Thrifty Foods: At Thrifty Foods, we love to help nonprofits, charities, schools, and local organizations in our communities. Our Thrifty Foods Smile Card Bulk Program allows organizations who shop at Thrifty Foods to immediately save up to 6 percent on the purchase of Thrifty Foods Smile Cards in bulk. These savings allow you to keep more money in your organization's pockets. Ask for details at Thrifty Foods in Parksville, a proud sponsor of The Pulse podcast with Peter and Dave.

Rocking Rhonda & The Blues Band: Here comes Peter. Here comes Dave. Oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing spinning tails in the podcast cave. So much laughs and insights everywhere. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. Alright, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.

Dave Graham: No Christmas week leftovers here, folks. No, it's a brand spanking new episode of the Pulse Community Podcast. Welcome Mr. Peter McCully. 

Peter McCully: Thank you Dave “Polar bear dip” Graham. 

Dave Graham: You know, another month of Christmas leftovers would actually be okay by me, but maybe I'm alone on that one. On this episode, we'll be chatting with Stephanie Higginson, the MLA for the new riding of Ladysmith-Oceanside. 

Stephanie Higginson: Timely access to health care where you live, when you need it. It looks a little bit different depending on what part of the riding you're in. In Parksville, Qualicum Beach area, the concern is really focused on access to a family health care practitioner. In the South End, it's really more focused on access to timely addiction services, as well as the ongoing closure of the Urgent Care Centre there. Even on Lasqueti, health care was the number one issue that I heard about. 

Dave Graham: We'll also talk to an inspiring individual, Janel van Dongen, who is the chair of 100 Kids Who Care Oceanside. 

Janel van Dongen: We are entirely youth run. We have adult mentors and we receive support from the Parksville Qualicum Community Foundation. The kids run the meetings, they nominate the charities, they vote on the charities, and eventually they decide where their donation is going, which I think is really special. 

Peter McCully: Congratulations to Dave Halstead of Qualicum Beach who won a $25 gift certificate from Thrifty Foods for guessing correctly where the tickle trunk was. In case you missed it, the Tickle Trunk was sitting next to the new art installation created by Jesse Recalma, which was in the roundabout in Qualicum Beach. 

Dave Graham: And we'll have another clue for you here as to where the Tickle Trunk will be next. Send us your correct guess, and we'll put your name in the draw for a $25 gift certificate thanks to Thrifty Foods.

Peter McCully: The clue is, where in Parksville Qualicum Beach can you have your picture taken with Bigfoot? Dave, lots of folks start the new year with a polar bear dip, and that's, that's not an ice cream treat of any kind. 

Dave Graham: No, right. Of course not. Actually, the last and the only time I ever plunged into water during winter, I was fully clothed at the time, and it was something of an impulsive step off too far off a dock into a raging river. It was positively raging. Actually, it was during a party. There may have been adult beverages involved. It was a long time ago, but at least now I can check off jumping into frigid water from my bucket list.

Peter McCully: What’s your story, Peter? Well, I've participated in the polar bear dips on the West Coast. My first one on the West Coast was a polar bear dip in Maple Bay probably 25 years ago. I probably did 10 or so on Salt Spring Island, the water not as cold as growing up on the shores of Halifax Harbor, where I never, I never would have gone for the polar bear dip, but on the West Coast, things are a little warmer. Any New Year's resolutions, Dave? 

Dave Graham: Well, it sounds like you're suggesting there's room for improvement. For 2025, I'd like to lose a little weight like so many of us do, although I realize the experts say you have to be really specific with your goals, so I need to work on that to begin with. I'd also like to look more intelligent, so I've got some new glasses and I think maybe an ascot or some other smart accessory might help fill out that image.

Peter McCully: My New Year's resolution is to get Ryan Reynolds to follow me on social media and I'm not sure if that means I have to try and squeeze into a Deadpool outfit or something.

Dave Graham: But It's okay if you don't, trying not to picture you squeezing into a Deadpool outfit. But yeah, it's like being told, don't think of elephants, what do you think of? Anyway, no offense there, Peter. You know how you get Ryan Reynolds to follow you, you just say something bad about Blake Lively if you can find something, I doubt it. 

Peter McCully: Who wants to get in trouble with Deadpool? 

Dave Graham: Precisely. 

Peter McCully: The Pulse Community Podcast is brought to you in part by M& M Mattress and Furniture Gallery. All mattresses at M& M Mattresses are made in BC. The latex comes from rubberwood trees in Sri Lanka. Take the 60 second rest test at parksvillematress. com, visit the showroom at 291 East Island Highway in Parksville. 

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX, Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996. Marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally, as well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both RE/MAX International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals at IanLindsay. ca. 

