Editor’s note: Mid Island-Pacific Rim candidate Rob Clarke submitted his own profile to run with our election coverage.
My name is Rob Clarke.
I am a 46-year-old family man. I live and grew up in Port Alberni and have called it home for the majority of my life.
I have lived in Courtenay and Whiskey Creek while working on the Mid-Island Highway and completing my plant operator apprenticeship. I look forward to driving the highway I helped build to meet with my fellow constituents.
I have enjoyed the beaches between Ucluelet and Tofino since I was a kid with my parents and now with my own kids. I would love to work toward keeping them safe and clean for all to use.
Many of my friends and family work in the forest industry. I would like to see them better looked after by seeing that local work is done by local workers. The carbon tax needs to be repealed to keep our local companies viable and our raw logs need to stay in our region to be crafted into finished products.
I would like to see cannabis prohibition ended as history and this most recent attempt at it has shown us that prohibition never works, it just makes problems worse. Without prohibition hemp could be grown in our clearcuts or in land too swampy to grow trees. Creating jobs and pulp for paper or rope or hempcrete or particle board. The seeds of the hemp plant make an excellent food source and the cannabinoids they provide serve the body’s endocannibinoid system to strengthen immune systems and provide the right combination of fats, carbs, and protein to fuel our bodies. Any of these products could be exported and/or used for building homes for the homeless, perhaps, and jobs for them to do if they are able.
The medical uses are too great for me to list, but feel free to do some quick research and you will see the medical uses are undeniable. We have the manpower and knowhow already as this industry has been quietly holding this province up economically for the last 20-30 years while all the while government resources have been wasted trying to fight it.
Suffice it to say the government has no place in a person’s garden. Instead there should be a prohibition on enforcement of victimless crime to free up more time for our over-worked and under-appreciated police forces and prison system to arrest and lock up thieves, and dangerous or violent offenders only. The road to Bamfield is atrocious and should get assessed for possible upgrades to open more tourism options for the area. Please check out our platform at www.libertarian.bc.ca. If elected, I will be the champion for personal freedom and choice in Victoria for our region. Any questions feel free to text me at 250-735-4158.