A resident of Hedley, B.C., Angelique Wood  is the New Democrat Party candidate for the Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola riding.

She served in regional government as the Area G director for the District of Okanagan-Simkilameen from 2011 to 2014.

Her bid for another term was unsuccessful.

Wood told the Herald she sees a reflection of the challenges between the federal riding and her former district.

“The challenges of Area G were, I think, somewhat similar to what our challenges in this new riding are —[A] pretty vast area with not a huge population, some pockets of wealth and some pockets of more economic downturn or distress,” Wood said, noting the rural and urban divide between parts of this riding.

Merritt’s biosolids issue is a good example of this, she said, as biosolids from urban cities are dumped in this rural location.

As for her stance on biosolids, Wood said it’s “a complicated thing to say in one sentence.”

One of the biggest election issue for Wood is jobs.

She said she’s sympathetic to challenges, such as seasonality, that small businesses face — as is her party.

“The NDP platform includes the small business tax from 11 per cent to nine per cent,” Wood said.

As the MP, Wood said she’d focus on promoting and developing a small scale, human-intensive agriculture system, which would facilitate jobs.

Wood lived in the Lower Mainland for 20 years, and worked at a high-end art gallery and the Museum of Anthropology in that time.

But Wood desired to get closer to nature, choosing to settle down in the Similkameen where she’s lived for the past decade.

Though not from Merritt, she has periodically visited.

“The best that I can do for Merritt, and the anywhere else is to listen to what the community tells me it needs and do what I can to facilitate it happening,” Wood said.

Check out the Herald’s profiles on the other candidates: