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Area MLAs relieved by Site C decision

Local MLAs Shirley Bond and Mike Morris expressed relief with the decision of the Horgan government to go ahead with the Site C dam, but rebuffed claims that the previous B.C. Liberal government had mismanaged the project. B.C.
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BC Liberal candidates Mike Morris and Shirley Bond install campaign signs on Ospika Boulavard at Ferry Avenue Tuesday. Citizen photo by Brent Braaten April 12 2017

Local MLAs Shirley Bond and Mike Morris expressed relief with the decision of the Horgan government to go ahead with the Site C dam, but rebuffed claims that the previous B.C. Liberal government had mismanaged the project.

B.C. Premier John Horgan announced the decision on Monday morning, adding that the dam would cost $10.7 billion, $1.657 more than initially budgeted in 2014. Horgan said he and his cabinet made the decision with "a heavy heart," but that the estimated $4 billion cost of scraping the project meant that his government would not be able to implement promised programs such as $10-a-day childcare.

Mike Morris, MLA for Prince George-Mackenzie, offered support but few compliments for Horgan's decision.

"The premier said it was a tough decision. That was of their own doing. The tough decision was made by us when we were in government in 2014 to go ahead with that after weighing all the options," Morris said on Monday.

Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond, who had served in the previous B.C. Liberal government as minister of jobs, tourism and skills training, called the dam the "most reviewed project in B.C. history."

"I'm very relieved for the families who are currently employed at Site C," Bond said.

"From my perspective, the biggest benefit is a hundred years of clean, firm power. And that allows us to grow the economy, to create jobs and do all the things that British Columbians are so accustomed to doing."

B.C. building trade unions also offered qualified support of the approval.

Wayne Peppard, business representative of the Allied Hydro Council, a pro-Site C lobby group established by B.C. unions, said that 1,171 Prince George residents are members of building trades unions. These members are mostly in construction trades, workforces likely to benefit from the Site C dam.

Peppard expressed support for the project, but also welcomed the announcement of the creation of a Project Assurance Board to oversee construction contractors. Peppard said that his group had warned the current and previous government of pitfalls of some contractors employed to work on the project.

"They found themselves with a contractor that basically had no experience in dam construction that has now gone broke," Peppard said.

A press release by the B.C. Building Trades said that the Site C project has been "fraught with safety concerns." The release stated that only 31 per cent of the workforce for the project was from the local area, and that 20 per cent were from outside B.C.