Mike Olscamp says he has worked tirelessly for Tantramar in his first four years as MLA and will continue to do so if re-elected on Sept. 27.
The Progressive Conservative candidate says there have been many successes and achievements throughout his term and he is proud to have represented such a diverse riding since being elected in 2006.
“I love what I’m doing,” says Olscamp. “I see it as my way to helping my fellow man or woman. I’ve always worked hard for the people and I think I’ve given the area some nice balance.”
As MLA, Olscamp says he has helped attain funding for Dorchester’s fire department and St. Edward’s Hall, Sackville’s water tower, the Sackville Seniors Club, the Tantramar Seniors College, the Tantramar Family Resource Centre, Live Bait Theatre, Struts Gallery, cancer research at Soricimed Biopharma, beds at the Drew Nursing Home, the Eddy Bridge, Baie Verte’s community park, the Port Elgin lift station, Cape Tormentine wharf repairs, and more. He also helped Baie Verte receive high-speed wireless Internet service and helped secure federal financial support for Cape Jourimain Nature Centre.
Olscamp, who has been called one of the most underrated MLAs in the Legislature, says he has spent the past four years also building strategic relationships and making essential contacts, both provincially and federally, to the benefit of the area.
The former teacher, administrator and coach has been placed in key roles within the Tory fold over the past four years, serving as Official Critic for three portfolios – Tourism and Fisheries, Agriculture and Aquaculture, and Wellness, Culture and Sport.
These positions have helped him gain valuable insight into important issues affecting New Brunswickers.
“I’ve learned a lot in my critic roles,” he says. “And I think more attention has to be paid to those departments.”
For example, in the agriculture sector, he believes more focus needs to be placed on New Brunswick food production.
“We’re importing more food than we need to. And if we become too reliant on imported food, then we find ourselves in a difficult predicament,” he says.
A Conservative government would work hard to promote and encourage a ‘buying local’ campaign to ensure greater food security and availability, says Olscamp.
Road maintenance in New Brunswick’s rural areas also needs to be a higher priority, he suggests, particularly the bush-cutting of roadsides in the summer months. He says not only are residents inconvenienced by the dangerous conditions, but tourists visiting areas such as Murray Beach or Cape Jourimain are also seeing the results of the neglect by the Liberal government.
Olscamp says he also plans to continue to put his support behind the Sackville Memorial Hospital, Mount Allison University and the vibrant arts and culture scene in the region, which are all “a big part of who we are.”
As a member of the Progressive Conservative team, Olscamp also hopes to see a government that can better manage the province’s books.
“You’ve got to spend smarter, the wasteful spending has got to stop,” he says. “We need to manage in a wise, mature, fiscally-responsible manner.”
A PC government, he says, would ensure schools and hospital remain open and seniors are treated properly, while also “tightening the belt” to find efficiencies within government departments to bring the debt under control.
Olscamp says he has enjoyed his first term as Tantramar’s MLA and hopes to continue working for all the people throughout the region, no matter which political stripes they wear.
He says he is particularly proud of some of the smaller successes he and his staff have accomplished that haven’t been widely publicized, like helping people who have been “down and out or who have gotten lost in the shuffle.”
