Angry and frustrated.
That’s how Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty feels about what he calls the inaction the Provincial Government has taken on West Fraser Road where several portions have been washed out.
The only options for Buckridge residents is a forest service road
“I find it completely unacceptable that children as young as five years of age are having to spend up to five hours a day on a school bus. That would be shameful in good conditions, and we know the type of weather we can get as we saw yesterday afternoon, essentially forcing them to travel on a forest service road that is not designed for school buses, it’s not designed really for personal or family vehicles, it is an industrial road at best.”
Doherty says it is also unacceptable to hear that it’s been seven months and there’s been no action.
Doherty says he understands that it’s a technical file, but he says at the very least the Provincial Government should provide a plan or some form of information to the community.
He says they feel like they’re being treated as second class citizens…
“I’m sick and tired of people turning up their noses and considering those of us and our residents in the Cariboo second rate or second class citizens, and that’s exactly what I heard from Mr. Wall and the community representatives that were there, and that is shameful. They feel forgotten, they feel abandoned by our Provincial Government. And 7 months, no answer. And then to be told that any form of permanent solution might not be until 2020 or 2021, that is unacceptable. There has to be something that can be done and I will be looking for answers.”
He says he will head back to Ottawa to talk to his colleagues about putting pressure on the province to act now.