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MP assistant Murray gets Conservative nomination More than 1,000 members attend meeting B y Ph il M e lnych uk pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
The Conservatives don’t seem to be paying the price in Pitt MeadowsMaple Ridge for their late start in the federal election. A nomination meeting Tuesday drew about 1,000 party members, most of whom voted for Mike Murray, making him the candidate to represent Stephen Harper in Oct. 19th’s election. “The turnout was spectacular for a summer evening,” said Murray, who was endorsed by Randy Kamp. The retiring MP also introduced Murray’s speech. Just how many votes Murray drew versus rival Marc Dalton wasn’t revealed. But it was a close race, said Murray, Kamp’s constituency assistant.
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School supplies The Salvation Army is collecting school supplies at Valley Fair Mall until Saturday. See story, page 8.
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Homelessness a part of election By Phil M elnyc h u k pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
While the city struggles with homelessness and the province pitches in, the federal government should also do its bit, says Coun. Bob Masse. But it’s complicated. “It’s such a complex issue. We don’t have a national housing strategy, so that’s part of it,” Masse said.
While early in the campaign, housing or homelessness as a federal election issue isn’t yet top of mind. That will change, says NDP candidate Bob D’Eith. “I think it’s going to be a very important topic coming into the election, especially in Maple Ridge.” The homeless camp on Cliff Avenue is a good example of the problem. “This is our community. These are our people. We have to take care of them and we have to figure out a way to do that.” He understands why people are upset when the federal government walks away from its
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responsibility. Although the NDP calls for a national housing strategy, newly named Conservative candidate Mike Murray says the NDP want a national strategy for many things, such as a national daycare program. “But that won’t be our approach.” Instead, the Conservatives want to put money into people’s pockets so they can make the decisions themselves. Both the Liberals and NDP want centralized, Ottawa-based programs. “That is not the direction of the Conserva-
tive party,” Murray said The federal government, he added, is doing its part through the Homelessness Partnering Strategy, which funnels $119 million yearly to community groups across Canada. A key part of the strategy is the Housing First program, which makes provision of housing the priority before a client can receive help for other issues. Metro Vancouver is the “community based entity,” which decides how to spend the money in this region and decides which projects in each city receive funding.
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