MILOBAR – A plan to reinvigorate British Columbia’s resource sector

By PETER MILOBAR
MLA, Kamloops-North Thompson

B.C. HAS ALWAYS BEEN a resource-rich province. We are blessed with an abundance of natural resources, in the form of timber, minerals, agricultural land, and so much more.

Government has a responsibility to steward these resources well, ensuring that our resource-dependent communities are thriving, and unlocking B.C.’s economic prosperity.

However, under the leadership of this NDP government, our resource-dependent communities are suffering.

We’ve seen the loss of dozens of mills, and thousands of family-supporting jobs, in the last few years. Vital energy projects have been delayed, either by mismanagement, or drawn-out permitting processes, and many independent power producer projects have been killed altogether.

In addition to harming local communities and impacting the livelihoods of so many British Columbians, the NDP’s mismanagement — bordering on contempt — of our resource industries has harmed the economy and eroded our competitive advantage.

As a result, we’ve seen industry leaving our province and choosing to operate in other jurisdictions. This is bad for everyone in B.C., and it’s time for change.

Kevin Falcon and our BC United Caucus are ready to take a different approach.

This week we unveiled our Resource Prosperity Plan, a set of key priorities and actions we would immediately take to reinvigorate our resource sector, create new jobs, and set our province on a path to success.

The plan is built on five key principles: electrifying B.C.’s future, empowering indigenous participation in natural resource projects, fair taxation, global leadership in sustainability, and cutting red tape on project reviews and permitting.

Operating with these priorities will ensure a key balance between a strong family-supporting economy right now, and a sustainable and successful future.

As part of this plan, BC United will explore opportunities for major new electricity generation, electrification, and transmission projects to ensure greater self-sufficiency and enable natural resource development. This would include fast-tracking much-needed electricity transmission to B.C.’s North Coast.

This kind of rapid action is necessary, as after seven years of the NDP, delays in project reviews, permitting and assessments are worse than ever.

BC United will adopt outcome-based performance measures; eliminate duplication in regulatory oversight; demand consistent assessment processes with the federal government to deliver timely permitting; and collaborate with First Nations to identify provincially important projects and provide clarity on decision-making criteria.

We will also work with First Nations to create an Indigenous loan guarantee program to enable participation in natural resource projects, thus creating economic drivers for communities and getting more of B.C.’s natural resources to a world that needs them.

And importantly, building on BC United’s axing of the NDP’s planned tripling of carbon taxes, we’ll also ensure that current rates for B.C.’s natural resource producers are competitive. Additionally, if a future federal government scraps the federal carbon tax, we’ll also eliminate it here in B.C.

These are just a few of the tangible steps the BC United Caucus is ready to take to unlock the potential of our resource sector, create jobs, and grow paycheques. The tens of thousands of hard-working people in B.C.’s resource-dependent communities deserve a government that sees and appreciates their value.

They deserve a government that looks out for their interests and future — and BC United has a plan to make this a reality.

Peter Milobar was elected MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson in May 2017, and re-elected in October 2020. He is the Official Opposition Critic for Finance. He previously served as critic for Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, critic for Environment and Climate Change Strategy, and the Official Opposition House Leader.