Peter McCully: If you're interested in joining our growing family of sponsors for the Pulse Community Podcast and Skookum Kids Stories Podcasts, please let us know. Easiest way is to email peter at thepulsecommunity. ca. 

Dave Graham: Enough about us. Let's get to our first guest. Marilyn, who is in the green room? 

Marilyn: Janel van Dongen is waiting in the green room. Janel is here to talk about 100 Kids for Change. It's an organization for youth, ages 18 and under, spreading positive change in the community through youth philanthropy. 

Peter McCully: Janel, thanks so much for joining us today. 

Janel van Dongen: Oh, thank you so much for having me, Peter.

Peter McCully: Your local group, the 100 Kids for Change, was founded about a year ago. Can you tell us a little bit about how that got started? What was the inspiration to form the group? 

Janel van Dongen: So the inspiration for 100 Kids is 100 Women Who Care Oceanside and 100 Fine Gentlemen of Oceanside Who Give a Damn. Those are two local 100 people organizations. And so we saw the work that they were doing and we thought, wow, this is really neat. Wouldn't it be awesome if we could do that, but for kids. So that's how 100 Kids was inspired. We follow the 100 people format. I describe it to people simply as we're a group of kids who meet four times a year and we each bring a $10 bill and then we pull the money and nominate and vote on a local charity that we want to give our collective donation to. Yeah, it's really cool. We are in the Oceanside area. So that's from the Nanoose Bay to Deep Bay. That's where our membership is from. And we are entirely youth run. We have adult mentors and we receive support from the Parcel Qualcomm Community Foundation for our bank accounts and for our website. Those two things are a little bit tricky when you're just doing it youth run. So we really appreciate their support. They're our biggest supporter. But the entire organization is youth run. The kids run the meetings, they nominate the charities, they vote on the charities, and eventually they decide where their donation is going, which I think is really special. 

Peter McCully: I'll just add at this point that banking and websites are not that much fun for adults either.

Janel van Dongen: Banking comes with logistical problems and then a website. I'd rather leave that up to the pros so their marketing team is really great. 

Peter McCully: What's the process for charities to qualify to be in the running to receive your donations? 

Janel van Dongen: There's two main criteria. The first is that the organization is registered with the CRA as a charity or the Canadian Revenue Agency. And the second requirement is that they have a presence in the Oceanside area. So we would love for our donations to be to go back into the community and keep supporting the community and growing badge. It's giving back to where we come from. So the kids nominate the charities, they get to decide, they put their name in the basket and that's the process for that.

Peter McCully: Did the charities have to make a presentation of some sort? 

Janel van Dongen: The kids actually make the presentation. We have the charities go into a basket. We actually have paper slips and we write them down. We put them into the basket and then we'll have an adult mentor. We'll draw three charities from the basket and then whoever's name is on the ballot and says, Oh, they nominated this charity, then they will come up in the order that they're selected and they will deliver a short presentation about the charity and why. They think of when her kids should support the charity with their donation. And it is the coolest experience watching these 10 and 11 and 12 year old kids. We've even had our youngest member is five and she also delivered a digital presentation, which is our first. It was very special. It's amazing to watch the kids go up and just share about something they're so passionate about. And you can just see the smiles in the room, just watching these kids. It's super, super cool. 

Peter McCully: I'm feeling suddenly very inspired and very old. 

Janel van Dongen: There's no way to describe it. You have to come and just see it in action because you just get chills watching it. It's really neat. 

Peter McCully: What's the reaction from some of the recipients of these funds?

Janel van Dongen: Initially, they are super excited to hear that they gave the money, but what's actually more impactful is when they come back. The winning charity from the previous meeting gets invited to the next meeting, and there's about three months in between each meeting. We invite them to come and share about how our donation made an impact for them as an organization. And that's where you can see them really light up. Because they get to come to the meeting, so they get to see what the kids are doing, they get to watch the whole process and then they get to share about how the kids donation, how their money made a difference for the organization. We've had the Purcell Museum come back to our meeting and share about how our donation helped them put on their trick or treat at the museum event, which I hear was very successful. I think Rachel had to go and buy more candy because they started running out. That was really neat to hear how, okay, our donation actually made an impact, it actually made this event possible, and that's when you can really see their gratitude for the donation, but we also feel so excited because it's like, it's making a difference in the community.

Peter McCully: You mentioned this is an under 18 group and that one of your members was five. I'm guessing there's no minimum age. 

Janel van Dongen: There is no minimum age. So that is our youngest member. Claire is amazing and she's very enthusiastic. So our youngest member is five. Our oldest member is 17. You can come up till your 19th birthday. So it's 18 years and younger and we'd leave it up to the parents to decide how old their kids should be before they join. Okay. We really just leave it open and it's so neat when you come to one of our meetings you will see a 17 year old talking with a 10 year old and a 7 year old and there's all these different ages and all these different schools, all different areas of our community and so all of these kids that might not run into each other on a normal basis are coming together because they are inspired to give.

