NDP MLA John Horgan made his second stop in Prince George this year - this time as leader of the opposition – in a bid meant to drum up party support for a provincial fight years away.
The trip included a stop at Lakeland Mills, which exploded in April 2012. Glenn Roche, 46, and Alan Little, 43, died from their injuries in the blast, while 22 others were hurt. Horgan questioned the government's refusal to consider publicly funded lawyers for the families of four men who died in explosions at Lakeland and Burns Lake's Babine Forest Products when a coroner's inquest into both blasts is held in March.
"For many of your readers, that's just money wasted. But these become quite litigious," he said in a meeting with the Citizen's editorial team Monday. "If you're the spouse of someone who lost their life, can you be absolutely certain that the lawyer for the coroner is going to ask the series of questions that you want asked to ensure your spouses situation is fully canvassed? Perhaps not."
The Lakeland explosion has cropped up in the legislature several times in the last few months - from issues around WorkSafeBC claims for workers who were affected by the explosions to the issue of having a single inquest into both Babine and Lakeland. Horgan said he considers a single inquest too narrow.
He went on to say the government has done a poor job of investigating itself, pointing to recent leaked emails suggesting Liberal Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk withheld information in a government probe. He also criticized the terms of an investigation into the health ministry's firing of eight researchers because they "don't allow anyone to be exposed, to be responsible for that.
"There's a pattern, in the short time that I've been paying attention, of government trying to 'Just get through this - let's get through the media cycle and we'll do that by appointing a group of people, or an individual, to do an examination and hopefully the public will forget about it.'"
He noted the coroner's inquest is a different type of probe and said he'd reserve judgement until the first few days of the hearing, when it will be clear how deep the investigation will go.
"We need to see how it unfolds," he said. "I'm hopeful that they will exercise their independence.
"There's got to be an accounting for these things whether it be Mount Polley, Babine or Lakeland. There's a trail - how did it happen, and why?"
In part his presence in Prince George was to build support in a region known for its Liberal leanings.
"It's the mythology around the NDP, which is quite often very difficult to break down, but I find that personal relationships are always the best way to start."
Horgan said partisan politics in this province are especially divided, but if the municipal elections are any indication, that may shift.
"It's a bloodsport unlike any other province but I think the populace is tiring of that," Horgan said. "There was change in so many municipalities."
But he wasn't using those results to make provincial predictions, refusing to see local labour's support in Prince George of seven councillors - and mayor - who made it into office as a sign of NDP support.
"If there was a uniform labour vote in British Columbia I would be the Minister of Energy, not the leader of the official opposition," said Horgan, referring to the post he held under former leader Adrian Dix before the NDP lost the election.
"Everyone understands that we have three levels of government and they all do different things."
For now, Horgan is meeting with local leaders like Mayor Lyn Hall to get an understanding of issues in Prince George, minus the "partisan cudgel," he said.
"I think if we allow the public to have these discussions absent the filters we put on them, we'll probably have a better understanding of what they actually want."
