108 MILE RANCH – Rita Giesbrecht, B.C. Green Party candidate Cariboo-Chilcotin, has been appointed by leader Andrew Weaver as the party’s Spokesperson for Rural Development.

Giesbrecht was a key contributor for five books on the Cariboo-Chilcotin area that reflect an insight and understanding of the region that only deep engagement can bring. She is an advocate for sustainable agriculture and food security as part of the Agri-Culture Enterprise Centre and South Cariboo Food Security Committee and helped form the Anti-poverty Coalition. She is the current Chair of the Central Interior Regional Arts Council.

“British Columbia is, at its foundations, rural, and as a daughter of this province I also am rural to the core, a product of Prairie Mennonite farmers who came here in the wake of the dust bowl”, Giesbrecht said. “Living in the Cariboo for the last 27 years means I have lived on dirt roads most of my life. Rural development has too often meant ‘rural exploitation of resources for corporate profit’ with nothing left but broken-down mills, clearcuts and dead towns. My aim will be to bring 21st century thinking to the regions of BC that should be valued for their intact landscapes, fertile agriculture land and freshwater. Rural development should mean a sustainable and thriving future for rural and urban people alike and a legacy for generations to come."

“I am delighted to appoint Rita Giesbrecht as the B.C. Green Party’s Spokesperson for Rural Development”, Weaver added. “Rita has a deep commitment to a vibrant and sustainable future for rural British Columbia. Rural and urban BC are fundamentally intertwined, yet there is a growing divide. A strong, prosperous rural BC is good for all of BC.”

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Media contacts

For Rita Giesbrecht

Teresa Donck, Campaign manager

+1 604-999-8568 | rita@chrisharris.com

For Andrew Weaver

Mat Wright, Press Secretary, Office of Andrew Weaver, MLA

+1 250-216-3382 | mat.wright@bcgreens.ca