By Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo

Transparent, balanced approach needed in mountain caribou conservation agreement

Dec 31, 2018 | 1:36 PM

MANY BRITISH COLUMBIANS been following with interest the issue of the government’s proposed mountain caribou conservation agreement. It will have big implications for a number of communities in the B.C. Interior and beyond.

We can all agree it’s important to pursue efforts to save remaining caribou. But what is needed alongside those efforts is balance. Those who live, work and play in the backcountry understand its importance from both an economic and recreational perspective. For some rural communities, it is their economic lifeblood.

Unfortunately, the current NDP government has been keeping everyone in the dark about its plans for mountain caribou. While MLAs have been asking for a meeting with Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Minister Doug Donaldson for months, we’ve had no success.

We’re not the only ones. Local governments also want greater involvement in this important process, raising this concern at last September’s Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting. Sadly, they have also been shut out. We’ve also heard about local meetings on this issue cancelled by the government at the last minute.

This behaviour has raised concerns that the provincial government will arbitrarily shut down the back country to economic opportunity and recreation. It’s creating a lot of uncertainty and fear for municipal officials, First Nations, stakeholders in the resource and tourism industries and members of the public.

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This is no way to treat people who are eager to share their knowledge and insights before a final agreement comes together, and who will be most affected by the outcome. It’s so important that we see a broad public consultation on this issue. That’s why I have joined fifteen other B.C. Liberal MLAs, including the MLAs for Kamloops and the Cariboo-Chilcotin, in calling on the government to put one in place. We’ve done this via a letter to Minister Donaldson as well as George Heyman, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy.

We need these types of discussions at the local level to help develop balanced, sustainable and science-based solutions that work for all communities. Those talks need to take into consideration all of the land uses that could be affected by future decisions.

Our Opposition team will continue to put pressure on the government to provide clarity, and embrace the expertise of those who live and work in the backcountry and truly understand its significance.