Questions on Shuttle Bus for Highway 16 raised in Legislature by North Coast MLA

During Thursday afternoon's Question Period at the British Columbia Legislature, North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice took the issue of the much discussed shuttle bus for Highway 16 to Justice Minister Suzanne Anton.

Reminding the Justice Minister of the shuttle bus option was a recommendation of the Missing Women's Commission of a year ago and as of yet, the Provincial Liberals have yet to commit to putting that recommendation into motion.

Communities along the Highway of Tears have spoken. They want a shuttle bus to ensure women and girls have safe, accessible transportation. Perhaps the minister doesn't understand that there is absolutely no public transportation whatsoever for many of these communities. Billboards telling women not to hitchhike are a cruel joke when many women have no other way to get to where they're going. Again, to the Minister of Justice: will the B.C. Liberal government follow its own recommendation and bring in a shuttle bus along the Highway of Tears, yes or no . -- North Coast MLA, Jennifer Rice, in the Legislature on the topic of a shuttle bus for Highway 16

The Justice Minister offered up her interpretation of the Oppal Commission report for the North Coast MLA, advising that she believed the term "shuttle bus" was not used.

Suggesting that instead, that it recommended that the province provide for development and implementation of an enhanced public transit system to provide for safer travel options in northern communities, particularly along Highway 16.

She went on to advise the North Coast MLA of the government's commitment to work with local governments to identify safer transportation options connecting those communities, which she called an ongoing commitment.

Our government is committed to working with local governments to identify safer transportation options connecting those northern communities, and it's with the partnership of local communities that that will happen. That's something that is a commitment the government has made, and it's an ongoing commitment. -- Justice Minister Suzanne Anton on transportation across Northern BC

The Justice Minister also took the opportunity of the question from Ms. Rice, to review some of the Provincial Government's focus in recent months on the issue.

Highlighting the province's recent improvements to real-time policing procedures, through the PRIME system which links police across the province with information and analysis of incidents in a more immediate fashion.

NDP MLA Maurine Karagianis, took issue to some of the Justice Minister's talking points on the issue,  criticizing her answer and offering up a number of other questions regarding the province's handling of some of the recommendations of the Oppal report.

You can review the full exchange in the Legislature from the Legislature's draft minutes, found at the  1045 mark on the right hand side.

As well, the Video Review of the question and answer session can be found from the Legislature Video Archive,  it starts at the 10:41 AM mark during the March 6th Question Period Video.

You can review more of our items of note on Provincial politics from our Legislature Archive page.