MLA Report, by Columbia River–Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald
As you know, the role of an opposition MLA focusses on pointing out the failures of government and offering an alternative course of action that would better meet the needs of the people of British Columbia. And often, my MLA reports do just that.
Two years ago, I raised concerns about our preparedness for the potential renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty; 2014 being the first opportunity for either side to indicate a desire to reopen negotiations. There was a strong sense amongst MLAs from the Kootenays that we were not as prepared as a province and a region as we needed to be.
As representatives of this area, we asked government to make a number of specific commitments that would improve our readiness should a renegotiation of the treaty be required. We asked government to develop a framework that would include authentic consultation with Columbia Basin communities, significant government resources towards preparation for negotiations, and a commitment to ensure that the specific interests of the basin region would be fully considered in preparing a negotiating position.
Based on these requests from MLAs and other area elected representatives, significant action has been taken. The Columbia Basin Trust took the lead in providing information to basin residents to aid consultation, a committee of local government representatives was formed specifically to consult with basin residents, and the provincial government brought ministry resources to bear on having discussions with communities about our priorities.
Information concerning the Columbia Basin Treaty has been shared with communities and their feedback has been collected by government.
The recommendations the ministry is taking to Cabinet can be found at http://blog.gov.bc.ca/columbiarivertreaty, then click on ‘Columbia River Treaty Draft BC Recommendation.’
There is still much that needs to be done. There are a number of problems arising from direct impacts of the original treaty and the subsequent operations of the system that still need to be addressed. But participating in this process over the last two years has been encouraging, and I will continue to work with government to ensure that the issues that have been highlighted will receive the attention they need.
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Norm Macdonald is the MLA Columbia River—Revelstoke