect-rik.earthnet.world/p/1252
6	3. Nelson Next outlines over 100 priority tactics for addressing climate change locally. How will you decide which tactics to prioritize, and what will you do to ensure those tactics are sufficiently moved forward this term?	I believe the overarching priority is the Nelson Next document itself. The "tactics" in Nelson Next are interwoven in their approach to adaptation and mitigation. Some, like an anti-idling bylaw, are easier. While others, such as resource recovery, which requires working with our regional partners and higher levels of governments, are more complex. I believe the priorities will be self-evident ( flow) as projects come on stream.	Nelson Next has been a guiding plan for over two years. Consultation with our leading project managers and their objectives near implementation, we will re-evaluate any new information to ensure a cost/ benefit review is completed. We will then take those target projects to implementation.	We have created a department focused on climate with a staff of 4. It reviews every step we take and they keep us in line with our Nelson next priorities. As Mayor, I was part of developing the Nelson Next priorities.	No response received	The single largest contributor locally to the "environmental (climate) crisis" is the destruction (clear-cut logging) of our healthy primary forests. We are surrounded by mostly healthy forested mountains and valleys. The transportation of raw logs through Nelson everyday by large diesel logging trucks contributes the majority of the carbon from transportation in our area. The current policies of our provincial/federal that mandates forestry companies to behave in this insane manner needs to start changing away from logging vast amounts of raw logs to a forest industry that creates "value added" production creating more jobs with half the volume of healthy primary forests. (Answer truncated due to space.)	“Ecological politics today isn’t about ‘saving the planet’ or ‘solving the climate crisis’ as we used to be told— it isn’t even about staying within 1.5C of planetary heating. Ecological politics is about limiting how many people die, how many are displaced, how many experience insufferable heat, floods, wildfires, and droughts. Every decision made today that takes us further away from decarbonization, tips the scales towards greater death and destruction.” —Kai Heron	Look at policy within city operations and on city property especially public property like parks, facilities and amenity areas. The City of Nelson is not legitimately aspiring to be a climate leader so long as it avoids discuss on why it permits outdoor heaters on patios that occupy city public spaces.	Ensure the long term plan is focused, accountable and executed upon	We need action from all citizens of Nelson to implement our climate goals. Council must give priority to those climate solutions that are accessible to and benefit everyone. This will increase buy-in from the population and make our long-term goals achievable.	The City of Nelson now has a five person, full time climate action team working at City Hall to integrate climate actions and the "Nelson Next" document priorities into all city operations and polices. This team was formed to development and drive local climate policy and actions through all city operation so I will differ and follow to their expert advice as they do their work over the next numbers years. My job as a Councillor has been and will continue to be to help facilitate and promote these important and vital changes to the City of Nelson operations, and if I am reelected this is exactly what I will continue to do.	I'm particularly drawn to Aspiration 3, because it involves engaging with residents and building a momentum and political will to make change. Efforts to expand communication can motivate individuals to make small changes that collectively can have a big impact.	Nelson Next is built around the 7 aspirations and 23 strategies and over 100 tactics. It's important to be clear that as per Nelson Next the tactics must be individually validated and tested for their impact. That's the important work of the Climate Change team we have built the last 4 years in the City. With these dedicated staff resources, the tactics will be validated and updated with time. We must ensure that the reporting to the community and long-term budgeting of the plan stays a top priority.	No response received	I am a big fan of demonstrating success with small victories and using that momentum to approach more challenging issues. So let’s start with low hanging fruit. Let’s get people excited about the possibilities through an engaging and robust information and education plan. And we could always ask folks - town halls, conversation cafes, etc.	I will push for a strategic planning retreat in late January 2023, which will produce Council’s 4-year Strategic Plan. Specifically, I will ask for an ad-hoc committee of council to plan this retreat to 1) design the retreat’s format, 2) set the community and environmental context, and 3) design the follow-up process for producing Council’s Strategic Plan. Ultimately, the goal is to create a more robust strategic plan to guide how (and which) Nelson Next tactics make it into the Staff Priority Action List and the budget.
