Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo candidate profile: Corally Delwo, People's Party of Canada

This week, Castanet Kamloops is going to help you get to know the seven candidates looking to represent the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding in Ottawa. We will be posting a video and a Q&A for each of the local hopefuls running in the Sept. 20 federal election. Each candidate is asked the same questions and their answers are published in full.

Here is the lineup for this week's special election coverage: Monday: Bill Sundhu, NDP; Tuesday: Bob O'Brien, independent; Wednesday: Jesse McCormick, Liberal; Thursday: Corally Delwo, People's Party of Canada; Friday: Iain Currie, Green; Saturday: Frank Caputo, Conservative; Sunday: Wayne Allan, independent.

Castanet Kamloops: Who are you and why do you want to be MP? Tell us about yourself — where are you from, what do you do and what will you bring to the table?

Corally Delwo: “My name is Corally Delwo, and I am an Alberta-born-and-raised person. I moved to Kamloops in 2009 with my husband who was raised here. I, by trade, am an esthetician, but I also have training in touch for health energy medicine, as well as I did part of the respiratory therapy course at Thompson Rivers University, but ended up not finishing because of health reasons. So I have a good knowledge of the body and the mind.

“Right now I just work from home, I run my own business at home. I used to have a salon here in town, and because of inflation, to do with rent and costs of operation, we decided to move the business to my house and I also help run my husband's company out of our house as well. He has a oilfield consulting business.

“We have four children between the two of us. I have two daughters, he has a daughter and we both have a son together. And we recently had our second grandbaby as of Aug. 17. So we now have a one year old grandson and a brand new baby granddaughter, so we're very excited.

“I chose to run for Parliament because I have seen a lot of issues especially affecting Kamloops that have been not looked after by our government in Ottawa. So I would like to see different changes with the affordable housing in Kamloops. We have a very, very big problem with that and I plan to look at the National Housing strategy.

“I'd like to be able to advocate for Kamloops to get better funding to help us have better affordable housing for everybody. And I would also like to look at how we can help small businesses stay afloat, especially through the pandemic. A lot of businesses have been hit very hard, small businesses. So I would like to be able to advocate for our small business community to make sure that they, going forward, are able to survive and stay open because I do believe that small businesses are the backbone of the economy.

“I also think industry is very important and having proper investment brought to Kamloops when it comes to industry will help create a better economy and create more better paying jobs, especially for those who are tired of going away all the time for work. They might have the opportunity to be home and be able to have a work life balance.”

What experience do you have that makes you qualified to represent this riding in Ottawa?

Delwo: “I did run for city council back in 2018. I learned a lot. I'm not going to claim that I have all the answers to all of it. But I'm a hard worker, I am willing to learn from the community what we need. And I have good work ethic, strong morals, I have a good sense of family.

“I definitely think that with what I've done with owning my own business, and my husband and I owning our own businesses together, that I can bring a good sense of realism to politics. Instead of just following the party politics, I am able to bring my own sense of organization and my own skill sets to be able to work hard for the community.”

What local issues do you think you would be able to tackle as MP?

Delwo: “Like I said, I'm definitely wanting to help with the affordable housing issue. I do know that there's a high crime problem in Kamloops and a lot of drug issues in Kamloops. So I'd like to work with the other levels of government and make sure that we can collaborate together, whether that means we have to look at different funding, more funding, reallocating funding to areas that are lacking, or we need to look at policies and structure of how things are going between the municipality, the provincial government.

“But I believe that the three levels of government should be working cohesively to tackle these problems. So whatever is in my jurisdiction to do for crime, drugs, affordable housing, the economy, our climate issues as well, that’s what I will be aiming to do with with my election, if I'm elected successfully in my seat.”

What are your thoughts on vaccine passports, as introduced by the B.C. government last week?

Delwo: “I do not agree with them. I do not agree with being papered to move around the community. I think that it still should be considered my body, my choice. I don't believe that we should be forced into anything. If people are unable to have vaccines for a certain reason, or if they just in their convictions do not think it's right for them, then they should not be forced into it by the government.

“In fact, I believe that anytime you do any type of medical treatment that should be between you and your doctor to make sure that you are making the best informed choice for yourself. I believe 100 per cent in informed consent. And I also like I said, I believe that is my body, my choice.”

Are you double vaccinated for COVID-19? If not, why not?

Delwo: “I prefer not to answer that question.”