Peter McCully: How many members do you have at this point Janelle? 

Janel van Dongen: We have 31 members. 

Peter McCully: And you're looking to go to a hundred, obviously. 

Janel van Dongen: We are looking to go to a hundred. We won't stop at a hundred. We will take more. So the women are a great example of a hundred women who care. They have near 350 members. It's very impressive. We are aiming for a hundred, but we won't stop. Our goal for the next year, 2025, I think we are looking to at least double our membership. If we can get to 60 members, that would be epic. 

Peter McCully: How do kids who are interested in joining get more information on how to do that? 

Janel van Dongen: Our website is 100kidsoceanside. ca. All the information that you really need is on there. We have a registration form there. We have lots of answers to frequently asked questions. You can also find our Facebook page. It's at 100 Kids Oceanside, and we're always posting on there, keeping it updated with the latest things that we're doing. Our registration form is also frequently posted there. And then if you have any questions, you can reach out to us on Facebook, or you can email us at 100kidsoceanside@gmail. com. It's very easy to remember all of this, and we would be happy to answer any of your questions. 

Peter McCully: We'll have some of that in the story notes as well. 

Janel van Dongen: That's great. 

Peter McCully: Is there information on the website for those who might be interested in being nominated as a charity?

Janel van Dongen: So to be nominated as a charity, you have to talk to one of our members. Our nomination form is on there, but it is just for our members to use. So we don't really have a formal program for charities to reach out to a member and say, hi, we'd like to be nominated, but we've had lots of great charities nominated this year. Our first charity was the North Island Wildlife Recovery Center. We've also had SOS, which I believe is a sponsor of this show. 

Peter McCully: Yes, they have been a sponsor, and we're very happy to have them aboard. 

Janel van Dongen: Yes, and then like I mentioned, the Parksville Museum, that was our August donation. And then our most recent donation was to the BCSPCA. And this most recent donation was very special because in August, we received the news that Rotary Club of Parksville has stepped up to be Rotary Kids first matching sponsor, which is really amazing. So whatever we raise at the leading, they will match it. For this most recent donation in November, we got a surprise phone call from the Parskville Fire Rescue, they said, Hi, we would like to donate 300 to the charity, which you choose at your meeting tonight. So we ended up giving away $835.50 to the BCSPCA, which is more than all three of our previous donations combined. It was a really special thing. So if you include all of the matching that we've received this year and part so far rest use to donation, we've donated 1, $714.50 back to the Oceanside community. It's a really special number, but what I love most about 100 Kids isn't the money, isn't the donations that we give or how many members we have. It is watching the growth in our members throughout the year. That has just been incredible to see members making new friends and practicing public speaking skills and learning how to vote and learning about charities in the Oceanside area that are doing amazing work.  It's really creating a community of youths who are passionate about giving back. That is the best part. 

Peter McCully: Before we go, I wanted to talk to you about you winning the top prize for the Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture Award in Toronto because we're sitting here chatting away and you're very well spoken for a young person. And that's quite an accomplishment. You were only 16 at the time you won this award. I understand you were invited to speak at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, AGM. 

Janel van Dongen: I can sum it up with one word. It was amazing. It was absolutely amazing. I spoke to a crowd of around 200 people from the agriculture industry across Canada. It was my biggest crowd yet, and it was such a special experience. That was my first time going to Ottawa. Of course, you have to tour the Parliament building, so I got to go see the Parliament buildings as well as go and speak. It's definitely one of my highlights of 2024. 

Peter McCully: Along with 100 Kids for Change, what keeps you busy these days?

Janel van Dongen: Finishing up grade 12 for sure. I'm finishing up my schoolwork. And then I'm also a volunteer with Rotary, where their bottle drop and they are the greatest group of local folks who just want to make a difference in their community and they're so fun. If you're looking for something to do, they're always looking for volunteers, but that keeps me busy on lots of Saturdays. And then I'm planning to do some traveling and to start applying for universities in the spring. 

Peter McCully: Janel van Dongen of Nanoose and 100 Kids for Change. 

Dave Graham: Such an impressive story, all the more so in that there's a five year old in that group. And, you know, we are all about stories here at the Pulse Community Podcast. I just want to express my appreciation for that kind of story, one that is so inspiring and reminds us that as individuals and as groups, we maybe have more power than we might think. 

Peter McCully: Dave, technology allows our listeners to tell us what they think on our Speak to us online link. You can use your phone or your computer and speak to us in your own words, in your own voice, and you can also text us. So if you have a comment on an interview, you have a suggestion for a guest or would like to reply to a question we might have, just click the link. 