7	4. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gasses in West Kootenay communities. What specific policies do you most support and promise to fight for to address transportation emissions?	Let's get the anti-idling bylaw passed. As a Corporation we need to electrify the city fleet and equipment, while considering functional requirements and budgetary constraints. We need to investigate all options to decrease single vehicle use. We need to improve and expand public transportation options as these not only reduce GHG's by reducing single vehicle use, but also provide social equity. We need to look at further build out of our Active Transportation plan and expand the E-bike program to Nelson Hydro customers who are not property owners	I support the enhancement of Nelson's E-bike program to be more equitable for other citizens, other than just home owners. I support the West Kootenay Bike Coalition initiative and expansion for safe efficient pedestrian and bike transportation throughout the city and other communities.	We have an eBike program where residents can borrow money to buy eBikes through their Nelson Hydro accounts and we have developed a bike lane to facilitate bike use in the City. In terms of policies, we have an active transportation plan developed that has mapped out walking and biking lanes trough out our community. We are in the process of delivering on that plan, including building new sidewalks and bike lanes. As noted above, we have also submitted a request for electric busses.	No response received	I have been involved for 30 years plus fighting for " common sense" regarding greenhouse gas from transportation. As mentioned above, transportation of raw logs should be reduced. We should have more value added forest industry with fewer trucks hauling raw logs through our community. In addition there are a myriad of policy changes that would address this matter:1) better transit service 2) train service to other communities 3) a tax break for people using public transportation or those that own no vehicle and service their life with walking or bicycle. 4) change Nelson downtown core to a non-vehicle/pedestrian area at least for summer months, as is the case in Kelowna. (Answer truncated due to space.)	We need significant improvements to public transit, which is a split partnership between the Province as well as the RDCK and City of Nelson. We are currently facing a driver shortage that has cancelled multiple routes that many people rely on, myself included - so we need to explore the complexities of our current problem before we can expand upon it.	Nelson is a hub. It has a substantial number of daily commuters from the rural area(suburbs). Policies that provide stable funding and vision for public transportation is important. The challenges of operating a rural to urban public bus service are huge. Ridership needs to increase. Working with the RDCK and the Province to mitigate/reduce the effect of commuting ghg emissions is key. The City of Nelson has supported the new BC Transit Exchange on Victoria Street. This is an opportunity to improve the service levels so more people will ride the bus.(Answer truncated due to space.)	I was on the IHA Board of directors for nine years and was dedicated to reducing the number of cars on the road to access services in our area. A comprehensive transportation plan that includes all modes of mobility should be acted upon moving towards an electrified future ( my time at CAA looked at all these options which can benefit our local planning)	I support improvements to our transit system so that it is a viable option for people that have other choices. We need people opt in to the transit system and out of their personal vehicles. This isn't possible with the limited services that now exist.	Continue to increase and promote programs such as the E-bike loan program, further development of active transportation routes in Nelson, better access to public transit services through the build out and development of the new Nelson transit hub on Victoria St. and push for Nelson to be a pilot area for electric buses when they become available. I also support the densification of Nelson through expanded lane way housing builds and more compact housing construction in general. Having a more dense and compact city paired with active transportation routes and solid public transit services will hopefully reduce the need for citizens to be always driving their own personal vehicles thereby reducing the individual production of GHG's as a whole throughout our city.	Nelson is a compact city in many ways and so it lends itself to active transportation. Making walking routes safe for pedestrians and advocating to higher levels of government and other partners for more bussing and bus routes are ways council can continue to drive change.	I would advocate for the improvement of our Active Transportation infrastructure and look forward to the consultation process for phase 2 from SilverKing to the Stanley, but when it comes to connecting our community to the region transit is struggling with labour shortages. Low wages are not attracting talent we need to operate reliable and predictable public transit. Solving these challenges with our regional partners is critical to improving service in the area. Within the city expanding the Hydro bike loan program to include low-risk long-time hydro account holders brings an equity lens to our policy implementation. (Answer truncated due to space.)	No response received	The transformational piece is that we need to plan our community for people not vehicles. The policy piece would be to implement vehicle length restrictions in angled parking spots, specifically along the bike route, for example.	More bike lanes, more bike infrastructure, better walking infrastructure and way-finding, expand e-bike financing, daily transit commuter route to and from Salmo, Sunday service on key routes, on-demand transit, a card-tap fare system, more provincial support for universal free fares, electric buses, electrification of the City Fleet, charging infrastructure in MURBs, eliminate parking minimums, continue to promote a zero-emission lifestyle through my own behaviour and encouraging events like eBike rallies, push city staff to use the car share more often and contribute some of the city’s fleet to the Car Share fleet. Click here for more: https://re-elect-rik.earthnet.world/p/1253
