A forum with two of three candidates for the Cariboo-Chilcotin took place Thursday night in Williams Lake with one of the topics focusing on forestry.
NDP Candidate Sally Watson said their platform clearly states that they will put an end to raw log exports.
She says the fact we don’t trust our government is a problem.
“The oversight is coming from other tenure holders. I talked to a trapper the other day who feels that he’s the only one watching what’s going on in the forests in his area and he’s probably right.
Watson says that forests belongs to us, and adds that the BC NDP is interested in engineered wood products and that she sees a good reason to have it in the Cariboo Chilcotin.
Green Party Candidate Rita Giesbrecht says resource management is part of a whole intuitive sweep that also accommodates things like climate change, First Nations Reconciliation, business opportunities, and education.
She says there needs to be an establishment of bodies of agencies which can give science and evidence-based pure understanding without any invested interests being involved.
Retired forester Jim Hilton, who was in attendance said that he had originally 12 questions but reduced those to five when he realized that Liberal incumbent candidate Donna Barnett was not in attendance.
Two of the other topics at the forum focused on sustainable development and poverty.
Watson says that the NDP platform clearly lays out education as being essential to the brighter futures for all of us especially younger people. She says she would like to see a better Thompson Rivers University campus in both 100 Mile and Williams Lake with agriculture as a key focus. The NDP is touting $10 a day childcare and a $15 hr minimum wage.
The Green Party meanwhile according to Giesbrecht has a policy that is integrated across all of the sectors to mutually support one other so that when one segment of the economy such as that we’re seeing now with resource extraction slides, the social structure kicks in to help stabilize that transition into a vibrant economy. She says they are planning for parents who are both working to be able to send their child from the age of 0-3 to early childhood education centres/daycare at no cost.
Something going on in the Cariboo you think people should know about?
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