{"id":21479,"date":"2021-05-20T00:40:40","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T03:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaker.ca\/?p=21479"},"modified":"2021-05-20T00:40:40","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T03:40:40","slug":"video-michael-blois-talks-issues-why-he-wants-to-be-hants-east-mla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/?p=21479","title":{"rendered":"VIDEO: Michael Blois talks issues, why he wants to be Hants East MLA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;78&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>GORE:<\/strong> A life-long resident dairy farmer that calls rural East Hants home is hoping to be the one those in in the riding chose when the provincial election is called, whenever that may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Michael Blois was recently acclaimed as the Liberal candidate for Hants East looking to continue holding the seat that MLA Margaret Miller has held onto since being elected in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blois grew up on an eighth-generation family farm with his parents, Debbie, and Barron, and three brothers, Beau, Emmett, and Willem. Growing up, Michael and his brothers were involved in many community sports, 4-H Club, and church activities. He was the president of the East Hants &amp; District Chamber of Commerce since 2020, where he learned how policy administration worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He spoke of why he wanted to put his name forward. His family has always been involved in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI really enjoy working with people and taking on projects and team management,\u201d said Blois. \u201cWhen the election was coming around, I talked with Margaret and Kody (Blois, MP) and they gave me a lot of confidence, so I put in my application to be the candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate group=&#8221;2&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;111&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Here is the full-length video of our 17:15 minute chat<\/strong>. <strong><em>Video editing by Dagley Media<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Interview with Hants East Liberal candidate Michael Blois\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ihBaqZzHiZg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Hants North Rural High alum completed his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business at Dalhousie University and a Master of Business Administration at Saint Mary&#8217;s University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blois\u2019 family farm, Courthouse Hill Farm, is one of the oldest farms in North America and currently specializes in dairy, wild blueberries, forestry, bioenergy, and Agri-tourism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said he could talk for hours about the issues in the community. Among issues he sees is COVID-19, and the way the province recovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI much rather meet people face to face but the only way I can campaign right now is through the phone or zoom,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been putting out information online to get the facts out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHealthcare has been brought into the light, but it\u2019s obviously been put to the test with COVID-19. We need to have doctors and nurses, especially for a growing population like here in East Hants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blois said education is important too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf I knew how important it was when I went to school, I would definitely be jumping into it now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;127&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also spoke of the internet challenges in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI know the municipality and the province is working to progress internet all over,\u201d he said. \u201cWe certainly need it, especially if we\u2019re working from home. I know it\u2019s something I want to keep working on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blois understands concerns around the environment and agriculture being a farmer himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of potential for agriculture, certainly here in East Hants, with the amazing land that we have. Farming is the backbone of a lot of our businesses around here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;126&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said he runs his own small business, so he understands the challenges those who run them face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI know what it\u2019s all about,\u201d he said. \u2018I have helped advocate business development and supporting businesses in the past five years in my role with the Chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have a lot of good ideas and want to meet as many people as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blois was asked what sets him apart from the other candidates. (Only the NDP with Abby Cameron have a candidate selected. There are three PC candidates vying for the nomination).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith me, I\u2019ve been involved in supporting the community and that\u2019s what I want to do,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m in this for the right reasons. I know this is exactly what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;84&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[adrotate banner=&#8221;78&#8243;] GORE: A life-long resident dairy farmer that calls rural East Hants home is hoping to be the one those in in the riding chose when the provincial election is called, whenever that may be. Michael Blois was recently acclaimed as the Liberal candidate for Hants East looking to continue holding the seat that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[965,12,957],"tags":[196,1990,981,1673,1399,2160,1308,1695],"class_list":["post-21479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-hants","category-featured","category-news","tag-east-hants","tag-east-hants-district-chamber-of-commerce","tag-gore","tag-hants-east","tag-margaret-miller","tag-michael-blois","tag-n-s-liberal-party","tag-provincial-election"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}