Unsure who to vote for? Want to know more about your local candidates? Black Press Media has asked candidates to provide a short biography as well as answer key questions to help readers understand more about who is running in their riding in the upcoming federal election.
Philip Mansfield - Green Party of Canada - Similkameen-South Okanagan-West Kootenay
Bio:
I’m a first-generation Canadian, married with three full-grown children. We've lived on a cherry farm in Penticton for nearly a decade. I have a long history of support for the Green Party and environmental causes.
I have a multidisciplinary academic background including a Ph.D. from Yale University. I have been a professor at University of Toronto and at Simon Fraser University. I have an entrepreneurial background. I founded a successful BC software company called SchemaSoft, which I sold to Apple. I’m an inventor and research scientist, with over 75 patents and publications. I helped create core artificial intelligence powering both Google and Apple products.
Throughout, I have endeavored to choose projects that help the environmental movement and advance the human condition. This includes innovative software to help urban planners model and curtail sources of carbon pollution, and world-leading medical AI to assist doctors and enable truly universal health care.
Questions:
1. The Similkameen South Okanagan West Kootenay riding contains over 111,000 people, with the single largest concentration in the city of Penticton at over 37,000, followed by Castlegar at over 8,000. The remaining population is spread across the rural and regional districts. If elected, how do you plan to represent both your rural and your urban constituents?
Green MPs are well-equipped to represent their local constituents, as they aren’t forced to conform to caucus-wide voting. This frees them to consider diverse views from constituents, and work across party lines to find creative solutions.
While our riding is large, major industries like agriculture, forestry and tourism are spread throughout the region. They’ve been severely impacted by fires, floods and extreme temperatures. The Green Party has a plan to mitigate this damage, protect your livelihood, and build a more resilient future.
Personally, I bring deep experience in leadership, teamwork and collaboration. I will listen to you and my parliamentary colleagues with respect, consider diverse ideas and viewpoints, and constructively collaborate to solve today’s difficult problems.
2. If elected, how would you advocate for Okanagan farmers who are being impacted by both sides of the trade war?
I recognize that farming is vital to this riding. The trade war is increasing costs for farm machinery and inputs, while shrinking markets. Furthermore, crops are compromised due to extreme temperatures, droughts and smoke damage.
To be more self-sufficient and resilient against trade wars, we need to diversify our agricultural products, buy local, and support small farming operations. To reduce our reliance on costly inputs such as pesticides, chemical fertilizers and fuel, we need to adopt modern, regenerative farming practices. To ensure more of the retail price goes to farmers, we need to support farm-to-table operations and farm co-ops rather than letting giant grocery chains dictate terms. I will work closely with farmers throughout the region to ensure their livelihood is protected.
3. Emergency room closures and long waits to get a family doctor are particularly notable for rural residents. How would you plan to attract and retain doctors in communities that are lacking them to ensure your constituents have the healthcare they need?
Millions of Canadians don’t have a family doctor. We have an aging population that is sorely in need of assistance.
I will work to
- Provide stable, long-term funding to provinces and territories
- Train and hire more health care workers
- Recruit with rural-focussed outreach programs and mentorship of traditionally underrepresented groups
- Support immigration of skilled medical professionals and formally recognize their credentials
- Expand home care, community care and mobile health clinics for remote areas
- Ensure access to reproductive care across Canada
- Make mental health care available where it is needed: communities, schools & prisons
- Implement universal pharmacare, and dental care for more Canadians who can’t afford it
- Keep healthcare universal, and out of the hands of for-profit corporations.
4. What do you feel is the most important issue in your riding, and how would you address it?
Healthy people and healthy communities rely on a healthy environment. In this riding, extreme temperatures, wildfires, droughts and floods have devastated crops, forests, homes and parks. If elected, I will dedicate myself to mitigating the damage, protecting your livelihood, and building a more resilient future.
Investments in innovative technologies create opportunities to build new, environmentally responsible, local businesses. Our region is rich in solar, wind and water energy. We have an opportunity to become leaders in renewable energy. We are rich in raw resources such as timber. We need to end “rip and ship” practices, and process resources domestically to become more self-sufficient. We are rich in agricultural land. We need to adopt more sustainable farming practices, and build in resilience to climate change.
5. If elected and your party doesn’t form the government, how will you best represent your riding?
We need to work together and across party lines to achieve the ambitious goals I have set. I will listen to you and my colleagues in parliament with respect, consider diverse ideas and viewpoints, and constructively collaborate to solve today’s difficult problems. Greens have a strong track record of doing just that!