8	5. Buildings are the second largest source of greenhouse gasses in West Kootenay communities. What specific policies do you most support and promise to fight for to address emissions from buildings?	We are leaders in this area compared to other municipalities thanks to our nationally recognized EcoSave program! We need to explore how renters can work with landlords to access the EcoSave program incentives. We will continue to locally encourage a higher level of building code standards ahead of provincially mandated requirements, while keeping in mind the effects of embodied carbon in construction and deconstruction. The retrofitting of the Civic Centre is going to significantly reduce City owned building GHG's	Let's create a lens in our city building permit process that rewards development with lower ratings of embodied and operational carbon emissions, outlined in the Material Carbon Emissions Estimator Tool.	Our EcoSave program has enabled people to purchase heat pumps. We have implemented. step code 5 which is the top code for reducing energy consumption in buildings. We also started a first-of-its- kind study to develop a model for builders to reduce embodied carbon in construction of homes.	No response received	Geo-thermal. I attended a number community meeting during the planning stages of the Nelson and District rec center swimming pool and ice rink, presenting the "planning committee" with information from Cochrane Alberta new hockey rink that used Geo-thermal to reduce energy for the facility. The "planning committee" followed up on the information I had presented and in a city wide vote to increase our tax burden to finance the new facility, they used the Geo-thermal idea in a brochure to encourage people to vote yes to the tax increase, which was past. Then, the Geo-thermal was pushed out (apparently) by our current mayor and other on the RDCK board. (Answer truncated due to space.)	By utilizing unused rooftop spaces for above ground planter boxes and community gardens.	Review of operations of the Civic Ice Surface. Prioritize grant applications that are targeted towards upgrading City owned buildings.	The City of Nelson currently has services in place that address a reduction in GHG, digital transformation, Energy Retrofit programs, E-bike program, Low Carbon Homes Pilot (building materials) , these initiatives will produce a defined planning document for the City to follow	In a climate such as ours, with extreme temperature fluctuations, it is important that all new buildings are held to a minimum standard of efficiency. Heating and cooling are major sources of energy use and need to be minimized. We must also think about the sources of our building materials and the impact that creating these materials has on the environment. Utilizing existing structures in a more efficient way can sometimes be less impactful than creating new projects.	Continue to support the push for higher levels of Step Code builds like Step Code 4 and 5. This push over the last number of years has also been paired with a first in Canada study, by the City of Nelson, on embodied carbon within building materials. The results of this study will allow Nelson to support and inform property developers what is the best low carbon materials that they can use to achieve Step Code 4 and 5 in their developments. Also the City of Nelson is tackling the need to retrofitting its own city owned buildings, especially the Civic Centre Theater building (Answer truncated due to space.)	Reducing emissions from new buildings by working toward the provincial CleanBC Roadmap will mean no new climate pollution will be added. Building owners can be prompted to retrofit older structures with clear communication about the available provincial rebates.	On a local level, we have the opportunity with Hydro to push deeper on these reductions by developing more inclusive retrofit programs. But within the broader regional landscape, the RDCK is looking to map the geothermal potential of specific electoral areas. Nelson should look to collaborate on that work and specifically identify areas with development potential within the Hydro service area.	No response received	The city could provide incentives either around the building permit or future taxation to help builders and their clients make a climate friendly, healthier choice. There is an ambition gap in the EcoSave program. We can do better. Green jobs in our community.	Provide more support for EcoSave, improve our Grid, push for new electrical generation systems, support efforts to shave demand peaks (ex. grid-scale batteries), improve data collection and visualization of energy use, tighten feedback to residents about their energy use and provide more relevant information about what they can do to save, support Youth Climate Corp building retrofit projects, support an initiative to set and monitor Paris-aligned Building Performance Standards, secure Workforce Readiness funds for retrofit training, launch a Low-carbon Building Innovation Hub, support the Social Procurement Initiative, retrofit more city buildings after the Civic retrofit is complete. Click here for more: https://re-elect-rik.earthnet.world/p/1254
9	6. What strategies do you support to help increase community resilience in the face of climate change?	Continued implementation and expansion of the Firesmart program is the number 1 strategy to increase community resilience. We are all aware that Nelson is one of the BC's top ten areas at extreme risk for wildfire. I think it is important that we get to know our neighbours, as it is by working together that we will be successful in increasing overall community resilience. I am a proponent of the UN Sustainability development Goals and, on an individual level, the Good Life Goals.	The natural hazards are increasing in our environment resulting from the negative effects of climate change. Starting at home we will follow Nelson's FireSmart strategy and transition from our yard to increase the health of our urban forest then towards the interface of town where forest wildfires may advance inwards.	Our wildfire strategy is very advanced and is now in high gear. I includes multiple partners from government, private land owners and industry. We have a rebuild of our storm sewer system underway. We have built a secondary water source as well as a lake water pumping system. These are a few examples that should our proactivity in relation to climate change.	No response received	New leadership that understands we need to enter the 21st century with real policies that reflect the seriousness of the matter at hand. We cannot afford four more years of civic policy rhetoric that is timid at best and in some way fools the general public that the matter is being taken seriously, when it is obviously just being used to score environmental points with a public that is increasingly freak out by the Environmental crisis that we leaving for future generations to deal with.	Supporting local farmers, food banks, and community initiatives to strengthen our local food security in the face of future natural disasters and supply chain issues.	