B.C. Minister of Jobs meets with Fort St. John Council 

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth met with Fort St. John City Council on June 3rd to discuss important issues in the region.

According to a June 3rd Facebook post by Fort St. John city councillor Trevor Bolin, the Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth, Ravi Kahlon, met with council on June 3rd to discuss topics related to the Peace region.  

“We will never pass up an opportunity to represent the residents of this city when it comes to provincial happenings, especially when it’s a minister, so we jumped at the chance and had a great meeting,” said Bolin.

During the meeting, the council and the minister discussed a number of topics, including jobs, LNG, the proposed pipeline from Alberta through B.C., the Council’s Response Committee on Housing and Emergency Shelter (CRCHES) and the city’s response to encampments. 

An encampment is a group of tents, temporary shelters, or makeshift living quarters set up in a specific location. 

CRCHES was introduced in August 2024 to address homelessness in the city. The committee met virtually with provincial ministers in March 2025 to reduce homelessness. On March 4th, 2025, CRCHES completed a six-month investigation into how to support individuals who become unhoused in the city. 

Bolin reflected on the impact of the June 3rd meeting with Khalon. 

“It was a great meeting, I think we’re very fortunate that it was able to happen, and that the mayor and council were able to attend, because I think meetings like this are vitally important for our community and they will be going into the future as well,” Bolin said.

Being one of the farthest cities from the provincial parliament in Victoria, Bolin said it makes it harder to meet in person with ministers.

“We have our MLA, but when you don’t have an MLA that has a minister’s position, or you don’t have an MLA that’s part of the majority government, it’s more difficult to be able to directly get access to those ministers,” Bolin said. 

According to Bolin, the city has had a number of ministers come up in the last year, and more are making appointments. 

In January 2025, the council met with Adrian Dix, the Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions, to discuss topics including the future of liquid natural gas (LNG) and residents’ desire to accelerate the approval process of the BC Energy Regulator. 

In April 2026, the province announced it was investing in major energy projects across British Columbia, including six in Northeast B.C.

“It’s very clear that the province sees what’s going on as far as the demand for LNG,” Bolin said. 

“We’ve got three or four more LNG facilities coming online over the course of up to and including the next three years,” he continued.

Bolin said the council’s job is to advocate for residents.

“Part of our position as a council, although it’s snow clearing and paving and parks and all that fun stuff, it’s also advocating for what our community, our residents and our businesses need,” he continued.  

Bolin explained he hopes to hear back from the minister on some of the housing ideas shared by the council. 

“We do have housing issues, not only for our seniors with Peace Villa pod number three being cancelled, but we also have issues with transitional housing and different things like that,” Bolin said.

According to Bolin, the council is focused on issues that will help build the community into somewhere people want to live.

“That’s housing, healthcare, jobs, the economy, that’s mental health is another big one, these are all topics that need to be widely discussed in order to make Fort St. John the community we see it as,” Bolin explained.