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| Maria Devries with BC Liberal Health Minister Kevin Falcon, Alpha Aviation President Sandra Stoddart-Hansen and former Delta South MLA Val Roddick |
A search of the Internet has uncovered that long-time provincial Liberal Maria Devries is in the process of declaring her candidacy in the upcoming by-election. Her website mariadevries.org has recently undergone a face-lift and includes the headline, "Maria DeVries for Delta Council 2010".
The former president of the local Liberal Riding Association is also a past president of the Delta Chamber of Commerce, a founding member of the Tilbury Eco-Industrial Partnership, and has been a strong advocate for Port Expansion and the building of the South Fraser Perimeter Road. As well, Devries was one of the few people who turned up at the Metro Vancouver board hearing in support of omitting agricultural land from Metro's 'Green Zone' to facilitate Ron Toigo's Tsawwassen Golf Course Development.
Maria Devries is probably best known for giving up her Liberal MLA candidacy to allow Wally Oppal, the Attorney General at the time, to be acclaimed as the candidate for the Delta South riding. Her reasons for stepping down were that, "the riding needs strong leadership and an effective voice." Wally Oppal was rejected by the citizens in Delta South in favour of independent candidate Vicki Huntington.
It is still unknown when Ms. DevRies will announce her candidacy but the announcement will likely give land developers and big business a champion to back in South Delta.
To date there are three declared candidates in the upcoming by-election. Sylvia Bishop, Sandeep Pandher, and Kathleen Higgins. Of course, the nomination period doesn't start until August 3rd so anything could happen between now and then.
I suggest Maria Devries read of California's time limit for water. In about 8 years when their water is gone their costs for growing food will skyrocket as will our costs for importing it when we've used up all our farmland for warehouses, trains and truck freeway, oh and more houses. How about backing barging? How about electric rail? How about the project justification, as in lack of justification for port expansion. Eutrophication - means oxygen depleted water or dead zone. Read the sign by Deltaport. What are your plans for that? This just cries of the same old mentality or growth at any cost. Our planet is being depleted recklessly at a speed that most leaders cannot even fathom. Our environmental standards are a fraud. There are not any jobs on a dead planet, and where is the land to grow the food for all these people? Buried under the SFPR, trains, etc.
ReplyDeleteMore of Ms. Devries' mentality will take us into the short term future, but not a good future. Susan Hodges