NDP leader John Horgan was in Williams Lake Thursday meeting with local supporters.
During a media conference held on the back deck of a Westridge area residence, Horgan stood alongside Cariboo-Chilcotin candidate Sally Watson and chatted with Diana French, United Steelworkers Union Local 1-425 president Paul French and his wife Tammy French.
“What I’m hearing everywhere I go is that people are not getting the services they were used to,” Horgan said.
Referring to Mount Polley Mining Corporation’s long-term water management plan to discharge mine effluent into Quesnel Lake, Horgan told the Tribune he has been the to site several times and talked with local residents and union workers.
“I’ve talked with people who live on the lake that are concerned about their livelihoods — those that are involved with guiding and I have to have confidence that the B.C. Liberals are making decisions based on the public interest,” Horgan said, noting he does not have access to freedom of information requests as an Opposition member.
Weighing in on the Supreme Court ruling on Tsilhqot’in rights and title, Horgan said when the decision was handed down he contacted Chief Roger William as the chief who brought forward the case and Chief Joe Alphonse as the head of the Tsilhqot’in National Government to offer his support.
“I made it clear as the leader of the BC NDP, aspiring to be the Premier, I would embrace and implement the decision of the case, as well as the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples and all 94 calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” he said.
As for the softwood lumber war, Horgan said everyone has known about the agreement for two and a half years.
“There was a deal we were told by U.S. trade negotiators on the table with the Obama administration and the main negotiators walked away thinking they would do better with Donald Trump,” Horgan said.
Rather than focusing on the province’s “foundational industry” which is forestry, the B.C. Liberals were focused on LNG, he added.
After the media conference, Horgan attended a reception inside the residence where he chatted with locals, including retired teacher Leslie Shepherd who gave him a hug, former NDP MLAs David Zirnhelt and Charlie Wyse, and Xeni Gwet’in Band Councillor Marilyn Baptiste.