June, 2010 - Bill Bennett’s MLA Column

Bill’s Weekly MLA Report June 29, 2010

Last week, I spent the first two days immersed in back-to-back briefings on my new ministry. I felt like they had a fire hose down my throat and were pumping info into me faster than I could digest, but that’s process for new ministers. I actually enjoy learning, so it was fine. Also met with Alberta Energy Minister, Ron Liepert, who is a guy about my age (youngster) and we talked about creating one set of rules for oil & gas across western Canada.

On Tuesday, I had meetings at the BC Hydro head office in Vancouver. BC Hydro is accountable to my ministry. I took the opportunity to discuss water levels in the Columbia River system and levels specifically at Koocanusa. Levels are going down all over the NW, including the Columbia, even with the rain we’ve had. I am also starting to get up to speed on the Columbia River Treaty renewal, issues that will be critical to the province and to our region in particular.

Wednesday is cabinet day and I can’t tell you what we discussed but again, as I said last week, your MLA sits there with all the other ministers and the Premier for several hours. There is opportunity to discuss constituency matters, to advocate, to explain, to remind. I suppose most folks probably don’t realize the benefit of having their local MLA at the cabinet table.

On Monday, Jennifer spoke on my behalf at the Reconciliation Sculpture ceremony at the Canadian Rockies International Airport. You should take time to view this important sculpture. It shows the progress of the Ktunuxa and us newer folks gradually coming together over time in the form of their traditional canoe. The artists, Paul Reimer and Michael Hepher, from Cranbrook, did a magnificent job and the mayor and council of Cranbrook should be commended for assisting with this project.

I had the honour of cutting the ribbon at the grand opening of the Fisher Peak Art Gallery in Cranbrook on Thursday. They’re located at 821B – 1st Street South. I recommend you drop in and meet Nicole. She’ll inspire you to never give up on your dreams. Her gallery is a testament to making her lifelong dream a reality. I wish Nicole and her husband Larry all the best and thank them for contributing to our business and cultural community! Great place to find a gift for someone special, so head on in there.

On Thursday night, I spoke to the Mount Baker graduates in Cranbrook, thanks to the invitation from our wonderful principal, Debra Empson. I really like working with young people so even though I didn’t have much time, I made sure the grad’s heard something more than “good luck and congratulations.” I got their attention by telling them that their MLA never graduated from high school, but that I did earn a law degree at the age of 42. I told them that “not all who wander are lost,” and that a little wandering in life is a good thing because life is a journey and we should not be in a hurry to reach the destination. I hope I made some of them feel ok that it’s not a bad thing if they are not certain exactly what they want to be or do at this stage of their young lives. And I told them that they must vote, that it is essential to democracy that they engage in the political process and that they volunteer in their communities. They were an enthusiastic lot. I was very envious of their pure joy in the moment.

At Rotary last Thursday, Melba Hansen of Community Foundations and Captain Kirk Green of the Salvation Army presented the work they’ve been doing to build a permanent homeless shelter here in Cranbrook. They are partnering with BC Housing, our government’s housing agency, to build the East Kootenay (Cranbrook) Homeless shelter which is anticipated to have 20 spaces each for men and women, 2 family units and 10 transitional housing units for longer term stay. I encourage you to find out more about how you can help to make this project become a reality. Contact the Community Foundation at 250-426-1119. Donations are tax deductible.

We heard today that B.C. is doing better than the rest of the country, according to economist, Alex Koustas with Scotia Economics, who says B.C. will see a GDP growth of 3.8%, compared to Canada’s predicted growth of 3.6%. Koustas went further by saying that, “…part of it is from the Olympic Games that we saw in February. They really sped up some economic activity and some spending in the province. But also, we’ve seen the fundamental industries in the economy really start to turn around as well, particularly in commodity markets, which kind of led things out of the downturn. We’ve seen shipments in coal and copper increase significantly, and that’s increased traffic at the ports.” Koustas also pointed to a resurgent forestry industry as another good sign for B.C.’s economy.
In the next few weeks, Finance Minister Colin Hansen is coming to the Riding, as is Healthy Living and Sport Minister, Ida Chong. We’ll be in touch to let you know where you can connect with them.

Take care and have a wonderful week.

Bill