Provincial Politics: A Coffee Interview With Elizabeth Rosenau

By David Murray on March 12, 2012

By David Murray: I had the pleasure of sitting down and doing an interview with Elizabeth Rosenau this morning. Elizabeth is the candidate for the NDP in the next provincial election which will take place May of 2013. This is what she had to say.

Elizabeth Rosenau

David Murray: Thanks very much for taking the time today to do this interview Elizabeth!
Elizabeth Rosenau: You are welcome David. I am happy we were able to get together to do this .
DM: Elizabeth where are you from originally?
ER: I am from Hamilton, Ontario.
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DM: Wow, you can’t get a more blue collar town than that!
ER: Yes, that is for sure. My father was a steelworker. We were in the heart of the heavy industrial sector.
I watched the boom and bust, I went thru many strikes.
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DM: How old were you when you left Hamilton?
ER: I left Hamilton at the tender age of 17. I went to the University of Toronto to get my degree in Pharmacy.
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DM: You came to B.C. when?
ER: Right after I graduated from UT ,I started taking courses at Simon Fraser. I also took courses in special needs.
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DM: How long have you lived in this area?
ER: I have lived here for the last 25 years. My three children went to Laityview school and then went on to attend Maple Ridge Secondary.
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DM: You have been involved in the Special Olympic program locally, is that correct?
ER: Yes, for the last seven years I have been the head coach of the swim team.
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DM: You have three children?
ER: That is correct, Carla is the youngest, Liam is 19 and Natalie is the oldest at 22.
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DM: I know you tried to get the Federal NDP nomination in this area. Why provincial politics now?
ER: Excellent question, After my attempt to get the Federal nomination , I was asked by a lot of people to consider running provincially. Dennis Striefel brought to my attention how much downloading was being done by the Federal government and how much an MLA can do to influence decision making processes, especially ones that I care dearly about.
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DM: The current Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge MLA Michael Sather has been a big supporter of you!
ER: Yes Michael has been an extremely hard working MLA and having his support is very humbling.
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DM: If your party forms government and if you are elected , what are some of the initiatives you would like to see moved forward in our riding?
ER: I would like to see the Evergreen Line brought out to Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge. I would also support having an additional train going both ways in the morning and the evening on the West Coast Express. As well as running a pilot project on Saturday’s to see how this would work out as well. We are already at 93% capacity with the West Coast Express and with the continued future growth and expansion of this region we are going to need more choices to facilitate these transit concerns.
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DM: Do you support tolling of our bridges?
ER: Absolutely not, I do not think the Port Mann or Golden Ears Bridge should be tolled, and I will fight long and hard to make sure the Pitt River Bridge does not get a toll as well.