Question: How long have you lived in New Westminster?
Answer: I have been in New Westminster since 1990, about 23 years - plus. I have been active from almost the very day I arrived in New Westminster. ... And you know what? I haven't stopped since.
Q: Why do you think you are uniquely qualified to represent the riding?
A: Part of my experience of living here for a long time, 23 years, has gotten to the point where I know the people, I know the place, and I certainly have come to know the politics. Having run once in a municipal election taught me a lot and it gave me a lot more experience to be better prepared for this particular election and also to represent all of New Westminster in Victoria. It has been 17 years since we have had an independent option in a 40-year reign of the NDP with one term with the Liberals. I thought it would be an opportunity for people that don't want to vote, the disenfranchised, they don't like the party system, maybe one step to proportional representation and run as an independent.
Q: What would be your own personal priority as an MLA?
A: There isn't just one. I think there (are) two burning issues in New Westminster that really need attention. Certainly, education. We have a huge deficit here that we are dealing with. We don't have our high school built. It just boggles my mind when I think how long it's taken us to get - well we have finally started our middle school, which is good - but Burnaby has built three or four schools in the time it has taken us to get to that point. I believe party politics has played a factor in that.
As an independent, I don't care who's in government, but I can bring everybody to the table. And I mean everybody, has something in stake at the high school property. That would be the first. And then, we have to deal with traffic. We talk about the province not being involved in traffic and TransLink and all this stuff but there has to be something done to help New Westminster get through this. That falls into all the other categories - air quality, health, all of this stuff now becomes a part of that dialogue. Those two priorities are important to me right off the bat.
Q: What accomplishment in your life are you proudest of?
There's a lot of stuff I have done. I would say at the end of the day, through this business I had had we have represented companies from all over the world. ... It gave me a great perspective, we had great employees. They stuck with us for the longest. I had a competition with our human resource person. I said let's see who has had the most employees stay the longest, and I won that because we treat people fairly and right and they like to be there and they are always challenged. From that perspective having a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing plant was probably my biggest accomplishment. ...
Q: Who in your life has been a role model for you?
A: I have a lot of role models. The youngest son in a family of eight, mom and dad made 10 - I had five older brothers. I looked up to all of them - not all the time. There were times when you don't. Now in my age of being 56 and my brothers are all older than me, some of them have made some great accomplishments. I really look to them for guidance, I look to them for their accomplishments. With my (prostate cancer) struggle over the last year, Terry Fox came to mind. The way he projected himself and was able to communicate what he went through helped me find the courage to go and make that public announcement as well. The role models change, but ideally you look to people that are a little older than you that have accomplished a lot, and you learn from their experiences.
To view a video of the interview with Crosty, click here.
