Jessica Van der Veen
| Website: | http://jessicavanderveen.bcndp.ca |
| Party: | NDP |
| Riding: | Oak Bay - Gordon Head |
Candidate Profile
Van der Veen studied acting, graduating from UBC in 1987. She worked in film, television, and theatre and as an acting teacher in Vancouver. As a business person, Jessica went on to become Director of Part-time Studies at Gastown Actors' Studio.
A family move to Victoria in 2000 coincided with increasing interest in politics, economics and social justice and in 2006 Van der Veen received her Master of Public Administration from UVic. This MPA included work at the Ministry of Advanced Education and with the Auditor General, culminating in a Master's report on School Board governance disclosure practices in BC.
In 2007 Van der Veen joined the Mary Manning Centre's board, actively supporting the decision to go public about provincial waitlists for treatment. Responding to the sell-off of public school lands, she founded LANDS (Let's Agree Not to Dispose of Schools), working with a province-wide network to preserve public lands.
Questions
- Please identify what you believe to be the most important issue in your riding and your plan to address that issue.
Oak Bay-Gordon Head’s key issue is health care. Health care isn’t just about caring – it’s smart business. To compete today, British Columbia requires a healthy, well-educated population. We know that countries with effective public health care systems have the strongest economies and are more resilient in hard times. Public health care also continues to provide a competitive advantage for B.C., allowing companies to avoid the cost of expensive U.S. private insurance premiums.
This issue is important, and we have a clear, no-nonsense plan to restore public health care. We will train more doctors and nurses, and make it easier for foreign-trained doctors to find residencies. We will also create a Health Quality Council, with provincial, national, and international experts to promote best practices and incorporate innovations from other jurisdictions. Finally, by increasing seniors beds, we will be able to free up expensive acute care, decreasing the backlog in our hospitals.