It’s been a wild year for me — professionally and personally. It’s hard to believe that it was a year ago that I officially left the NDP party and declared I would remain independent from all political affiliation in order to better serve my constituency and the province of B.C.
Immediately after making that declaration at a press conference at the BC Legislature I got on a plane and headed to Kelowna to help my dad through his last days. He died from pancreatic cancer on Dec. 14 last year — it’s hard to believe he’s been gone for a whole year already.
Life is an interesting and unpredictable adventure. Most of us are too busy “making a living” or “just getting by” to fully appreciate the moments of our lives, let alone make sense out of the journey we’re on.
But life is, truly, short. So somehow we have to take the time to slow things down and think about what we want to accomplish with the short time we have.
For most of us though, this time of year is an opportunity to reconnect with family and friends and to grab some time to reflect on the past year and project into the next one.
I’m not one for making “resolutions,” but I do like to reassess where I’m focusing my energies and set some key objectives for the coming year. Personally, this year I’ll be finishing my masters degree, trying (emphasis on trying!) to get back to exercising regularly and continuing to plunk away on my guitar (I also picked up a ukulele recently).
Professionally, I’ll continue to serve the needs and interests of the people of Cariboo North, while fighting for more democratic and less partisan governance of the province as a whole.
In addition, I’ll be working with my staff in Quesnel and Victoria to raise the profile of the state of our forests. This year is the 100th anniversary of the BC Forest Service and the 10th anniversary of the government’s Forest Revitalization strategy, a good year to reassess how this critical, renewable and public resource is being managed.
Bob Simpson is the Independent MLA for Cariboo North.