Rob Morrison is seeking a third term in elected office as the Conservative candidate for Columbia-Kootenay-Southern Rockies as voters across the country will be heading to the polls at the end of April.
Morrison has represented the riding — formerly Kootenay-Columbia — since 2019 when he was first elected into office.
In terms of the issues, Morrison acknowledged the affordability challenges that Canadians locally and across the country are facing, whether it be housing — renting or purchasing — or rising costs at the grocery store, nodding to a Conservative Party campaign promise to lower the lowest income tax bracket from 15 per cent to 12.75 per cent.
Morrison said the country has "lost our way" over the last nine years, but recognized a resurgence in Canadian pride amid attacks on national sovereignty by U.S. president Donald Trump through rhetoric about becoming the 51st state.
"What's important is it has set off an alarm bell in that we could be a lot more self-reliant, but we aren't, so we need to start looking at different ways that we can manufacture and sell our products," Morrison said, suggesting the construction of pipelines to move Albertan oil across the country.
Expanding domestic manufacturing needs to be a key policy response to the threat of U.S. tariffs.
"We need to be proud of what we do," Morrison said. "We are great at manufacturing, we are great at mining. We have the smelter in Trail, which employs a lot of people. We have Elk Valley Resources, which employs a lot in mining."
He criticized the slow pace of permitting for natural resource development and extraction, whether for mining, forestry, or the energy sector.
"We could support so much more with Teck Cominco in Trail and also with Elk Valley Resources if we get the resources, if we get the permits out, we can produce a lot more, which means we're hiring more people in our communities, which means we'll be thriving," Morrison said.
Candidates running in the 2025 election include Morrison, Kallee Lins for the NDP, Steven Maffioli for the Green Party of Canada, Jim Wiedrick as an independent, Reggie Goldsbury for the Liberal Party and Laurie Baird for the People's Party of Canada.
In the last election cycle, Morrison won 43.2 per cent of the vote, with the closest runner up being Wayne Stetski of the NDP at 36.9 per cent. In total, 65,282 ballots were cast — a 68 per cent voter turnout.
