Support for water licensing Process theme for Legislature discussion Monday

Some new duties for Skeena MLA Nathan Cullen made for some short conversation in the Legislature on Monday.

That as Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau used her time in Question Period to  hail the addition of duties related to the Water Sustainability Act to the Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship's portfolio, noting of the new duties as a positive step.

There was a question to go with the Green Party leader's discussion towards the theme, Ms. Furstenau asking if Mr. Cullen would spark to support the water licensing processes and if regional water tables will be co-led by First Nations in every region of the province.

In response, Mr. Cullen provided a short overview of the current program and what is coming towards it moving forward.

There had been an initial three-year program that was then extended. We are working with water users around the province to make sure that the licensing is done in a good way because, as my friend would acknowledge, if we can't measure, then we can't manage. 

There remain some challenges that we are facing on directly. We are just doing our realignment of staffing resources right now. With respect to water tables, which was also part of the question, we look to the Koksilah leadership and the water table that was set up there, Nicola Valley and others around the province, where First Nations are engaging with us in a government-to-government way, setting up water tables to have those conversations with all of the water users within a particular water basin. 

That, in line with the $100 million watershed security fund that we established, again with First Nations partnership, paints towards the more bright future for British Columbia so that we can have those important conversations in advance of the drought conditions.

You can review the Transcript of the session here,  the video of the Question and Answer session through the Legislature Video archive here, Ms. Fursteanu introduces the topic at just after the  2:10 PM mark.

More notes on Mr. Cullen and the other Northwest MLA's at the Legislature can be reviewed here.