Andy Shadrack

From 1989 to 2005, I taught Political Science at Selkirk College in Castlegar, British Columbia, and at Okanagan University College in Kelowna and Penticton. I was then elected as the Area D Director for the Regional District of Central Kootenay, serving from 2005 to 2014. During this time, I also served on the executive of the Association of Kootenay Boundary Local Governments from 2008 to 2014 and on the Union of BC Municipalities executive from 2012 to 2014, working on their Health and Environment standing committees.

I have also worked in slash burning, firefighting, and construction around Kaslo and Area D, and, along with my spouse Gail, owned a rowboat rental business until the mid-1990s. In 2008, I helped create the Kootenay Lake Stewardship Partnership with the Ktunaxa First Nation, as well as federal, provincial, and local governments. This initiative led to the formation of the Friends of Kootenay Lake Stewardship Society and, in 2014, resulted in residents voting for a $15-per-year property tax to establish the Kootenay Lake Local Conservation Fund.

In 2015, the Kootenay Conservation Program awarded me their Conservation Leadership Award in recognition of my 28 years of championing conservation in the Kootenays. Since then, my spouse and I have installed a solar PV system with battery storage and, through energy conservation, have reduced our household electricity consumption from 6.24 MWh to 0.887 MWh in 2024—an 85.8% reduction in grid electricity use.

I grew up under a UK Conservative government that believed in fully funded Medicare, including eye and dental care, built social housing, and guaranteed farmers a minimum price for their produce. My spouse and I belong to a local farm share and purchase meat in bulk from local producers in Creston. I believe we should rebuild our local and regional economies rather than importing goods from thousands of miles away. We need to create a future that supports local families, communities, and the natural environment that sustains us.

Half of my father’s high school classmates were injured or killed during World War II, and I watched two of his best friends spend twenty years dying from war wounds. Because of this, I question Canada’s continued involvement in NORAD, especially when figures like Elon Musk and Steve Bannon give Nazi salutes and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance believes that Germany’s far-right AfD party should be in government. My mother’s youngest brother trained pilots in Brandon, Manitoba, and Medicine Hat during World War II.

I am running for the Green Party because, at 74, I believe that each generation has a responsibility to leave their community and country in a better state than they found it. I believe that everyone has a right to housing and a living wage, that wealthier individuals should pay more in taxes, and that multi-millionaires and billionaires should be subject to a wealth tax.

I have been with my spouse for nearly fifty years, and we have a daughter in her forties who is a poet and artist and tutors children and youth with learning difficulties. Currently, I volunteer for the Victorian Hospital of Kaslo Auxiliary Society, which funds various medical and social programs through proceeds raised at our local thrift store.