Boundary-Similkameen BC NDP Candidate Roly Russell

As the provincial election grows near, get to know your local BC NDP candidate for the Boundary-Similkameen riding: Roly Russell.

Who is Roly Russell?

Born and raised in rural Grand Forks, Roly Russell is a father of two who is passionate about lowering costs for families, strengthening agriculture and food security, and building an economy that works for everyone in rural BC.

After moving around and living abroad, Russell and his wife found their way back to the Grand Forks to raise their family.

“We ended up moving into farming, and I got involved with some of the agricultural non-profits and I enjoyed that work,” said Russell.

“And that was my trigger to switch from science into politics. After that, I ended up in local government and was at the helm of the regional district when we suffered some pretty devastating floods in 2018. I helped to navigate the recovery, which worked out very well for Grand Forks and the Boundary, and then I wanted to do more, so I put my hand up to run.”

Russell has held the MLA title for the past four years.

The Issues: Housing, healthcare and affordability

Russel says there are a lot of challenges facing his riding currently, and he believe building community will help drive change.

“I feel like we’re kind of eroding that sense of community and that’s a big part of the opportunity of the work of government is to say, ‘how do we help build that?’” said Russell.

“I mentioned climate change of disasters and navigating recovery and our process here with community, led that made a huge difference in terms of the permanence of that work and the benefit that came out in a long way like building back better.”

“I want to deliver a stronger sense of community, more belonging, and inclusion in our places which I think in turn will help make us all much stronger together going forward.”

Finals Words

“I care about this place, I care about the communities that we’re in, I care about the future that our children will have.” said Russell.