Submitted

Russ Kinghorn has joined the race to become the Conservative Party candidate in the Kootenay-Columbia riding to replace the retiring Jim Abbott, MP.

Russ is an experienced businessman with a strong community focus who has lived in the riding since 1983. He is deeply rooted in the Kootenays. Based on his love of the best outdoor recreation in the world, he recognizes that access to the land base is key to its enjoyment.

Community involvement is a big part of Russ’s life. He is a member of the Cranbrook Rotary Club, Arches Committee, APEGBC East Kootenay Branch and Tetra Society. He has been an integral part of the Roses for Rotary campaign, Cranbrook Arches project and Popsicle Stick Bridge Building competitions for school kids around the Kootenays. With the Tetra Society, Russ also volunteered his time to design and build assistive devices for a young man with cerebral palsy.

Politically, Kinghorn served as president of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC in 2009-2010, a province-wide organization of 26,000 professionals. Being from the Kootenays, he effectively bridged the rural/urban divide given that fewer than 20 per cent of the members live outside Victoria and the lower mainland. He worked to successfully lobby Victoria for a change to its Act. In the Kootenay-Columbia, he served on the Conservative riding association board for several years but this is his first foray into seeking political office.

As an engineer and business consultant in forestry and coal mining he has managed a sawmill, organized engineering projects, performed economic analysis and built strategic planning models. Russ recognizes how important it is for heavy industry to accommodate tourism. He feels that this is possible without compromising the sustainable economic contribution of our resource industries.

Kinghorn plans to use his business and community experience to:

• Represent our constituents’ rural view in urban Ottawa,

• Reduce bureaucracy by eliminating duplication of federal and provincial processes and by cutting programs like the long gun registry that is “bureaucracy gone mad”,

• Protect our forestry, mining and tourism industries, protect the jobs that these industries provide and protect the sustainability of our Kootenay Columbia environment and way of life!