Meet Your MLA Candidate: Jeremy Valeriote

Incumbent seeks to retain seat in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky

Editor's Note: The Watershed has contacted all the current candidates running in the upcoming Municipal Election to give them the opportunity to answer a few questions. All the candidates were offered the same questions (apart from those which differ to reflect the experience of candidates who have not held office before). Responses have been edited for brevity, style and clarity. 

Jeremy Valeriote was elected as the MLA for West Vancouver–Sea to Sky in 2024, as the first BC Green elected on the BC mainland. With a background in environmental consulting and local government, he has spent decades advocating for sustainable communities and responsible public policy. In his public role, Valeriote has made regional transportation and the Sea to Sky’s affordability crisis key priorities, advocating for reliable, expanded transit connecting communities from Vancouver to Lil’wat, an end to fuel price gouging, and advocating for non-market housing and long-term care beds, and secured Heart & Hearth program funding, and Foundry centres. He has also been a strong voice against fossil fuel expansion and public subsidy, challenging the environmental impacts, public costs, and long-term risks of projects like Woodfibre LNG, in favour of cleaner, future-facing economic development.

He holds an engineering degree and a Master’s in Leadership Studies from Royal Roads University.

During your tenure as MLA, you've been working on improving transit and transportation along the Sea to Sky, with somewhat limited results. If you retain your seat, what do you see as achievable goals for transit and rail along the corridor? 

Regional transit has been one of my top priorities and persistent advocacy resulted in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Province and the Sea to Sky Regional Transit Committee (made up of all local governments and First Nations), in late September. This MOU commits the parties to implementing the service and finalizing specific routes, service frequencies, capital costs and a launch date.This is more progress than we’ve seen on this in 10 years, if I am re-elected, I will continue to push hard for this to be done. Given the progress, it’s reasonable to expect hourly transit buses on Highway 99 within the next one-two years.

What commitment would you make toward improving safety along the Sea to Sky, in light of the number of major accidents along that stretch?

Regional public transit is only part of the solution to the growing problems we face on Highway 99. Congestion, crashes, closures, deteriorating highway markings, speeding and reckless driving all contribute to a stressful experience on what is one of the most scenic highways in the world. I have been fighting for better communication between the local RCMP detachment, ICARS (crash investigation team), DriveBC, Miller Capilano and drivers, and emergency support for people in distress who are stuck on the highway during these long closures that have become way too frequent lately. 

With our village located in the Howe Sound Biosphere, many Lions Bay residents are deeply concerned about environmental issues, including the LNG transfer facility at Woodfibre. Transportation of workers using the Amia X watercraft continues to generate noise and wake damage, and according to information presented at the recent open house, the company's initial flaring estimates were under-estimated. What will you do to prevent and/or mitigate any environmental impact along Howe Sound?

Howe Sound was industrially devastated for 100 years, mostly by Brittania (Mine) acid rock effluent. We have seen a dramatic recovery, and Squamish has transitioned from a logging town to the adventure tourism capital of Canada. That type of economic change is what I’m fighting for across the region. I’m the only candidate who is on record fighting against Woodfibre LNG’s intention to triple its expansion. Gas flaring is another issue — I’m on the record pressing the former Minister of Climate Solutions, Adrian Dix, for better air quality monitoring and mitigation. This is why we pushed and got a full review of CleanBC, the province’s climate plan. As the only candidate in the riding against fossil fuel expansion, I am the right person for the job to put environmental issues that I’m dedicated to, on the government’s agenda to solve. 

What is your top priority for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky?

Regional transit buses running hourly from Mount Currie to Vancouver, within two years.

What else would you like to share with voters, specifically in Lions Bay and along the Sea to Sky?

As your MLA, I will continue pushing the provincial government to take disaster prevention seriously. That means investing in landslide risk assessments, slope stabilization, watershed protection and infrastructure that can withstand increasingly severe weather. It also means ensuring communities like Lions Bay have the resources and emergency planning support they need before disaster strikes. We cannot afford to keep reacting to disasters after they’ve happened. We need to invest in prevention.

Valeriote's Green Party of BC site is HERE.

Candidates for the BC NDP and the Conservative Party of BC did not reply to questions from The Watershed by the deadline.

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