Peter McCully: Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, Dave, what did Santa leave under your tree? 

Dave Graham: Ho, ho, new pair of glasses and an ascot. Uh, no, actually, I'm, I'm enjoying the great gift of good health and nice nails. People tell me I have nice nails all the time. They tell me, no, I'm happy to have a place called home and easy access for food and no war and I could go on and on. How about you? 

Peter McCully: Well, I'm not sure if you're a fan of cooking shows, but Santa Claus left me a Jet Tila cookbook. Now if he'd just left me a bigger apron.

Dave Graham: I had to look it up. I have to admit, Chef Jet, as his website says, looks impressive. So, sounds like you know your way around the kitchen there, Peter. Do you have any signature dishes? 

Peter McCully: Well, for special occasions the last number of years. I always make my wife Lobster Thermidor, but with grocery prices, it's always nice to go to some of the markets and get some fresh seafood and make a seafood chowder with just whatever they happen to have.

Dave Graham: Mmm, that sounds wonderful, and I have to admit, I'm impressed. Let's check in with Marilyn to see who's next in the Green Room. 

Marilyn: In the green room, guys, is Stephanie Higginson, the MLA for the new riding of Ladysmith-Oceanside. Stephanie is a former secondary school teacher. She and her husband live on a small farm in Cedar with their two sons.

Peter McCully: Stephanie, thanks for being with us today. 

Stephanie Higginson: Thanks for having me and thanks for your patience in working with my calendar. 

Peter McCully: I'm sure yours is a lot busier than mine. I wanted you to start out the conversation by telling us about your life prior to becoming the MLA for Ladysmith-Oceanside. Where did you grow up?

Stephanie Higginson: I was born actually on the North Shore in Lionsgate Hospital and lived in West Vancouver back in the day when West Vancouver was where you lived because it was where you could afford to buy a house. It was a different community than it is now, although it's still lovely, and the elementary school I went to is still standing and still exactly the same. Born in North Van, lived in West Van, and then when I was 13, moved to Toronto. Spent my high school years just outside Toronto in one of the suburbs, loved the city of Toronto, and did my university at the University of Guelph, go Griffins, and then eventually went on to do a Bachelor of Education at the University of Toronto. So I've been all over the place and then came back to the coast to do my Masters with the effort and the hope to make my teaching better. Where I met my now husband on my time back on the West Coast. My intention was to go back to Toronto with the information I learned doing my Masters. But my husband is a West Coaster through and through. We can hardly even vacation in Kelowna because it's too far from the ocean for him. I landed here and we've been here raising kids and our family ever since. 

Peter McCully: So you're on a small farm in Cedar? 

Stephanie Higginson: Yes, we're on a small farm, on the Nanaimo River, more of a hobby farm. We have chickens. We used to do lamb, but we have stepped away from that in the last few years because of the dry summers. It's become really difficult and the profit margin doesn't dictate for us to install an entire irrigation system. We also do maple syrup. We have a whole bunch of maple trees on a south facing slope that have nice wet feet and lots of sunshine. So we tap those trees in the winter, we have a wood fired evaporator, and we make maple syrup that we then also sell as part of our farm status.

Peter McCully: It sounds like you've forgotten about Toronto already. 

Stephanie Higginson: I feel like I have a little bit of everything in me. I do consider myself a West Coaster because I was born here. And whenever I was in Toronto and I would come back to the ocean, I would feel it in my veins. But I also love that city. I think Toronto is one of the best cities in the world. Although I haven't lived there in 15 or 20 years, I still love going back. I still love visiting it. And I think the hustle and bustle, that city is always going to be part of who I am as well. 

Peter McCully: It certainly is vibrant. There's no doubt about that. Stephanie, where and when were you first introduced to politics?

Stephanie Higginson: My great grandfather, my maternal grandmother's father, was an MP, a Liberal MP for Kenora. So I think politics has just been in my family, very typical sort of middle class folks who talked politics at the dinner table. My parents volunteered for various local candidates. In Ontario, it's an MPP, a Member of Provincial Parliament and MPs. So it's always been part of my family. conversation and the fabric of who we are, stay involved, help where you can and affect change where you can. I was student council president when I was in high school, which probably doesn't surprise folks. I think this stuff runs deep. It was always involved in student government all the way through. Eventually found myself as a school trustee. 

Peter McCully: I'm a firm believer in the premise that those in public office who rise through the various levels of government are probably the most effective people. You are, as you mentioned, a former secondary school teacher served a couple of terms as a school trustee. Was there a particular issue that compelled you to run as school trustee? 

