MLA's week, July 13-16, 2015

As promised, the first week of a rare summer session of the Legislature focused on the Agreement between the Province of British Columbia and the Malaysian energy company Petronas, with discussion taking up a good portion of the week on the proposed LNG Terminal for Lelu Island.

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice delivered the bulk of her contribution to the Legislature discussion in the early part of the week, outlining her opposition to the Agreement late into the Monday evening session.

The debate also feature participation from other NDP MLA's from the region, with both MLA Robin Austin from Skeena and MLA Doug Donaldson of Stikine receiving their turn in debate on Tuesday, using the opportunity to outline many of their concerns when it comes to the proposed development for Port Edward.

LNG was not the only topic on the week however, with the NDP  opposition taking advantage of the resumption of proceedings to speak to a number of issues related to health and care for children at risk, the latter topic one which Ms. Rice also addressed during the week.

As we do at the end of each week of the Legislature session, we outline some of the main notes of interest from the North Coast MLA's work week.

Ms. Rice was listed three times in the archive of participants for the seven sessions of the Legislature in the House, or those related to House Committee work listed for the week of July 13-16.

On the theme of the Agreement between the Province and Petronas, the North Coast member delivered a twenty minute statement during the latter stages of Monday's opening session, while the Skeena and Stikine MLA's spoke to the topic on Tuesday.

MLA Rice outlines her objections to the Petronas/Pacific NorthWest LNG agreement

Skeena and Stikine MLA's weigh in on LNG; Minister Stone with the rebuttal

Also on Tuesday, Todd Stone, the Minister of Transportation speaking in favour of the agreement, addressed some of the issues related to LNG development and outlined some of the infrastructure concerns that the province was looking to address should the LNG industry take hold in the Northwest.

North Coast Infrastructure forms some of the backdrop to LNG debate

Ms. Rice also joined in on the discussion over concerns related to developments with the Ministry of Children and Family Development, returning to a topic from May over a scathing report from the Representative for Children and Youth related to Children at risk.

Issue of Child Protection returns to Legislature debate

Earlier in the week, Ms. Rice also shared some background for the Legislature on the recent Paddle for Wellness project on the North Coast.

MLA celebrates Paddle for Wellness with Legislature


The North Coast MLA is also a member of the Committee on Children and Youth, that Committee met on July 16th, however,  there was contribution to the discussion from Ms. Rice recorded in the minutes.

Members return to the Legislature on Monday, with the expectation that the end of the discussion on the Petronas agreement is nearing, with the vote expected to be taken sometime next week.

Once that vote is recorded, it's anticipated that the House will again rise, leaving MLA's to return to their summer engagements until the Legislature is recalled again sometime in the Fall.

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.