Premier warns NDP that delaying Site C dam in B.C. could cost $600 million
VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s political leaders exchanged duelling letters over the future of the Site C dam project on Tuesday, with Premier Christy Clark arguing that delays will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
NDP Leader John Horgan wrote to BC Hydro last week asking it to suspend the evictions of two homeowners and urging it not to sign any new contracts on the $8.8-billion hydroelectric dam until a new government has gained the confidence of the legislature.
But Clark says in letters sent to Horgan and Green Leader Andrew Weaver that the evictions are necessary as part of a road and bridge construction project that are needed to divert a river in September 2019.
Any delay could postpone the diversion by a year and cost taxpayers $600 million, she says.