Bring more voices to caribou recovery plan, says B.C. premier’s former liaison
VICTORIA — A former cabinet minister who resigned as Premier John Horgan’s liaison for the recovery of threatened caribou herds in northeastern British Columbia says he wants more voices in the discussion to increase conservation support.
Local governments need greater input in future land use decisions that relate to caribou protection to win broader public support for the recovery strategy, Blair Lekstrom said in a recent interview.
Lekstrom, a former B.C. Liberal energy and mines minister, recently quit as Horgan’s liaison, saying the B.C. government was not prepared to change a draft agreement between the federal government and the area’s West Moberly and Salteau First Nations.
“We’ve got governments, both federal and provincial, prepared to sign this partnership agreement when they don’t know the socio or economic impacts of what this means to the region or the communities,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. If we find out it costs the possibility of hundreds of people losing their jobs, I guess so be it.”