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MLA'S CORNER: Happy New Year

Budget and throne speech in February will set the tone for work of opposition MLAs
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Lorne Doerkson is the Conservative Party of B.C. MLA for the Cariboo Chilcotin riding.

Happy New Year, Cariboo-Chilcotin!

In 2024, our electoral district grew to include Clinton, Ashcroft, Cache Creek, Tobiano, Cherry Creek and Savona in the boundaries. This is now one of the larger ridings in the province. It is such a delight meeting new faces, visiting local businesses, and seeing the sights in these new areas. 

The results of the October 2024 provincial election proved to be very close, and this certainly has played out in interesting ways. The fall legislative sitting was cancelled by Premier David Eby, delaying the important work that MLAs were elected to carry out. I am certainly eager to return to the Legislature – our province is facing crises of health care, crime, mental health and addictions, and the resource sector. Moreover, there were promises made by the Premier that now will not be fulfilled until the spring, at the very earliest.

Once we do finally return to the Legislature, I will be urging Premier Eby to get the province's books in order. The budget and Throne Speech, to be delivered in late February, will set the tone for the work that opposition MLAs have to do.

My wishes for the new year are very simple: that this government and its new ministers take very seriously the challenges that we are confronting in rural B.C., specifically with respect to health care. Some of our clinics are six or seven hours away from a major hospital. Emergency department closures due to lack of staff are devastating for rural British Columbians. On the Saturday night of Labour Day weekend 2024, both hospitals in Cariboo-Chilcotin were closed due to staffing issues.

I also hope for the sake of so many people that the NDP government will cease their human experiments with drug decriminalization and actually try to help individuals with addictions and mental illness. Presently, there are insufficient resources in rural BC. I don't want our residents to be divided on this conversation – I want proper care for constituents dealing with these very serious issues.

Additionally, our government, including the new minister of energy Adrian Dix and the new forestry minister Ravi Parmar must acknowledge the very real concern of accessible fibre for power generation purposes. These NDP ministers must also turn their attention toward the absolute crisis of permitting in this province.

I also hope that our government will recognize the cost of living challenges that our senior population is facing and how dire it is becoming for some. We need to find ways to quickly support our senior citizens in this province.

The NDP must absolutely address these crucial areas, and my job as an opposition MLA is to ensure these top-of-mind issues are taken care of as I advocate for Cariboo-Chilcotin.

I wish you all an incredible 2025.