2021-09-16

On the election homestretch — Olivia Dorey

The candidates in the September 20 federal election are now on the homestretch. LighthouseNOW talked to the four who are vying for the riding of South Shore-St. Margaret's. As the campaigning nears an end, we wanted to know what they saw as the main issues facing the riding, possible solutions, and what they personally bring to the table. We're reporting their perspectives in alphabetical order, by party name.

Here's what the NDPs' Olivia Dorey told us:

For Olivia Dorey, who lives in Mahone Bay, there are "two big categories of problems" she's hearing at the doorstep.

"The first one, and, I've got to tell you, this is 80 per cent of what I hear, is healthcare and housing are in crisis."

Dorey told LighthouseNOW the programs offered by the current government "are still so far out of reach" that the idea of being able to afford prescription medication, rent, or to even "start dreaming of putting a down payment on a home," as well as the essentials of daily life are getting farther and farther away for normal people every day.

"And they know it. Housing and healthcare are national crises, but the folks in my riding are definitely feeling the pinch here at home."

"The second batch of things that I'm hearing about at the door are very regional-specific....conversations about our forestry and fisheries." However, it's the fisheries that Dorey spoke most passionately about to LighthouseNOW, noting that her grandfather was an Acadien lobster fisherman and she understands "intimately" the concerns of the South Shore's small coastal communities.

"These are folks who have inherited a way of life, sometimes for generations from their families. And, between the climate crisis and the climate here or at home, between the different actors in the fisheries, it's not making for safe and healthy seasons for anybody involved," she said alluding to recent tensions between Indigenous and commercial fishers.

According to Dorey, "folks are very angry" with her competitor, the incumbent Liberal MP for South Shore St. Margaret's, Bernadette Jordan, who is the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, and that both Indigenous and commercial fishers are lamenting how the tensions have been handled.

"If the Member of Parliament for the South Shore-St. Margaret's doesn't represent the interests of fishermen, well then fishermen are really out of luck, then nobody does. And if she doesn't want the job, I sure do," said Dorey.

Commercial fishermen are not so unlike the Mi'kmaw fishermen," Dorey opined. "They were told that this was going to be an industry, a career that would last them a lifetime. Folks are scared. The commercial fishermen come down to the wharf and their scared that soft shell lobster are being pulled. They're scared that lobsters with eggs in them are being pulled."

Dorey worries that the Liberal government "does not have the skill or the good will to achieve a peaceful resolution," having not put "the time or the work into developing respectful relationships with their Indigenous stakeholders."

Rather, she maintains the solution lies in understanding jurisdiction.

"The truth is we already have several layers of jurisdiction in Canada. When we talk about nation-to-nation relationship, we're talking about the relationship between the Canadian government, and the heads of Indigenous communities. But we also have provincial leaders, we have municipal and territorial leaders. We have counties. There are all kinds of governance that exist and those rules don't cancel out. It just means that you have to know, you have to know what's appropriate where you are."

Dorey notes that she's worked on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for two years, landing a "prestigious internship" straight out of high school. She's worked as a page on the floor of the House of Commons and served the Speaker of the House of Commons for a year and a half as an assistant. "And, in between all of that, I've worked for not-for-profits across this country advocating for civic education and transparency in how are taxes get spent.

"I am young, but my neighbours do not need to choose between energy and experience in this election," said Dorey.