All of us are looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to seeing a close to the pandemic.
Each of us is hopeful for an eventual return to normal life this fall, especially if vaccinations are actually available for the general population according to plan.
All health care workers — especially those at Cariboo Memorial Hospital and 100 Mile District General Hospital — deserve our special thanks because they have been working almost non-stop since the outbreak came to this country over a year ago.
The same applies to lots of other front-line workers who have headed into work every day regardless of the risk of COVID-19.
We are talking about other first responders such as police, volunteer firefighters and especially grocery store workers who still head into work everyday armed with just a mask and a friendly approach to customers.
Despite the efforts of all these people who still go into work every day — regardless of the risk — what we are really missing is greater transparency from NDP Premier John Horgan that could reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 or any of its variants.
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We would all be better off with more information that is being withheld from Horgan and his colleagues around the cabinet table.
The issue of access to pandemic-related data right here in our riding has created much anxiety and frustration.
Mayor Walter Cobb and Williams Lake City Council recently wrote to the provincial government asking why more-granular pandemic information is being withheld from the public.
It’s not just COVID-19 information that is being held in secret by the NDP government. We have asked many times to have more information on the caribou conservation efforts, land use initiatives and many other things in this riding and for some reason, we are kept in the dark.
It strikes me that when we were in the unfortunate position of wildfires, that we were in the same boat that we find ourselves in today. I can tell you that my family had a very difficult time obtaining good information when it was needed most.
We have a number of very serious things going on in this riding, especially this spring when we may face another frightening flooding season.
I urge Premier Horgan and the NDP to open things up and let us all be a part of these conversations.
You just might be surprised at what you will learn from local folks.
newsroom@100milefreepress.net
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