Photo Credit: NDP

Member of Parliament for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, Taylor Bachrach ended 2020 with a virtual press scrum, a fitting way to end the year and his first as MP for Northwest BC.

Bachrach was elected in the 2019 Federal Election after stepping down from his position as the mayor of Smithers, which he held from 2011 to 2019. In the midst of his first Parliamentary sitting as an MP, the world, and the country, was shuttered by a global pandemic and Bachrach spent most of his first year as an MP based in his riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley, joining the first virtual sitting of the House of Commons.

Although it was a strange and challenging year for Bachrach and his political colleagues, citing more than 13,000 Canadians who have died of COVID-19 since March 2020, Bachrach says he was still proud of the way the NDP worked to hold the Liberal Government to account.

“Looking back at the past year, COVID-19 has taught us a lot about our communities and our country. With COVID-19 we have that opportunity again to show the strength of rural communities and looking after each other and looking out for each other,” Bachrach said.

“Looking back on Parliament, obviously this has been a pretty unusual context in which to become a new Member of Parliament,” Bachrach said.

“The focus of Parliament over the past nine months has really centered on Canada’s COVID response. From the beginning new democrats have been working to ensure Canadians get the help that they need and we responded to the first suite of program offerings from the Liberal Government by ensuring the gaps that existed were fixed and people who needed the help on the ground got the help that they needed.”

Bachrach reiterated his commitment to representing Northwest BC even as the COVID-19 pandemic enters it’s second year and encouraged everyone to abide by public health orders and guidelines.

Listen to the full episode available on smithersradio.com/cick-news.