Rolling along memory lane with North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice

British Columbia's NDP government have been in a reminiscing period of late, last month Premier John Horgan took a one year anniversary tour of the work of the government since their majority election of 20220, a highlight reel of sorts of NDP policy and lawmaking.

Yesterday, North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice took to the discussion of government achievement, rolling off a list of items of note from the Northwest, sharing word of economic and social programs and developments from around the region including the home office in Prince Rupert.

Among her commentary in the morning session on  were notes on infrastructure funding delivered to Prince Rupert by the government, with the MLA totalling up the tab to 14 million dollars 

"It is important to note that the wealth generated in the regions of rural B.C. make possible many of the essential public services that every British Columbian depends on. Our government has been working hard to support rural B.C., including the communities I represent in North Coast. These investments help maintain diversified and sustainable economies, allowing communities to thrive. 

Locally, some of the investments to rural economies include the northern planning and capital grant, which brought in over $175 million to northwest communities. Communities like Prince Rupert received over $14 million to invest in water infrastructure, roads or downtown revitalization. 

To put that into perspective, the city's budget is $35 million annually, so that's quite an investment."

Other areas of interest for the MLA, work on cellular phone connectivity from Prince Rupert to Prince George, the work on the Connected Coast project which has the City of Prince Rupert's CityWest as one of the key stakeholders and the introduction of the BC Bus North and the province's work on transportation in the region.

People in northern British Columbia will continue to enjoy safe, reliable transportation options with help from new multi-year funding from the provincial and federal governments. B.C. and Canada are providing $7.9 million in safe restart funding to respond to the longer-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the continued need for public transportation in rural and remote communities in northern B.C., through to March 2025. 

The new funding will enable northern bus services, including the areas served by B.C. Bus North, to be sustained and enhanced. In 2018, when Greyhound eliminated its bus services throughout western Canada, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, working in partnership with B.C. Transit, launched B.C. Bus North, a long-haul bus service serving communities such as Prince Rupert, Prince George, Valemount, Fort Nelson and points in between.

Though her review of the transportation options available in the Northwest, did not mention that Prince Rupert has yet to participate in the other significant BC Transit program in region which has linked other Northwest communities from Terrae and points eastward.

The MLA also called attention to the growing footprint of the Prince Rupert Port Authority and how the partners with the Port are expanding the economy of the Northwest and northern BC.

"People who live and work in northern B.C. are benefiting from a provincial investment of $25 million that will improve and expand operations at the Port of Prince Rupert. This supports B.C. and Canadian exporters' competitiveness and opportunities in international trade. 

Our investment in the Port of Prince Rupert improves western trade corridors and helps Canadian importers and exporters get goods to market. It supports regional businesses and provides the necessary infrastructure to boost our provincial economy to help build back stronger from the hit of COVID-19." 

The project, led by the Prince Rupert Port Authority, improves and expands infrastructure at Ridley Island export logistics platform. The new platform will increase the port's export transloading capacity from 75,000 20-foot-equivalent units, or TEUs, to over 400,000 TEUs annually."

With time limited on the comments period of the Legislature, Ms. Rice managed to squeeze in some notes on school funding and a note that while her list of accomplishments was still a work in progress with still more to be done for the region.

I"'m running out of time to elaborate on the investments we've made in northern communities, such as the creation of 45 new child care spaces at school district 52 or the $720,000 input into the Prince Rupert regional airport to help sustain services. 

We have accomplished much in the north, but of course, we still have much more work to do. It is my honour to represent and advocate for the people of North Coast and to help develop strong, resilient, diversified rural economies."

You can review her comments from the Legislature Archive here, starting at the 11:25 AM mark of the publication's review of the morning session.

The Video of her presentation is available through the Legislature video archive starting at the same point of the morning session.

Her Monday review, is part of a wider information campaign from the MLA, with Ms. Rice providing more talking points on the year of government just celebrated by the NDP, those notes come through an online newsletter which covers a range of government themes.  

You can review that correspondence here.

 More notes from the Legislature can be explored here.