Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Lorne Doerkson is ready and eager to return to Victoria for the spring legislature.
Doerkson said there are several issues and causes he plans to bring to the government's attention. He is also looking forward to taking on his new role as assistant deputy speaker.
"I'm excited to get back to the legislature. I really think the government owes it to British Columbians to be in that building and working," Doerkson said. "I'm very excited to get back to advocating for Cariboo-Chilcotin."
Doerkson handily won his second term as MLA of the Cariboo-Chilcotin on Oct. 19, 2024. However, his riding has expanded dramatically and in addition to the area surrounding Williams Lake and 100 Mile House now includes the communities of Clinton, Savona, Cache Creek, Cherry Creek Tobiano and Ashcroft. Thankfully he said most of these communities, with their own ranching and farming traditions, fit the rest of the riding quite well and face similar issues.
"I'm grateful to be reelected for a second term as MLA of Cariboo-Chilcotin which of course is a much larger area than before. It's certainly been a fantastic time throughout the fall of 2024 getting to know some of the residents and getting out to communities to be a part of some of their events," Doerkson remarked. "It's been a busy fall and the spring looks every bit as busy as well."
The legislature is set to resume on Feb. 18 with the Speech from the Throne, followed later on by the announcement of the province's budget. Doerkson said he is looking forward to returning to Victoria, especially after the suspension of the fall legislative session in 2024.
There are several issues on Doerkson's mind as he prepares to head back to Victoria. He said he remains very concerned about health care, crime and addiction and hopes to continue to bring real-life stories of the issues people in the Cariboo-Chilcotin face.
"Outside of those issues I'm very concerned about the economy right now in respect to forestry and the way we're creating power," Doerkson said, referring to the current concerns Atlantic Power in Williams Lake may shut its plant down.
Doerkson said he has already reached out to several ministers about his concerns related to forestry and power generation. He hopes to build on these initial talks in the coming months to help resolve these issues.
The newly-formed Ministry of Infrastructure is another area Doerkson will be focusing on. He noted he already has a good working relationship with Minister Bowinn Ma and he hopes to work to fund and support infrastructure projects throughout the riding. To that end Doerkson also plans to get the Ministry of Transportation and Transit to commit to repaving more of the riding's roads, noting bad roads are especially an issue in the South Cariboo.
"We have areas throughout the riding where the roads, in some cases, are almost impassible. They're just awful and I'm grateful for the work we've done in places like Canim Lake but we need a commitment from the infrastructure minister to improve our current infrastructure," Doerkson remarked. "I'm not talking about new infrastructure but our current infrastructure in many places still needs help."
Doerkson also pledged to continue to work on issues related to water and land use on private properties, including in the classification of dams. The B.C. government uses a system where they evaluate dams based on the Consequence Classification Guide.
This is measured based on the potential damage caused by a dam if it should breach, with designations ranging from extreme consequence to low consequence. Based on this measurement there are different requirements for inspection and construction at each level.
For any dam designed high consequence or above, Doerkson said these requirements have become overly punitive and are being applied to dams that in some cases are decades old. The last thing he wants to see is some of these dams being removed due to issues relating to inspection be it a lack of inspectors, costing too much or restrictions on who you can use to inspect the dam.
"This is a big challenge on the landscape, particularly for ranchers. We are living in a time, particularly in my mind, where we need to keep more water on the landscape when we actually get it. There's not a lot of snow here right now, so (If we have) the ability to keep more water on the landscape, we need to take advantage of that," Doerkson said.
Advocating for those impacted by natural disasters, like the residents of Terra Ridge in Williams Lake, is also a priority for Doerkson. He plans to help them through the Emergency Climate Readiness file by working with Minister Kelly Green. He specifically would like to broaden the scope of the Disaster Financial Assistance Program to help residents apply for money when their home is lost or damaged in an event like a landslide, flood or wildfire.
"Through this ministry, we can get help for temporary lodging and food vouchers, those types of things. Credit where credit is due, but I think that disaster financial assistance could be vastly improved," Doerkson said, referencing the damage done by flash floods in Cache Creek and Savona.
Doerkson also hopes to bring forward the bill he's named Carter's Law again and have it voted into law. The bill is in memory of 100 Mile House resident Carter Vigh who passed away from an asthma attack in 2023 brought on by wildfire smoke. It aims to mandate prioritize extinguishing wildfires over managing them to avoid excess wildfire smoke.