A longtime Kamloops resident and Crown prosecutor will seek the nomination to be the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Conservative candidate in the next federal election. Frank Caputo, 42, announced Tuesday, March 2, 2021 he will seek the nomination.

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A longtime Kamloops resident and Crown prosecutor will seek the nomination to be the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Conservative candidate in the next federal election.

Frank Caputo, 42, announced today, March 2, he will seek the nomination, bringing to three the number of people now vying for the candidacy after four-term MP Cathy McLeod decided last month not to seek reelection.

Caputo is president of the Conservative Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding association, having served in that role the past three years after three years as its vice-president.

The married father of three has worked as a Crown prosecutor in Kamloops for nine years, has been a member of the local Conservative riding association for 10 years and has been a sessional teacher at Thompson Rivers University since 2012, instructing in the faculties of law, business and sociology.

Caputo said he felt now was the time to seek the nomination.

“Politics have been in my heart for 25 years and this is the time when I feel I can make a difference and step up as a local product of Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo,” Caputo said.

Having been involved with the Conservative Party for 10 years, Caputo said he knows local issues and priorities and believes he can be an advocate for the area, noting the Liberals have not delivered much for the riding while in power.

“Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo is a beautiful region with hardworking people, but it is facing some challenges,” Caputo said.

He said strong leadership is needed now more than ever on initiatives such as prudent spending and lower taxes to stimulate the economy through the COVID-19 pandemic.

He added many businesses and jobs in the region depend on industry.

“I know this personally because my father was a millworker, which meant that forestry fed my family,” Caputo said.

Noting health-care is a provincial issue, Caputo said the federal government needs to add funding toward addressing problems in the sector, which he said is a key issue in the local riding.

“We have thousands of people in this riding who don’t have a doctor,” he said.

“I think the federal government has to do something about it and I’ve seen nothing from the Trudeau government that addresses that issue both in Kamloops and the rural areas.”

Born and raised in Kamloops, Caputo is a Westsyde secondary graduate with a pair of law degrees — a bachelor of law from the University of Saskatchewan and a masters of law from the University of Alberta — along with a bachelor of arts from Simon Fraser University.

As a Crown prosecutor, Caputo has worked on a number of murder cases over the years, along with cases involving internet offences against children.

In the community, Caputo is a member of Colombo Lodge, volunteers at Thompson Rivers University’s Law School as a competition coach, is a member of the Knights of Columbus and has participated in fundraisers for the TRU Foundation and A Way Home Kamloops.

The next federal election is not scheduled until 2023, but speculation has mounted that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose Liberals are governing with a minority, will seek an early vote.

Also seeking the Conservative nomination are Tourism Kamloops CEO Beverley DeSantis and Tobiano founder Mike Grenier.

— This story was originally published by Kamloops This Week.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2021