NDP release dollar figures; Liberals trumpt LNG as way to out the debt
By Nelson Daily Staff
BC NDP leader Adrian Dix continued to offer up his election platform in Kelowna Sunday, committing to change for the better for BC’s food producers and agricultural communities.
Dix said an NDP government would make an annual investment of $8 million in programs to develop local markets and promote stability for BC growers. It would also take measures to grow BC’s award-winning craft distillery industry.
“The BC Liberals have all but abandoned BC’s agriculture industry. No province provides less support to food producers than BC,” said Dix. “British Columbians have a choice between more of the same Liberal neglect, or change for the better for BC’s food producers, like Okanagan fruit growers.”
Dix said that an NDP government would replace the BC Liberals’ piecemeal approach with a coordinated plan to support our agricultural sector, featuring three signature programs.
“Feed BC will put healthy, locally-grown food on the plates for patients in BC hospitals and long-term care to improve diets and health outcomes,” said Dix. “Feed BC will expand the market for local food, helping producers thrive and boosting local economies.”
The costs are $8 million in 2014-15, and $8 million in 2015-16.
Total new spending announced to date in the NDP platform is $202 million in 2013-14, $550 million in 2014-15, and $679 million in 2015-16.
Clark trumpts LNG as the way to save province
BC Liberal leader Christy Clark spent most of the first week of the in the Peace Country, promoting her plan to use the area’s rich natural gas reserves to lift the province out of debt.
Clark toured several facilities in the area including a water reclamation plant in Dawson Creek where sewage water is reclaimed and used for fracking, a process that helps open up underground gas reserves.
Clark claims that if B.C. invested in the infrastructure to convert natural gas to liquefied natural gas, the resulting dollars would be enough to pay off the provincial debt and invest in the province’s future.
“The northeast of British Columbia is home to British Columbia’s economic opportunity of a lifetime. Liquefied natural gas is the industry that will make British Columbia debt free. You, here in the north east, are world leaders in safely recovering natural gas,” Clark told a crowd in Dawson Creek.
“If you can’t get the resource out of the ground, not only are you going to put thousands and thousands of people out of work in the Peace Region, you are going to imperil the future of our entire province.”
Leaders take in Vaisakhi parade
The Leaders of three of the four provincial parties took in the joined tens of thousands in attendance at Surrey’s Vaisakhi parade.
Christy Clark of the B.C. Liberals, Conservative leader John Cummins and Adrian Dix of the BC NDP parties were on hand at the festival Saturday, which celebrates the creation of the Khalsa.
‘Sign pollution’ in the Okanagan
Okanagan Conservative candidate Scott Anderson has had enough of election signs and the campaign is only a week old.
The Vernon-Monashee candidate said there are too many signs lining local boulevards and littering lawns can amount to sign pollution.
Eric Foster, the local Liberal incumbent, says he agrees but not NDP candidate Mark Olsen.
Green Party leader in Victoria
Green Party of BC Leader Jane Sterk was in the provincial capital Sunday campaigning with Spencer Malthouse, candidate for the Green Party in Victoria-Swan Lake.
Comments