Kate Poirier
Electoral Area A
Website: KatePoirier.com
Facebook: facebook.com/KateforAreaA
Are you associated with or running as part of a slate? If so, which one?
N/A
Do you live in the municipality where you are running, and if so, for how long? If not, what is your connection to that community?
Yes, 8+ years.
What is your occupation, and for how long?
Executive Director, Cedar Farmers Market Agricultural Society, 4 years
Tell us about your previous elected and/or community experience.
I am a community advocate. Though I am passionate about supporting my community, most of my advocacy is borne out of necessity and frustration.
I advocate to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to improve road safety; I use my workplace to organize food, toy, and clothing drives for low-income families and individuals; I organize neighbourhood cleanup events; I helped to create a central Block Watch organization to combat a crime wave; I organized a meeting with a large neighbouring development company to respond to resident’s concerns; I‘ve used my tech skills to help the Save Cable Bay group with their website needs; and I am a member of two Regional District of Nanaimo committees (Agriculture, Area A Parks and Recreation.)
Why are you running? What’s your motivation?
My goal is to directly support our community as Area Director for Cedar, South Wellington, Yellowpoint, and Cassidy. As a member of the local government, I will bring transparency and urgency to dealing with the issues that our residents are most concerned with. I’m a parent with a demanding job. I find time for all of these other projects because I’m passionate about my community. If there’s a problem and no one is taking ownership to fix it, then I will. I’m hands-on and I’ve shown that I don’t mind doing the hard work necessary to move issues forward.
What are your top three issues?
1. Community outreach and communication
2. Food security & agriculture promotion
3. Sustainable development that protects our rural character
What’s your vision for your community in 25 years?
The children who grew up here are able to afford to live here. Our food is fresh from local farms and the community abattoir. We have dedicated grounds for a year-round farmers’ market that pumps millions of dollars into the local economy every year.
Development is sensitive to community needs. Residents living on agricultural land reserves have a simple and thorough understanding of land-use regulations.
The parks and trails offer spectacular serenity because, with support from all levels of government, the community comes together to protect public greenspaces and restore natural ecosystems.
Recreational, cultural, and creative programs are abundant. Farming and growing food is a highly valued occupation, while all residents have access to technology training at our local library, enabling a large portion of the community to enjoy healthy wages working remotely.
What’s one “big idea” you have for your community?
A long-term dream would be to build a communal ground that can host agricultural commerce such as a food hub, abattoir, and year-round farmers market. Conveniently, the provincial government is making huge investments in these areas, which is likely to continue. Our Area is perfectly placed at the crossroads of the major highways running from Victoria to North Island and with direct access to the mainland from the Duke Point ferry. Let’s take advantage of it.
We’re not going to solve a housing shortage on low-density rural land. But, we can contribute to solving major economic and health crises such as food security and the vulnerability of our agricultural sector by upgrading our farm technologies, creating efficient island supply chains, shortening commutes to meat and food processing, and simplifying farm succession planning.
