Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson confirms that they are walking away from what he calls false promises made by previous Mayors and Councils.
“Quesnel City Council and Mayors for a long time have been attempting to get the provincial or federal government to provide compensation to the homeowners that are impacted by the slide on the west side. Unfortunately, many of those Mayors and Councils made false promises to people about the fact that they could get compensation, they would get compensation.”
Simpson says the current Council did what it needed to do.
“As a Council we were very deliberate in seeking clarification directly from the provincial government, from Emergency Management BC, and from the federal government through their Disaster Relief Program, as to whether or not ever they would contemplate compensation for individuals whose homes have been impacted by the slide in West Quesnel. The answer we got is that there would be no compensation for a slide that is moving so slowly.
Simpson says they were told that it was not a state of emergency, that it is not a disaster in the sense that these programs see disasters, and therefore there won’t be any compensation for the land owners.
Simpson says they will however, be looking into claims made by a person at the townhall meeting on West Quesnel Land Stability last week about other compensation in other communities.
“We’re going to respond to that individual by looking at each one of those situations and finding out what the difference is between the West Quesnel slide and those circumstances, so that we understand it clearly.”
Simpson says if it turns out that the province is not acting fairly with respect to the homeowners in Quesnel, then they will absolutely be lobbying the government again to provide fair compensation.
