The NDP spent most of Monday's Question Period pressing the governing Liberals to release more details from an investigation into last year's explosion at Babine Forest Products in Burns Lake.
Opposition Leader Adrian Dix, along with two of his colleagues, called on Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Minister Shirley Bond to release more information from a report prepared by the BC Safety Authority. To date, only a 10 pages from the report have been made public.
An explosion on Jan. 20, 2012, killed two workers and injured many others at the mill, located east of Burns Lake just off Highway 16.
"Why does the government continue to sit on the investigation into the causes of the explosion of the Babine mill in Burns Lake, especially in light of the continued risk we are seeing in mills across British Columbia?" Dix asked to begin the exchange which lasted most of Question Period.
Bond said enough information has been released by the government agencies to ensure safety in the future, but some details have been withheld at the request from WorkSafe BC pending a review by Crown counsel. She said the full report will eventually be released.
"It is essential that all of the safety information that was necessary for mills to begin to make the changes in the sector were shared," Bond said. "That is precisely what occurred and, in fact, what is going on today."
Dix also wanted more information on a January 2013 meeting between Bond, former jobs minister Pat Bell and cabinet colleague Rich Coleman prior to the release of the what Dix termed "the redacted report" and expressed concerns that the full report was destroyed after that encounter.
Bond said that wasn't the case and pointed to a BC Safety Authority statement on the issue saying the agency still intends to release the entire document.
"There is a very critical difference between the information that was released and the balance of the information that will be released," Bond said in response.
"BC Safety Authority made it clear that the entire report will be released in due course."