Stephanie Higginson: There was. It wasn't on my vision board to be a school trustee. Just like it wasn't on my vision board to be an MLA, but life takes you where it takes you, right? I live in a small community, Cedar, as you mentioned at the beginning, and maybe 2012 ish, there was a proposal by the school board at the time to close every school in our community and bus. Students out of the community, the education person in me took a strong look at the proposal and tried to understand it. The engagement process, unfortunately, from the perspective of being a member of the public who is going to be impacted by this with kids in school and one in school and one about to start school. My kids were very small at the time, left me feeling disappointed in the desire to hear from the folks who were gonna be directly affected by this. As a result of that, I ran for school trustee and was successful and was nominated and elected vice chair of the board, and served in that position for probably five or six years of the eight years I was there, and really tried to work hard at making sure that we. deeply engaged with the public when we were making decisions about educational programming for their kids. It was a real desire for me to make sure that people didn't feel unheard. People may not agree with the decisions, but I wanted to make sure that people felt heard in the process. 

Peter McCully: You also served three years as president of the BC Schools Trustees Association, which included in those very challenging and scary years during COVID. Tell us about that time. 

Stephanie Higginson: Yeah, no one saw that one coming, did we? So I had been president for just under a year when COVID hit. Just before March break started, I got a call from the minister who said, Are you going away? I said, I think all those plans are cancelled now, if we were. I don't remember, everybody had to cancel travel plans, but he also knew that I had an off grid cabin that sometimes meant he couldn't reach me. And he said, I just, I might have to reach you. This was a Friday afternoon. He said, I don't know. We're still waiting to see. And on Sunday morning. I got a call that said, okay, we're going to have to make some changes and we're going to have to start responding. And that was the start. It was a really interesting time. It's hard to imagine this, but this was before zoom. We were making decisions for schools on conference calls with our cell phones on the floor, going through computer screens. We weren't looking at each other. There wasn't an excellent conference call system in place. What I really thought was important during that time was to make sure it goes back to what I just said, that everybody felt heard. We have a lot to be proud of for how we handled education during COVID in BC. We were the largest jurisdiction in North America to have uninterrupted learning. Our students went back in June of 2020. That really helped us lay the groundwork for a reopening in the fall of 2020, where a lot of schools hadn't gone back in June. So they didn't have anything to fall back on. In the center of all of our decisions and that large group of people that were working on this. We had students in the center. What is good for kids? For the most part, we managed to keep that as our North star and put all of our politics aside. And so there was a group of people at the table, a COVID working group, making those decisions. And then each of us would go out to our respective stakeholder groups. And so mine was the boards of education. I was really proud of the way education kept students at the center, and I think that's why we were so successful. 

Peter McCully: Fast forward to the fall of 2024. What was your motivation to offer your candidacy in the provincial election?

Stephanie Higginson: That started, I would say with a call from former Minister of Transportation, Infrastructure and Education, Rob Fleming. Over our time of working together in education, Rob and I developed a friendship. He called me last February. I had stepped away. I didn't run again for school trustee in 2022. I'm a firm believer, or I was at the time, that two terms is the right amount of time. Part of that goes back to what made me run for school trustee, is that there had been many trustees who had been on the board for many terms. And I think you eventually get to a point where it's intentional or not, where you maybe think you know best. And I think it's really important to make room for new ideas, new voices, new energy, to have that energy to engage right and properly with the community. I stepped away, I did my two terms, and I didn't run again. I was quite happy in private life. One of the things I joked about was that I could listen to the radio and actually think about calling into a radio show and getting my opinion and it wouldn't matter.

It wouldn't have any implications other than it was just me telling people what I thought. I never took advantage of that. When Rob called and said, there's this new riding, Doug's not running again, and it's going to be a tough riding. It's a weird shape. It's going to be tough for any party. It's important for us to win. I think you can win it. And I said, no, thanks. I'm enjoying my private life now. Thank you. That time in COVID that you talked about was very intense and a lot of public scrutiny. There was some safety issues that happened where people were showing up on my doorstep out of anger. And it was nice to have some privacy back. I also come from a family of problem solvers. I'm a very solutions oriented person. And there's some issues that we are facing right now as a society collectively. And when someone plants that seed in your head about the possibility of being able to solve some of these problems, you start to look at them a little differently.

So Rob, the eternal salesperson and politician, said, Just think about it for a week. Will you just think about it? And in that week, I started to look around and look at the issues. We were experiencing something with my own family at the time that I was watching my own parents struggle with rental prices. And the impact it was having on them. And I know that a 10 years generation younger than me, most of those folks are not able to afford to buy a home. And when I looked at the impact it was having on my parents, I thought, wow, we're going to have a whole generation of people who will be on fixed incomes. And we need to really tackle this and take it seriously. My own kids. wonder whether they'll ever be able to afford a home or if the planet will be here for them. And it just felt like I needed to show my kids that people are fighting for their future. The solutions oriented person in me really wanted to be part of solving these big problems.

