Kyle Routledge is the Green party candidate in New Westminster-Burnaby. A native of Quesnel, he and his fiancée love the feel of New West and its proximity to the big city of Vancouver.
How long have you lived in New West?
I have lived in New West a little over three years.
I was born in Quesnel and raised there. I went to university in Kamloops, and I finished university in 2008. I spent the next year-and-a-half travelling the world and experiencing life outside an education setting. In 2010 I moved to Vancouver with my girlfriend at the time. We lived in Kitslilano for a little while, then we moved out to East Van. We said, you know what? We don’t really want to have a roommate anymore but we can’t afford to live just the two of us in Vancouver. We looked around and New West seemed like the place for us, a place we could afford. Both being from smaller towns – she’s now my fiancée, she’s from Kamloops – we really like the feel that New West has, without having to sacrifice living in proximity to Vancouver. We moved out to New West and rented for a couple of years. Our landlord went and sold the house we were in; that lit a fire under us and we purchased our first home, a condo, a year ago last week.
What is your occupation?
I am a wildlife biologist. I’ve been doing this for about four-and-a-half years now. I work for a company that does environmental assessments around the province. If they want to build a dam somewhere, if they want to build a mine somewhere, if they want to build any sort of development - when I say they I just mean people - the proper steps that have to be gone through is an environmental assessment. What I do is I go out, we spend years collecting data, then analyzing the data and then at the end of it we say, “If you choose to build this project in this location, here’s all the impact it will have on wildlife and vegetation.” We never have an opinions on whether a project should be built, we just report the facts. A third party reviews everything and they make a decision.
Why do you think you’re uniquely qualified to represent New Westminster-Burnaby?
I’m a young person, I’m under 30. I think that young people have the most to gain. Young people that are starting their careers and their families have the most to gain by getting engaged because we have the longest future ahead of us. I have supported other parties in the past but the Green party is the only one I feel really has a long-term view of where we need to go as a country, and they are the only party that is not ideology based but principle based. There are six core principles, and they align with my personal principles in life. That is why I chose to run and why I’m uniquely qualified. I don’t want to make myself sound any more special than anyone. I’m a guy who loves this country and cares deeply about the direction that we go in. I really think the Green vision is the one we need to adopt. That’s why I chose to run.
What would be your top priority if you were elected as MP for New Westminster-Burnaby?
My top priority as a local issue is I would be a champion for the opposition of the proposed export of the U.S. thermal coal at Fraser Surrey Docks. I can’t speak on behalf of the Conservative candidate, but I know the other candidates on a personal level oppose this. Nobody who lives in New West is in favour of this project. What the other candidates have been falling back on is, we need to do a more robust and vigorous environmental assessment. I do environmental assessments for a living; that’s not the answer to this specific question. You’ll also have someone say, it’s not the federal government’s jurisdiction, it’s Port Metro Vancouver that’s going to make the decision. Again, I don’t agree with that. The Green party’s position, and mine personally as well, is that thermal coal is the largest contributor of greenhouse gases out of all the fossil fuels, on principle, we need to ban the export of it in this country. The reason that they are exporting U.S. thermal coal through British Columbia is because they can’t export it in the States because there are laws against it. They have better environmental laws down there then we do, and I’d like to see us implement the same laws and say, no, we don’t support it, you can’t ship it out of our ports, sorry.
What accomplishment in your life are you proudest of?
I’ve had a lot of accomplishments in my life. I’m proud that I can be a voice for the Green party and can help to get as many people aware of the things that are as important to me as I can. I’m proud of the work that I do. Resource extraction and development is going to happen one way or another. I love that with my job I know at the end of the day I have done everything I can to ensure it is done as responsibly and the highest environmental standards are adhered to as can be. As long as we are doing things in a responsible and sustainable way, then I have no problem with resource extraction. I take a lot of pride in that.
