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By Curtis Goodrum

BC LEGISLATURE

Kamloops MLAs return to Victoria for busy fall sitting

Oct 6, 2025 | 4:43 PM

VICTORIA – Through the summer, the government annouced an $11.6-billion deficit, a record-setting figure in the province. Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar hopes this session will give a clear future for the province’s financial situation.

“As the finance critic, the second quarter update will be coming out in November. Really, honing in on where exactly we are going with provincial finances. Then, finally continuing to advocate for the cancer centre to be built to the same standard as every other cancer centre in British Columbia and other healthcare challenges, like the catheter lab and maternity care,” said Milobar.

Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer will table a private member’s bill in this session, asking the government to mandate dashcam use for all commercial vehicles in British Columbia.

“We had that fatal crash involving the BC transit bus last week — tragic circumstances and my heart goes out to their family. At the same time, if we have dashcams in that bus and in that truck, we’d have a much better picture of what actually happened in the situation and make changes so that maybe it would never happen again. That’s what it’s for. It’s to improve safety,” said Stamer.

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This session includes two independent MLAs and a new party, all of which were formerly part of the Conservative caucus. Both Kamloops MLAs believe the BC Conservative party will, despite changes, be a strong opposition force.

“We’ve got a very tight team. Unfortunately, there were some changes made even early in our mandate, in our session in the spring and now with another member leaving caucus. I think that our caucus is incredibly focused. We’ve got a job to do and we’re going to do our very best for the people of BC,” said Stamer.

MLAs comment on recent strike action taken by the BC General Employees Union (BCGEU)

Stamer believes the government has been disrespectful toward BCGEU and has not made any meaningful steps towards negotiation.

“I believe that they should be bargaining in good faith. They should be coming up with a contract that everyone can live with and move forward in this province. But instead, they’re going in exactly the wrong direction and going backward,” said Stamer.

Milobar says the government is struggling to bargain with the union due to deficit struggles.

“When you are in the middle of a labour dispute with the BCGEU, the government’s essentially saying they have no money for a wage settlement… because it’s going to interest payments. Having a record deficit that is not only going up this year, but is actually slated to continue to increase next year and keep setting records — these are not the types of records the government should want to set,” said Milobar