And so I talked to my dad was in the hospital at the time I was visiting with him. It was about March when I was trying to decide and there was all sorts of reasons for me not to do this. And finally, my dad just said, Oh, Steffi, what's the matter with you? Just go for it. There may have been a few swear words in there because my dad was known to drop a few F bombs. The message from my dad was just go for it. Just see what happens. And so I sought the nomination and there was a nomination race and it was a great process to go through. It really prepares you for what an election might be like. It's a small version of it and was successful. From then on it was off to the races for the election.

Peter McCully: When you were in the midst of the election out door to door in the various communities between, say, Qualicum and Cedar, what concerns were people talking about? 

Stephanie Higginson: Really, I think the number one issue for sure from folks was healthcare. Timely access to health care where you live when you need it. It looks a little bit different depending on what part of the riding you're in. In Parksville Qualicum Beach area, the concern is really focused on access to a family health care practitioner. In the south end, it's really more focused on access to timely addiction services as well as the ongoing closure of the urgent care centre there. Really healthcare, no matter where I was, even on Luskete, healthcare was the number one issue that I heard about. And then it's definitely was housing access to affordable housing. And that looks a little bit differently as well. Making sure that families can afford to live. Young families can afford to buy homes and aren't forced to move away. I had one woman on the doorstep was lived just North of Qualicum beach proper.

She was renting a townhouse and. was in tears with me on the doorstep. She had bought her first home, but it was in Port Alberni. She said, this is the only place that I can afford to live and I don't want to leave here. But she was going to leave Qualicum Beach to go live in Port Alberni because that's where she could afford to live. Then there's also access to off market housing, affordable housing, and also supportive housing. Making sure that we have all of those supports in place. We need to put an end to our homelessness issue. There's a lot that goes into that, but I heard clearly from folks about their fears for themselves and for members of their community around the risk of ending up unhoused.

Peter McCully: And what is the message that you have for young people today about their ability to afford a home in the future? Thank you. 

Stephanie Higginson: Interestingly, my generation folks think we've, we're probably the last generation of people to afford homes, but of all of my close friends that I have, over half of them are living in multi generational and multi family situations, where there might be one piece of property with two houses, so it's siblings.

Maybe each bought, that's how they're sharing, or many of my friends are now living on the same property as their parents. To young people, I would say, I think it's still possible, and we are working very hard to make sure that people can purchase a home. But that people might need to start thinking about it in a bit of a different way, and that's partly where those density rules have come in, where you can now infill based on the local government's rules around infilling. That hasn't changed and they can ask for an exemption from the province if the local rules are a bit different for how much you can infill, but allowing multi generations on one piece of property, I think, is something that people need to start thinking about as the alternative to a different type of homeownership in the future, and also I think it has real benefits. Younger generations caring for older generations, older generations being involved with their grandkids has wonderful implications for both the seniors of that relationship and the kids of that relationship. I think it's a real opportunity for us. We just need to start thinking about homeownership a little bit differently.

Peter McCully: The Premier appointed his new cabinet after the election and you were named caucus chair. Tell us what that job entails. 

Stephanie Higginson: The job is really about supporting the work of the caucus, the government caucus. That means everybody who's elected as an NDP MLA is a member of the government caucus. We form government, so they're the government caucus. When we walk into that caucus room and have a meeting, everybody is on the same level. It doesn't matter if you're a minister, it doesn't matter if you're a private member or parliamentary secretary, we're all on the same level. And so my job is to manage caucus business, manage the caucus budget with our executive director. It's to make sure that we have good policies in place to support good governance. and also really to provide support to caucus members in order to make sure that they can do their job and be successful at being an MLA. I work closely with the premier and prioritize caucus business. So, you know, lots of folks will come to you with lots of things that they want to talk about. It'll be my job with the support of the deputy caucus chair to figure out what is important business for us to talk about, what needs to be moved out to the premier's office. working with the premier's office about what we needs to be moved down to caucus. I call myself the grease in the wheels and the filter, the filter in caucus business.

Peter McCully: Sounds like fun. 

Stephanie Higginson: So far, it's been interesting. I get to work with a lot of folks that you wouldn't normally get to work with. So I work very closely with the clerk in the role. I'm working very closely with the house leader and the whip. So it's a really collaborative position with the premier's chief of staff. It's interesting because I get to know everybody and I also get to know all the caucus members when they need something. They come to me, they ask for some support in either moving forward some information. Maybe it's a particular issue local in constituencies. But really it's about figuring out how to make sure that we as a caucus and as a government caucus stay focused on our four key priorities that we've laid out for British Columbians and that our business really helps us move forward and make sure we're all pulling in the same direction to accomplish those goals.

