Joan Phillip is probably best known as being the wife of Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, but she says she's been politically active since she was a teenager. She's carrying the NDP flag in the riding of Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola and made some time in her campaign schedule for an interview here at KelownaNow.
"It started when I was 16," recalls Phillip. "I was quite political back in the day." For the past 20 years, she has been land manager for the Penticton Indian Band. Topping her list of motivating issues are the environment and the plight of working people in Canada. "They deserve a strong voice in Ottawa," said Phillip.
She argues that the tax burden has been steadily shifting from corporations to individuals. "In 1949, individuals and corporations shared the tax burden," Phillip said. "50-50". "In 1985, the gap widened to 79-21," she added, clarifying that it's you and me that were paying the 79%. And since 1985 it's widened further. "Some of our elders are having to make decisions on whether to pay their rent or pay for their meds," she added.
On the environment, she prefers the NDP over the Green Party. "The New Democratic Party takes a more holistic approach," Phillip said.
She believes her lived experience, as an indigenous person sitting across the table from government representatives, would serve her well if elected. "Poverty doesn't just impact aboriginal people, it impacts all of us," Phillip told us. "We're in this together."
"We have an opportunity to put in a government that's going to work for the people as opposed to the top 1% of the population," she said.
Polls would show an NDP candidate has little chance of getting elected in a federal election in this part of the province, but Phillip believes people are getting tired of the Conservatives and the Liberals. "152 years of Liberals and Conservatives and the wealthy have gotten wealthier and the poor have gotten poorer," said Phillip.
Rich or poor, everyone has a vote. October 21st is voting day.
