Cariboo North MLA Coralee Oakes says she didn’t go to the recent UBCM Convention because she wanted to go on “listening tours” throughout her area.
“One of the things that’s been important to us is to get out and talk to people and businesses that have been affected by the wildfires.”
Noting she held a “listening forum” on Sept. 26, Oakes says she invited representatives of business sectors from the community, as well as people who had been effected by the wildfire.
“Many of these folks out at Nazko are just getting back into their homes. They’re still going to school in this community.
“People are going to need significant support as we look both to this winter and the years ahead.”
She adds they have been meeting with a lot of business sectors that are seasonal operations, so they haven’t been able to work all summer, including the 150 placer miners who have a significant economic impact on the area.
She notes the guide-outfitters and trappers have had their entire territories burned out.
“Tourism owners have been heavily impacted. There are merchants in Barkerville who haven’t been able to get disruption insurance because their places weren’t on evacuation order or alert.
“The challenge is people can’t get into these areas with the road closures and the smoke and fires.”
She adds the BC Liberal MLAs have been concerned while going through the estimates and the budget in the legislature and asked the question of every single minister “where is the line item in your budget to help with recovery?”
“We are very discouraged at this point that the money hasn’t been made available for the most part.
“There are some good things that have been announced on the agricultural front and we’re please with the federal/provincial partnership – that will be very important for the region.
“But where is that funding for all the other sectors?”
The province is giving money to the municipal governments to help with the community, she notes, but that money is going to hire a person.
“So you’re hiring a consultant to go out to address what that recovery looks like. What we’re saying is ‘people need help’.
“It’s great that financial support goes to a community, but where is the support for the individual business person – whether it’s seasonal or what-have-you – they’ve lost their entire season, and in many cases, have been completely burned out.”
Oakes says sectors, which are land based and have been burned out, are going to take a generation to rebuild.
“So where is the support to help diversify?”
The MLA adds there is a large number of people who have insurance and have been burned out.
They get the money to rebuild but they don’t get any money for the rebuilding the property infrastructure, she notes.
“How are they going to find the funds to replace that?
“I think [the province] is downloading onto local government. It’s fine you empower local government to be a contact point in the community to look at what recovery looks like.
“But if it comes with no money attached, you’re downloading on local government that’s already going to be challenged by the economic implications of what has happened through the wildfires.”
Oakes says she will continue working hard to get real support from the provincial government, but she adds “somebody has to be working with Ottawa to ensure money comes to our region.”