IN THE LEDGE – Why won’t govt restore funding to the Clearwater rapattack?

Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer (Conservative) raises rapattack funding during Question Period in the B.C. Legislature today.

Ward Stamer: The government used to fund rapattack crews for wildfire response in Clearwater. Sadly, this government dropped the rapattack crew in Clearwater a couple of years back. The district of Clearwater has now been forced to use their own municipal funds to set up and pay for a rapattack crew to protect their community this summer.

Why is the Premier forcing communities to protect its citizens from a wildfire because this government won’t? And how many other communities will now have to fund their own wildfire response teams?

Hon. Ravi Parmar: I was a little eager to get up because I was in Clearwater a couple of weeks ago. I had an opportunity to be able to meet with the mayor. I spent quite a bit of time….

Interjection.

Hon. Ravi Parmar: Keep wasting your time.

I had an opportunity to be in Clearwater. I had a chance to be able to meet with the mayor and council, talk about the challenges in their community, but also the opportunities that are before us.

First of all, the B.C. Wildfire Service is world-class, absolutely world-class. For the members across the way to think that the B.C. Wildfire Service would abandon communities like Clearwater is absolutely shameful. If there are fires in communities, the B.C. Wildfire Service will be ready to respond, whether it’s Clearwater, Prince George, anywhere. That’s our commitment to British Columbia. That’s our commitment to the people of Clearwater.

The Speaker: Member, supplemental.

Ward Stamer: While the minister is talking about his listening and learning tour, he did not support the rapattack crew in Clearwater. He did not support funding for that critically needed service, so the minister is not being truthful when he says that there are the necessary resources needed for these communities.

Hon. Ravi Parmar: I’d be happy to sit down with the member and explain how wrong he is. These are decisions made by the B.C. Wildfire Service, and I would add — and I had this conversation with the mayor — there are a number of reasons where we deploy resources and a number of situations in which we have conversations with local government leaders.

I welcome the decision by the mayor and council in Clearwater to be able to join us in developing their own resources that we would help fund in the case of upcoming wildfire seasons. But for the member across the way to somehow insinuate that we are not providing supports to communities, that we would somehow not support a community like Clearwater if a wildfire occurred is absolutely wrong and really unfortunate.

The B.C. Wildfire Service is world-class. Just ask the people of California. When they needed help, the B.C. Wildfire Service stepped up and headed down — over 40 people, incident management teams, wildfire attack crews.

We will support communities like Clearwater. We’ll support communities all across the province. It’s why we had a record year with people wanting to join the B.C. Wildfire Service. Boot camps are starting next week. We’re ensuring that we’re ready to go for the 2025 wildfire season.

Source: BC Hansard