Marnie’s platform
Putting compassion, affordability, and community care at the centre of City decisions.
Priorities
As a community health advocate living and working in Nanaimo, Marnie’s campaign focuses on accessible healthcare, community safety, affordable housing, responsible taxes and building a sustainable community.
While there are many issues at play, below are the five core pieces of Marnie’s platform message.
Accessible Healthcare
Marnie is committed to increasing and improving access to healthcare services for all Nanaimo residents — so that no one falls through the cracks. When people can’t get the care they need, it can lead to bigger issues with housing, mental health, social services and even community safety. Marnie proposes connecting more Nanaimo residents to primary care providers by using creative solutions to bring new medical professionals to our community and improve access to the healthcare people need, close to home.
Marnie is ready to bring her frontline experience and expertise to the conversation. She proposes that Nanaimo explore the Colwood Municipal Clinic model and how that could be adapted to suit Nanaimo’s needs, as over 20,000 residents still do not have access to a primary care provider. While healthcare is primarily a provincial responsibility, that does not mean municipalities are powerless to act. The strongest next step would be to clearly outline what Nanaimo City Council can legally and practically do to support primary care, using the Colwood Municipal Clinic model as a comparison and this would allow us to have a more productive conversation about what the City can actually do and avoid simply dismissing the issue by saying, “healthcare is a provincial responsibility.”
Affordable Housing & Shelter
Marnie is passionate about expanding shelter options and affordable housing so that every person in our community has a safe place to call home. She feels that we need more shelters, day spaces and places where people can connect meaningfully with resources and support. Nanaimo’s current challenges don’t exist in isolation and when people have nowhere to go and no way to access the help they need, it impacts the entire community.
Currently, Nanaimo has fewer than 100 shelter beds available, while between 800 to 1000 community members are living outside or in precarious housing situations. During the day, the only regularly available places for people to access include our local libraries or city lobbies. There are funding pathways available to address these issues. Current leadership is directing resources and opportunities toward inappropriate avenues rather than the community’s actual needs. This is also affecting many seniors who are currently living within our shelter system or precariously housed. They have worked their entire lives and now cannot afford rent, in large part due to factors outside of their control.
Sustainable Growth
Marnie supports responsible growth that is matched by the infrastructure and services our community needs. Growth should not outpace our ability to provide water, sewer, transportation, parks, and emergency services. Major capital projects also need to be evaluated based on their full lifecycle costs, including the long-term operating and maintenance costs they create.
Marnie will work to create more housing while also building a community that is environmentally responsible, protecting our water sources and green spaces.
We can support responsible development while still protecting the areas that make our community special. Marnie believes Nanaimo can grow while protecting our water and green spaces. The decisions we make today should also not leave future residents carrying the costs of infrastructure we failed to plan and budget for properly.
Safe Communities for All
Marnie aims to build a more inclusive, connected, and secure Nanaimo through arts, culture, and social services where every neighbourhood feels supported and heard. Key to this is supporting transportation, recreation and social services.
Marnie advocates for the revitalization of the Vancouver Island rail corridor to improve connectivity and economic opportunities. Marnie states: “As a nurse, I see how important reliable transportation is, especially for people who don’t drive and need to get to healthcare appointments or visit loved ones in the hospital. Bringing rail back would give people another safe and accessible way to travel while taking pressure off our busy roads. We need to look ahead and make sure rail, transit, trails, and roads all work together as our communities grow. Restoring the Island Rail Corridor would give people another way to travel while experiencing the beauty of Vancouver Island.“
Marnie will focus on rebuilding connection between people and creating more civic pride, so that we all feel like we’re all part of the same community and that we have a role in making it better.
Nanaimo has budgeted $48.6 million this year, making community safety the highest municipal expense. It is 21.4% of our annual operating budget, and this does not include the RCMP, which is second at 17.9% and $40.6 million. Yet despite that level of spending, we don’t think people in Nanaimo feel any safer. This should tell us that we need to take a serious look at whether we are investing these resources in the right areas and if we are getting the outcomes our residents deserve. Simply spending more is not necessarily the path forward.
Nanaimo needs a different, more effective approach to community safety. We can’t keep doing things the same way and expecting different results. If what the current leadership was doing was going to work, it would have worked by now.
Responsible Taxes
People across Nanaimo are feeling the pressure of rising costs and the growing challenge of making ends meet. As a homeowner in the South End of Nanaimo, Marnie understands these challenges firsthand. She believes City Council must keep affordability at the forefront of its decisions and ensure tax dollars are focused on the services and infrastructure that matter most to residents. Marnie is also excited to support film and creative industries in our community in light of the significant economic boost that they provide.
Marnie for Nanaimo City Council 