MLA's Week: March 5-8, 2018

Notes on the coastal fishery once again seemed to dominate the thoughts of MLA Rice, with the topic making for a Monday morning commentary, as well as for an introduction for a visiting Prince Rupert councillor and union leader later in the week.

The MLA also turned her attention towards her responsibilities as Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency preparedness, calling attention to the work of the Ocean Networks organization as they prepare to begin work on a seismic monitoring program.

Ms. Rice also hosted a Telephone Town Hall towards the end of the week, receiving comment and questions from constituents.

Skeena MLA Ellis Ross also spoke to issues of the fishery this week and was also featured in an extensive interview with Black Press as Tom Fletcher explored the MLA's concerns over outside interests having a large impact on the debate over resource development in the province.

Mr. Ross also was a participant in two Committee sessions on the week, speaking to issues in both the Agriculture Committee session, as well as one on Public Safety.

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

On the week, Ms Rice was listed three times in the accounts of the sessions of the Legislature from March 5 to March 8 .

Ms. Rice's first contribution to the Legislature discussion list came Monday morning, with her statement to the House about the importance of the commercial fishery to coastal communities of the province.

Call from MLA for Legislature support for commercial fishermen in BC

Tuesday, the MLA provided an introduction for Prince Rupert council member and UFAWU-Unifor President Joy Thorkelson, you can view her tribute here.

As part of the Wednesday afternoon session, Ms. Rice delivered a review of the work of the Ocean Networks organization and their plans to develop seismic monitoring off the coast of British Columbia.

And now a passage from Lovecraft, today's reading from MLA Rice

The North Coast MLA also hosted a Telephone Town Hall on Thursday evening, taking questions and comments from constituents for an hour.

MLA Rice to host Telephone Town Hall Thursday evening

Two items of note from the home constituency is the fate of a name change request for Northwest Community college, with the provincial government yet to announce whether it will approve the switch to Coast Mountain College.

Another issue yet to show any forward momentum, is the long standing quest for a new Middle School for Prince Rupert, a theme which as we noted this week made for much of the theme for last years election campaign.

The North Coast MLA is also a permanent member of the committees listed below, Transcripts of their work are available on the individual pages for each Committee.

Select Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs

Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth



**************************************************************************

For our readers from the Terrace-Kitimat region, this week found Skeena MLA Ellis Ross mentioned once in the work of the Legislature from March 5 to March 8.

The focus of his comments related to issues of the Fishery and Aquaculture on Monday.

Issues of overfishing and habitat loss make for themes for MLA Ross in Legislature address

Ross continued on with the aquaculture theme with some questions in a Tuesday afternoon session of the Agriculture Committee, you can review the elements of that discussion here.

The Skeena MLA was part of the discussion in the Public Safety Committee session of Monday afternoon, with  range of questions related to policing issues in the province, the transcript of that committee meeting can be reviewed here.

Mr. Ross is also a permanent member of the Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives, Transcripts of the work of that committee are available on the Legislature website

The Skeena MLA was also the subject of an interview with Tom Fletcher the Legislature Bureau Chief for Black News, providing more background on themes related to his concern over outside influences on the province's energy discussion.

The Legislature will return to their work on Monday morning, March 12th.

There is more background on the North Coast and Skeena MLA's available from our MLA's Week Archive  as well as our General Archives on the Legislature below:

North Coast constituency

Skeena and Stikine Constituencies

A larger overview of provincial issues can be found on our political portal D'Arcy McGee


To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.