BC Budget consultations destined for Haida Gwaii; skip over Prince Rupert for another year

This years list of budget consultations will take the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government  Services to a range of communities across the province, though residents of Prince Rupert and the North Coast will once again have to make some plans for travel, should they wish to provide for an in person appearance at the annual gatherings.

This year, the Committee is heading to Haida Gwaii, with Masset to play host to the members on September 19th, one day previous the committee will be holding sessions in Prince George and Smithers.

Each fall the committee offers the opportunity for residents of the province to share their ideas on how the next provincial budget should be crafted,  as British Columbians are invited to speak at public hearings, or provide a written, audio or video submission to the panel.

This fall, the consultation period takes place from September 17 to October 15th, with fourteen communities listed to this point for the information sessions, with Prince Rupert once again missing from the list of consultation opportunities. 

Prince Rupert last hosted a Budget Consultation session back in October of 2016, an event which offered both municipal officials and residents of the region to share some of their concerns over how the province approaches its budget decisions

Since that 2016 consultation,  Terrace for the most part appears to have become the destination of choice for the provincial government when it comes to engaging with residents of the Northwest and North Coast.

With a number of recent consultation projects making their way to the Skeena Valley and skipping Prince Rupert.

Among them, a review of the Greyhound route abandonment plans, the Rental Housing Task Force, and last years Budget Consultation process. 

Both Terrace and Prince Rupert did host consultation sessions on Poverty reduction earlier this year

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice shared the details of this most recent consultation process through her Facebook page in late August, noting that follow up information will be provided as it becomes available, though to this point there have been no updates related to the time for the Masset session, or other notes related to the consultation schedule.

As part of the consultation for the 2019 BC Budget residents can also take part in an online survey, that project will seemingly be launched once the engagement process gets underway on the 17th of September.

On line registration for the public hearings will open on September 7th at 9AM, how to access those opportunities and some further notes on the consultation process can be viewed from the  Legislature website here.

For more items of note on provincial issues see our archive page here, a wider overview of the provincial political scene is available from our D'Arcy McGee portal.

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