Work to ensure that the Gyro public pool is open for community relief from the heat. Continue the City work on providing cooling centers for citizens during high heat. Maintain the infrastructure that brings us our clean water. Ensure that financial reserves and operational capacity can handle weather events such as wind and snow storms. Continue to support Nelson's Emergency Operations Center.	Consistent review of best practices, leading thinking and evidence based local initiatives/policy recommendations that will improve our climate programs & planning	I support making our community as self-sufficient as possible. Local food production, the sharing of knowledge and resources, and the utilization of communal spaces within the community will all help with our ability to cope with the challenges of climate change.	Continue to support and promote wildfire mitigation actions around the City of Nelson's forest interface, support wildfire risk reductions and Firesmart actions for City and local area home owners, further development and efficiencies in our City water supplies and the availability of large water quantities during fire or wildfire emergency situations, continue to grow and support food security through development and support of the city run Farmers Markets and promote and develop "Nelson Next" climate action document and its proscribed climate actions for our community as a whole.	A resilient community is one where residents, businesses, government, and systems are striving together to be adaptable in the face of change. We will have to work together to build capacity and desire to shift attitudes and take small steps toward lasting change. We are lucky to have a city with active non-profit groups and service organizations that we can lean into for expertise and to inspire one another.	For the City of Nelson, the biggest resilience piece is recovering from a disaster. That means working with local businesses and nonprofit organizations to ensure they are developing well-thought-out contingency plans to recover their operations and protect workers' jobs when disaster strikes. On a regional level, the support and development of shorter food supply chains are critical for our long-term sustainability. Finally, we must continue to advocate to the Province for more health resources to support people dealing with impacts of the crisis.	No response received	Your neighours are the first responders in any emergency. So awakening the power of families and neighbourhoods is key. As a participant in the initial NEST Lab, our group piloted a project called Nelson Neighbours and our first event was a huge success. Unfortunately, too successful for pandemic guidelines. And the lack of funding for citizen led initiatives was a barrier. Other municipalities have provided seed funding for similar initiatives.	Support ongoing risk mapping, support Neighbourhood Resilience Teams, integrate public education (ex. firesmart, ecosave, watersmart, etc.), continue disaster management recovery planning, and lobby the Municipal Insurance Association of BC to fund climate resilience projects. Click here for more: https://re-elect-rik.earthnet.world/p/1255
10	7. What do you think you can realistically accomplish during your term to make the lives of your constituents happier, healthier and more equitable, while also addressing climate change?	Affordability is top of mind for everyone these days. Programs like EcoSave are on the ground programs that many home owners can access to reduce their household operating costs and building GHGs. Continuing to improve public transportation, accessibility and connectivity will reduce our transportation GHGs, improve air quality and assist with ensuring social equity	Fear of uncertainty from the threats of climate change effects our mental health. Lets manage our urban forest into a healthy state resilient to fire, simultaneously providing lower air temperatures. Maintain and increase our public green spaces to create esthetic calm places for a healthier mindset.	We are proud of the progress made and will continue to build on the Nelson Next Plan	No response received	Help continue to shift the public understanding of the economic forces that are driving the Environmental/Climate crisis. We need to show People that there are ways to afford a comfortable life without continuing to damage our bio-sphere and GIVE Mother Nature a chance to deal with the current human impacts that are causing such mayhem.	Continued expansion of affordable housing and community garden projects.	I can contribute to the stability of Nelson Hydro's operations, clean and abundant water and the City's resiliency in the face of wild fire impacts.	Benchmark and measure our outcomes over Councils term and define progress	I think we as a council can prioritize climate actions that mobilize the efforts of a plurality of our citizens. Incremental steps that empower people to be part of the solution will have a sustainable impact on the future and continue to be effective long after the current council ends their mandate. I believe we as a council can begin to build the culture of activism that will be necessary in the future by offering people an opportunity to be involved now, whatever their social or economic status may be.	To fully support and develop the continued roll out of the "Nelson Next" comprehensive climate action document and the work of the climate action team at the City of Nelson, promote further development of our local active transportation routes, promote increased public transit services and lower city GHG production by continuing the retrofitting process of our municipal owned buildings.	I intend to use my skills of reading and writing policy, understanding and interpreting legislation, and thinking critically and asking questions to maintain a climate action lens when decision making. I will work to make connections with other municipal leaders who are allies and reach out to build relationships with those who have competing priorities to find ways to move together towards climate conscious commitments.	One of the biggest challenges is housing. It impacts everyone in the community and we need to focus our local efforts on the development and refurbishment of purpose-built rentals and starter units that can safely and securely house people into the future.	No response received	I build relationships. I listen. I facilitate the work of high performing teams. Everyone wants to contribute to the health and well-being of our community and its citizens. I trust folks to step up when the vision is compelling. The time for incrementalism is gone. Transformative change is not only possible for absolutely necessary. I am a pragmatic idealist. “The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine and reset our world” Klaus Schwab, WEF	A lot. Click here for more: https://re-elect-rik.earthnet.world/p/1256
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12	Visit West Kootenay Climate Hub to see the survey responses in other communities.