It's a given that most politicians don't see the need to address issues that aren't specifically related to their jurisdiction.

Municipal politicians often say it's up to provincial policy makers who often say it's up to federal legislators who often use the electoral ping pong game to shift the responsibility back onto provinces and municipalities.

It's a time-honed craft that allows politicians to avoid looking at the bigger picture.

There is a way of breaking this dysfunctional cycle. But it entails more than marking a ballot on election day. It requires people to get involved, to question politicians about issues that concern them, to attend all-candidates meetings, to make phone calls, send emails and letters.

With that in mind, here are several issues that B.C. candidates in the election starting today may seek to dodge by saying they don't pertain to their jurisdictions. Make them listen to you anyway. Enough pressure, applied collectively and individually, can force politicians to act.

Climate change

British Columbians have yet to make their politicians actually begin to do something important about reducing toxic greenhouse gas emissions that are on a frightening trend line that will change the way human beings interact with other species and the ecosystem of the Earth itself. Think of too many people riding around in single occupancy vehicles, polluting and heating up the atmosphere. Think of restaurant patios with a line of outside overhead heaters so that diners can take off their coats while drinking imported wine and eating lamb from New Zealand. Think of politicians pretending, and misleading the public, that natural gas is not so much a damaging fossil fuel but a source of clean energy. Science tells us that if we are to survive into the 22nd century politicians must confront the dangers of global warming. Make them now.

Begging for food

Think of food banks and dumpsters and garbage cans. Of people begging on street corners and at intersections for money for food. Of beggars standing outside fast food restaurants and imploring customers going in and out for some money for food. Think of the most recent Hungercount report which found that 96,150 people -- 29.5 per cent of whom were under 18 years of age -- were assisted by food banks in B.C. in March, 2012, a 35.7 increase since 2002. Why is this happening in one of the richest provinces in one of the richest nations in the world? Tell the candidates in your riding this is unacceptable and demand they, and their party, do something about it immediately. No need for a fact-finding commission. People are hungry; feed them.

Much more mass transit

The 99 B-line bus that travels along Vancouver's Broadway is the perfect example of why the city requires more rapid transit. Those lumbering articulated buses are mostly full, standing room only. Mothers with kids, students with wet backpacks and seniors with mobility problems all squeeze into the buses for a faster ride than expected on conventional buses. While the B-line is successful it is also a failure because the buses can not make up for a conventional rapid transit line from Commercial to the University of B.C. Not in my jurisdiction says your local candidate outside of Vancouver? Surrey, the fastest growing city in the province, also needs rapid transit. No more highways should be built or expanded in Metro Vancouver. Tell politicians the car era is over.

Globalization and the rise of China

The world has changed remarkably in the past few decades and China, now the number two economy, is leading the charge. China also just outfitted its first aircraft carrier, sending a strong signal to nations that it has every intention of becoming an even more important player in international events. But China, which has the largest population in the world, needs energy to fuel its expansion. It also needs a revolution in food production and in some places it is already beginning to run out of drinking water. This all presents many opportunities for British Columbia's 4.6 million residents in terms of trade, jobs and cultural appreciation.

But even if China, and much of the rest of Asia, would like us to continue to be hewers of wood and drawers of water (or exporters of coal and natural gas and timber), B.C. must develop a strongly diversified manufacturing base for its own population. Politicians need to do much more than go on yearly high-profile trade missions to Beijing and Shanghai. They have to understand China's needs and learn how to provide high-tech made-in-B.C. solutions. They need to harness the energy of the province's post secondary institutions in a smarter way.

Everyone deserves a roof over their head

Article 25 (1) of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that "everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."

A quick walk through parts of the Downtown Eastside shows how much work still needs to be done in order for B.C. to reach the UN goal, which was adopted in 1948. While security of housing is integral to the declaration, some people end up sleeping under viaducts and bridges and in cardboard boxes and cars.

Mental illness, addiction, bad luck and Vancouver's high housing costs all play a part in this tragedy but the fact remains that many do not have a place to call home. Governments and private organizations do fund the development of low-cost and social housing but much more still has to happen. Politicians have to be told to rise to the UN challenge.

Smile, it's finally time to raise taxes

Many of today's admittedly complex problems could be ameliorated, if not extinguished, if our society agreed to raise taxes.

Since the era of Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the U.S., the prevailing political mantra has been cut taxes and then government services. We have been brainwashed for decades into thinking that less government in our lives is better and that the free market will efficiently take care of the rest.

It has been a selfish lie. The rich keep getting richer while many government programs wither, often as a result of punishing austerity measures supposedly enacted to help all of us lead better lives. Some governments are bankrupt because politicians have refused to raise taxes.

Taxes are us, a fiscal expression of how we want to be defined as a society. Taxes fix potholes, provide for emergency medical care, treat our sewage, pay for our civil servants, teach our children, protect wilderness areas, regulate our agriculture industry, and foster the rule of law.

Be bold. Tell your political candidate you are willing to be taxed more so all of society can benefit.

Chris Rose was a veteran reporter and editor at The Vancouver Sun before recently writing about wind energy in Europe. He is part of the The Tyee's election coverage team.