Drug overdose crisis, Site C, and Taylor Bridge main topics of All Candidates Forum for North Peace

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The All Candidates Forum for Peace River North took place Wednesday night at the Lido Theatre via live stream.

Taking part in the debate was incumbent and B.C. Liberal candidate Dan Davies and Conservative Party of B.C. leader Trevor Bolin. The NDP candidate, Danielle Monroe, did not attend the forum.

Candidates were presented with a series of questions, asking about each party’s stance on many local issues such as the Taylor Bridge, the drug overdose crisis, and the Site C project.

Other topics included the natural resource sector, carbon taxes, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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General Voting Day is Saturday, October 24 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

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Here are the responses to some of the questions that were asked during the forum:

Bolin: “I can tell you that I have a very personal experience with that and my father was a drug addict for 25 years, here in Fort St. John, up until his death about 9 years ago and we need help, we need support, we need the government to partner with communities to ensure facilities are built, in order to treat those that are addicted to them. We need to ensure that when our RCMP arrest a drug dealer, in an illegal drug transaction where some is going to or could fatally die, that the courts don’t let them back out again. Our system is broken.”

Davies: “I hosted a round table on mental health and addictions about a year ago, we had our mental health and addiction critique up, we sat with RCMP, paramedics, the social services locally, and this is a really big issue in the north and I don’t think people know how big it is. It is something that we need to start looking at, it is a medical issue and we need to start putting the right pieces in place to get the support people need in regards to getting them the help that they need. But it’s not just a matter of getting them detoxed and sending them on their way, we need complete wrap-around supports to get people off drugs so they can start leading a regular life and I think that’s something we’ve really seen fail lately.”

Davies: “The Site C Project is an absolutely critical infrastructure project to British Columbia. We know that we are moving to electrifying our Province… I do support the project and I think it is an important project. We have invested already billions of dollars in that. I think it would be an absolute disaster if it was reversed. We need to make sure that we are working with the best science of our engineers and make sure that this project is done properly for the benefit of all British Columbians, who own the project in the end.” [Will your government publicly release the Milburn Report on Site C?] “Yes.”

Bolin: “Yes, we would publicly release it. I believe any documents that pertain to a project such as Site C, or any other crown project, should be released to the public and there should be nothing to hide behind it… You get into that point in time where you get that far into a project, you can’t base it on today, you need to base it on a finished project. You need to base that on what it could mean 100 years from now… We need to finish Site C. We need to ensure that the concerns are addressed, we need to ensure that all information is public, and we need to ensure that people have an understanding of what this project can mean, 50, 70, 80 years from now, but let’s get the project back on track.”

Davies: “I’ve been trying to get as much pressure on our Provincial Government to move this bridge forward… continue advocacy with the ministers, continue working with our partners in different levels of government, and making sure that we get the Minister of Transportation up here to see the bridge that has gone from annual maintenance to monthly maintenance, to now just pretty much bi-weekly maintenance happening on that bridge… It is something that must be a priority.”

Bolin: “You got to get them here to look at the bridge, you got to help them to understand how important that bridge is… If we can’t get in and out of our communities safely, including Fort St. John, Fort Nelson, Taylor, Dawson Creek, and the large amount of products coming in, should scare people if something were to happen… Imagine losing that bridge, imagine losing the one that we’ve got to start bringing this cargo in that we don’t manufacture ourselves, so I honestly think if a person sat down, and ensured that the Government knew how important it was for people’s essential services and their lives, in Fort St. John, I think we’d be able to pull off a project that we’re seeing done in other cities, why not us? Why not the North Peace? Why so long?”

The complete All Candidates Forum for Peace River North can be watched below.