What do you think needs to be done to combat the social issues plaguing Kamloops streets and, if elected, what would you do about it?

Delwo: “Well, I look at what's going on, and I’ve got a lot of people with small businesses, some people on the North Shore as well, who've complained a lot about the crime, the damage being done by people on the streets, the mess being left behind. And honestly, what I think needs to be done is a better strategy at not just getting them off the streets, but getting them the proper help that they need.

“And again, working with all levels of government to implement better mental health care, they need better drug rehabilitation centres. We don't have enough beds for that, we need to expand on that.

“We need to make sure that these people are not just getting into a 30 day rehab clinic and then being kicked back out on the street because there's nowhere else for them to go afterwards. They aren't being supported properly when it comes to counselling and outpatient services.

“I believe that there is an attempt to do that here. But I think the access and the availability and the space is not available for every single person. We're a hub here, we get a lot of people coming from other communities. I mean, we've even had people that have had to be relocated here now because of the fires. So they're actually out of a home. Now we have to take care of other communities surrounding us. So without the space, without the beds, without the funding, we don't have the ability as a community to support even our outlying communities, let alone just Kamloops, and I think a lot of that has to be changed. And again, whether that's looking at funding, restructuring funding, prioritizing what are the most critical needs in Kamloops, that’s where that has to start.

“I know so many people are so angry about how the people on the streets are leaving the conditions of our streets, and so it makes it hard for people to patronize businesses when there's people sleeping on the streets, garbage, needles, we're fearful for our children. So even if we implement a cleanup, a type of cleanup, where we have a crew in the city that goes around and helps keep that clean, at least until we can get places for these people to go.”

What are your thoughts on climate change in general?

Delwo: “I believe that we do need to look after our environment. There are so many things that we're behind on here in Kamloops. And one of them that I know is in a pilot project right now is the curbside composting. I think that should have been implemented many, many years ago. The waste that we have alone from organic foods, or organics, is huge.

“I also think that we have to look at the climate in a realistic manner, meaning that we need to invest in not only government programs, but we have to invest in publicly owned, private investors who have innovative technology that can help us go after climate change. One of the things that I've noticed especially this year with the wildfires, and I've been educated on it by a number of people who know about forestry, is that our forestry system is being disrupted. Because when we log for lumber, the regulations around what they are replanting is not there.

“So we are losing deciduous trees in the process of logging our fir and our pine for lumber. So if we're not replacing those deciduous trees, we ruin the ecology of the forest. And we need to have that balance. It would help break the fire issues, we wouldn't have as much of the rampant fires with the deciduous trees being replanted. They're a wet wood, they take up more water, they help create fire breaks. And that's one thing that we can do right now to help our outlying community and our environment is to make sure that we keep that ecological balance in our forest.”

The Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding area is routinely impacted by wildfire. If elected, would you endeavour to take any steps to prevent or better fight wildfires? If yes, what would they be?

Delwo: “Yes, absolutely. Obviously this summer was practically ruined because of wildfires. I think that one of the things that is tough with wildfires is that we have a hard time when they are threatening structures. So I believe this year that the structural damage that was done to some of the communities was avoidable.

“We need a faster response, we need to not be letting fires burn for a couple of days before they're responded to, especially if they're within a certain area and closer to a community.

“We need to implement and make sure that the provincial government is using all resources available, including contractors, regardless of union issues or red tape, they need to have these contractors and people that are readily available on the ground fast. They’ve got to streamline the process of getting contractors on the ground quickly. The red tape that I've listened to and heard about from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and the provincial government MLA’s is so unnecessary, and I think that we need a task force force that's dedicated to getting these things streamlined and quickly implemented.”

If elected, what would your first priority be for the riding?

Delwo: “Obviously, like I said, housing is important. And keeping people working is the next one. I mean, they go hand in hand. If you can't keep people working, they can't afford to pay for their housing. And we have to make sure that our housing costs are reflecting what people are being paid.

“When somebody comes to me and says, ‘I can't find anything to rent that's under $2,500 and I'm a single mom,’ that's unfair. That's unfortunate, and it's unfair. So there should be some caps on how much landlords can charge. There should be incentives and programs that mothers and single parents and low income families can access where they can have a better subsidized rate. Make it easy, make it quick. I know people right now who are trying to find places to live and they're so unsuccessful because one, there's not enough, and two, it's so expensive. So again, if we're creating good paying jobs as well, then the strain of affording housing might be a little less on the person.”