A former New Democrat MLA for Boundary-Similkameen is running again in this month’s provincial election.
Roly Russell served from 2020-24, then was defeated by Donegal Wilson of the BC Conservatives in 2024. He is a former regional district director for rural Grand Forks and Regional District of Kootenay Boundary chair.
In an interview, Russell said it was “a little bit of a difficult decision” whether to run again this time. He said he has enjoyed spending more time with his family over the past couple of years. He has also been doing some consulting work with a non-profit organization and trying to revitalize his farm, which he had been absent from while in provincial office.
But he said he is running again because he feels that there are problems in BC that need addressing.
“So it was kind of an obvious choice to throw my hat back in that ring,” he said. “I really love 20 per cent of the work that is fixing problems and the rest of it I will put up with in order to do that work.”
Russell said he sees “creativity and ingenuity” in how problems are being addressed with limited budgets, but he believes rural BC needs more help.
“People are struggling. The amount of red tape that we’re dealing with to cut a tree in BC means that we’re losing potential revenue and potential opportunities to invest in more services,” he said.
“So I look at things like forestry and think we could do a better job of maintaining the environmental standards that I certainly care a great deal about and yet make it a little easier to make sure people have jobs.”
Russell said he is also an advocate for bringing local voices into decisions made at the provincial and federal levels.
As a former politician at the local level, Russell said he would have preferred that the provincial and municipal election campaigns didn’t overlap, “but life doesn’t always wait for us to be ready.”
He said he doesn’t want the provincial election to distract from the local government races, which he views as more non-partisan. But he adds that it is an opportunity to clarify to the public what the respective levels of government are responsible for.
In hindsight, Russell said he thinks he did a job tackling things during his term like the massive flooding in Princeton in 2021. He is also proud of advocating for doctors and nurses. But he doesn’t think he did as good a job of talking about what he was doing.
“I feel like I could have done better at sharing with people all the things that I have advocated successfully for for our communities,” he said. “That’s part of my strategy in the next three weeks: to make sure I share as much of those things that I did accomplish for the riding.”
Russell, who is running again against incumbent Donegal Wilson, said the election on Oct. 24 promises to be “fascinating,” with voters facing a “stark contrast” in their options.
“I would ask that people look at what your candidates have done for their communities in their lives and judge them on that and how well they’re going to be able to advocate both inside and outside of their own parties to be able to get things done,” he said.
