Saturday, March 11, 2017

MLA's Week: March 6-9, 2017

The fishing industry in British Columbia gained some of the spotlight in the Legislature this week, as North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice spoke to a number of issues related to current regulations and the impact that they have on Independent fishermen and workers in the province.

Ms. Rice took spoke to the need for adjacency for the industry, a topic that has been a frequent talking point for local workers in the industry and their union representatives at UFAWU-Unifor.

Ms. Rice also addressed some concerns related to ongoing discussion on the Adoption Amendment Act and provided some notes on the theme of organ donation and how one constituent is lending support by registering for the paired Kidney donation program.

Our look at the work week that just concluded, can be found below:

On the week, Ms Rice was listed four times in the accounts of the sessions of the Legislature from March 6 - March 9.

The North Coast MLA started the week off discussing elements of Bill 2 the Adoption Amendment Act, providing her thoughts during the Monday afternoon session on some of the changes it will bring and her concerns over the nature of how the province consulted the public on the issue.

MLA Rice speaks to Adoption Amendment Act during Legislature session

Tuesday morning, the North Coast MLA addressed an item of concern to many on the North Coast and Haida Gwaii, calling for the province to make a push for greater adjacency for the Pacific fishing industry. Calling attention to the impact that to the provinces independent fish harvesters that the current approach of the Federal government is having.

MLA Rice renews call for adjacency in the Pacific Fishery

Prior to her comments on the fishery, Ms. Rice had called attention and offered her sympathies related to the sinking of the Miss Cory, a Prince Rupert based fishing boat off of Vancouver Island, which had resulted in the death of one member of the crew.

Her week in the Legislature concluded with a statement on the theme of kidney donation and the paired exchange program. Noting that Thursday was World Kidney Day, Ms. Rice called attention to a resident on the North Coast, Irene Mills, who has registered for the organ donation program.

Ms. Rice offered up some background into a story from the North Coast that spurred Ms. Mills to her actions. You can review her notes on the theme from the Hansard record for the Thursday morning session, the comments arrive just before the 10:30 mark.

Ms. Rice is also a member of the Committee on Children and Youth, that committee did not meet in the past week.

Also of interest for the North Coast this week was an announcement from Transportation Minister Todd Stone, who outlined the process ahead for the addition of a passing lane for Highway 16 near the Rainbow Lake area.

A little more room to pass at Rainbow Lake passing lane

One item of note that was not directly related to the Legislature, but has been a theme in Victoria for much of the last five years was LNG.

With reports breaking on Friday taking note of the announcement that the highly touted Prince Rupert LNG project from Shell/BG  has now been officially declared off the list of prospective projects for the Northwest.

It's an item that might make for some discussion in the Legislature next week, when the MLAs head into the home stretch of their legislative duties before the launch of the May election campaign.

Shell Canada takes Prince Rupert LNG off the project inventory list

The Legislature will return to its work on Monday morning, March 13.

There is more background on the North Coast MLA available from our MLA's Week Archive as well as our General Archive on the Legislature.

The Spring Session is taking place as the run up to the May election looms on the horizon, you can review some of the campaign themes that are developing on the North Coast from our North Coast Votes Archive page here.

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