Peter McCully: Stephanie, prior to the election, the BC United had most of their seats in rural areas and the NDP for the most part was more of an urban party. Not much changed after the election in that regard because the BC conservatives. Picked up a lot of their seats in rural areas and the NDP again in urban areas.

So, what do you make of that urban rural divide and as a party, what does the NDP have to do to make inroads in more of those rural areas? 

Stephanie Higginson: If I had the answer to this, I think I'd probably be a, I don't know, a political strategist. It's a tricky question for sure, but you know, when you dig down, there's maybe five or eight writings that had a vote split on the left side. I think the divide isn't quite as pronounced as people like to make it out. In terms of the rural areas of BC being not considered to be progressive or more conservative, whatever the terms we want to apply, right versus left. I think it's not quite as divided as folks think when you dig into the data and the information. But overall, in terms of what we need to do to govern is when you form government, you govern for everybody and you govern for every part of the province. And so it's really important for us to make sure that we respond to what we're hearing. And I think what we're hearing very clearly is related to industry and resource extraction industry.

We need to make sure that we can reflect that BC is open for business, but also doing so in a sustainable way that allows the province to manage our unique geography in a way that allows it to still be here for future generations. This all means we have to do things a little bit differently and everybody has to come along to do things a little bit differently. And so I think what we need to do is really listen and find a way to weave those concerns through the fabric of what makes us an NDP party is that we govern for everybody. People are at the center of our party, of our decisions. And so making sure that everybody feels heard. and reflected in how we do business, I think is going to be key to breaking into some of those areas in the province that we have not traditionally been able to break into.

Peter McCully: We all know that politics is a contact sport. It's not for the faint of heart. Especially since the rise of social media, what can be done to attract more quality candidates into political life in your opinion? 

Stephanie Higginson: I will say that amongst my group of colleagues, we have really high quality folks and I'm so impressed with their intellect, their dedication, their focus. I think we are attracting good people. I think we need to actually stop governing by social media. If we can find a way to take governance off of social media. And not react and make sure that people feel that they are included and that their ideas and their experiences will be important and that we're not going to be governing by Twitter, as we just saw in the last month after Donald Trump tweeted. And it's sent us all into a tizzy, hundreds and thousands of hours spent on this. I think it's not effective and it doesn't lead to good policy. When you don't have a good foundation for creating good policy, then you don't make good policy. I think that what we can do is maybe return to the core values of what governance is, which is about creating sound policy that represents people across the province where they can see their needs reflected in what's being done. If we're constantly changing and reacting, then nobody feels connected because it's constantly moving. It's constantly changing. I don't have Twitter X, whatever we call it. And I got through an election without it. And my hope is to continue to govern without it. Cause I just don't think it leads to good decisions. And so my hope to attract good people is that we can actually as a society recognize. That this is not a good way for us to be making decisions and that we need to return to some of those core processes that were formed over years of practice and return to those to create good, strong policy that people feel proud of and connected to and people want to participate in.

Peter McCully: Most politicos I've run across, Stephanie, and had the chance to chat with, read everything they can on the subject of politics one way or the other. Do you have any favorites? 

Stephanie Higginson: You know what? I'm actually a reader of fiction. I do like historical fiction, maybe a fictional story that's based on a real event. I love reading crime novels. Ian Rankin is one of my favorites because I just like a break. You spend all your time, but I will say one of my favorite political books that I read and read. I've read it, I don't know, six times cover to cover is Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela's autobiography. Sometimes I just pick it up and read a chapter. He exemplifies to me what good leadership is. He was patient. He was focused on his goal. He was committed and I think his story is incredibly inspiring. If anybody ever feels like BC politics is a contact sport, then you just need to read Long walk to freedom and then you feel better and look at his level of commitment to his political goals and the sacrifice that he made for it and his patience and his resilience to stay focused on what he was trying to achieve and how important it was. That is something that I have on my bedside table or sitting on my bookshelf in a place that's easy to reach. Whenever I need a little bit of inspiration, 

Peter McCully I was going to ask you if you had a hobby and then earlier in the conversation, you noted that you had an off grid place to go away to like a cabin. So does this mean that? MLA Higginson is going to be starring in her own reality series at some point?

Stephanie Higginson: You know what, when we were building it, we probably could have done something like that because it was the best process to build. We actually used a tree crane. We got an old ship buckle that used to hold a mast. We put it around a tree, we got another tree, and that's what we used to crane in beams. Everything was milled on site. But now it's just a really beautiful spot to go and put our feet up. And Do what you love to do. We have a big stove there. I love to cook. So we've got a big six burner gas range there. We have our solar powered battery system that allows me to bring over an electric mixer or a blender when I want to spend a bunch of time baking. It is a great spot to be. But time is precious and I'm a mom of two teenagers and I would say if I had a hobby, it would be being a sports mom right now. My older son is a basketball player and my younger son is a lacrosse player and I love being a sports mom. I manage a high performance travel team for my son's lacrosse. Whatever is needed and necessary for my older son's basketball, I'm there to support. My hope and my goal is that I get to continue watching their games as much as possible with this role. It gets a little tricky with a lot of the sort of nighttime and weekend responsibilities. I'm trying to hold fast to being able to get to at least half as many of their events as I did before I got elected so that it fills my bucket. I have to be able to feel rejuvenated as well. So right now my hobbies are to be a sports mom. I'll look forward to returning to my life of baking and cooking. It's not too long. My oldest is in grade 12 and my youngest is in grade 8. They're only with me for another few years. So I'll have lots of time to cook and bake when they're gone. 

Peter McCully: Oh, you don't know the thing about kids that come back? 

Stephanie Higginson: My oldest has just informed us that he wants to go to University of VIU. So apparently he's never leaving. 

Peter McCully: You did talk about multi generational families. 

Stephanie Higginson: Yes, yes. 

Peter McCully: I guess you'll be busy looking for two offices to open? 

Stephanie Higginson: That's the goal right now. Legislative services out of Victoria actually have a leasing support. They're supposed to be looking for office space. My hope is that happens soon. Ladysmith is a really tricky place to get office space. Unfortunately, the lease from the previous MLA's office there was cancelled. I'm, got every finger and toe crossed that something will come up in Ladysmith. Luckily, in Parksville and Qualicum Beach, there's a little bit more space. My desire is to actually have the office in Parksville. It's more central to the area, allows for more transportation options for folks. Generally, if people are coming from Lasqueti, they're going south. Occasionally, they are going north, but what I heard from folks is that they would prefer that the office be a little bit more centrally located for accessibility purposes. Hopefully, we'll have something in the next few months up and running in Parksville. Once we find a space that meets all the requirements, it has to have two entrances and exits. For security reasons, it has to be fully accessible. There'll be a requirement to do some renovations on it, but my hope is that we get this office open as soon as we can.

Peter McCully: Thanks for your time today, Stephanie. Really appreciated it. 

Stephanie Higginson: Thank you so much. I really enjoyed the chat, Peter. 

Peter McCully: Stephanie Higginson is MLA for Ladysmith-Oceanside. 

Dave Graham: She and a couple of colleagues were in the news recently talking about bringing more film and TV production to the island with some changes in tax credits, which means there's still a chance I'll be discovered.

Peter McCully: Well, maybe you'll be discovered for Vince Dietrich's TV show when he finally gets that together. 

Dave Graham: It all depends on knowing the right people. 

Peter McCully: No one admits to knowing me anymore. I'm not sure what's happened, but anyway. 

Dave Graham: We'll be back after this word for Ian Lindsay. 

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX, Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996. Marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, and more. Recreational, investment and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally. As well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both RE/MAX International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals at Ianlindsay. ca. 

Peter McCully: Skookum Kid Stories podcasts are delightful, original stories about a boy named Peter. Imagine that and his pet Eskimo dog, Gracie.They're always finding adventure. 

Dave Graham: There's Captain Dave and his friend Larry the Lobster. Follow the fun as Dave and Larry navigate the Mellow Submarine from one interesting encounter to the next. 

Peter McCully: You'll find those Pulse Community podcasts and Skookum Kids stories on the PulseCommunity. ca website, SkookumKids.com, PulseCommunity. ca, as well as Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Amazon, and YouTube. 

Dave Graham: Coming soon, be watching for Peter and I to be out on the loose. Yes, in public, to ask your opinions, which we'll be featuring in upcoming podcast segments. That means they're actually letting us out in public, for real this time. 

Peter McCully: I guess that means I should wear my ball cap the right way around, not locked down and maybe have a shave too.

Dave Graham: That's a look you got going there. Although they do advise with shorts, no dark socks, so you might want to work on that. 

Peter McCully: Dave, let's head down to the cafeteria now and see what Mabel has on the specials board today. I'm guessing whatever it is has leftover turkey or ham in it. 

Dave Graham: You know, what I'd love is a great old peasant dish my mom used to serve with Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes leftover. It's called bubble and squeak. A wonderful leftover delight. Maybe it'll have some of that. 

Peter McCully: I don't really care as long as there's gravy with it. 

Rocking Rhonda & The Blues Band: Here come Peter. Here comes Dave. Oh, listen, bringing stories, making waves. No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave. Laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat. Join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.