Northern B.C. is on the cusp of a renaissance, Premier Christy Clark vowed in a rousing speech before a partisan crowd Thursday at the B.C. Natural Resource Forum, where she also cast doubt on the opposition NDP's credentials for providing good government.
Northern B.C. suffered the most from NDP mismanagement during the 1990s, Clark asserted, and claimed "main streets all across rural communities were shuttered."
"50,000 people left British Columbia because they couldn't find work in the 1990s," Clark said from a podium at the Civic Centre. "I bet the majority of them were from somewhere in the north."
But after a decade of rebuilding the province under the current Liberal government, Clark said B.C. is poised to take off economically and northern B.C. will give the lead.
"This is the moment for the north," Clark said. "There hasn't been a moment like this in British Columbia since W.A.C. Bennett was premier, when the north came into its own.
"This is your chance and it's not just your chance. British Columbia is depending on you to create that economic activity, those jobs, that tax revenue.
"British Columbia is depending on you, but Canada is depending on you too. This is the time for the north."
Her statement drew applause from the 350 or so who attended the luncheon. Clark stood before a giant logo for her Canada Starts Here job creation program and spent much of her speech outlining its goals.
The plan calls for a "common sense" approach to job creation that will "open doors" instead of close them through such steps as tackling the permit approval backlog, improving infrastructure through such efforts as investing $15 million in roads and rail in Prince Rupert, and opening new markets overseas, which she said is already responsible for reopening 27 sawmills across B.C.
"You're the beating heart of Canada's economy," Clark said. "We need you to succeed and I promis you this: My government is going to do everything we can to help you succeed, we're all depending on you."
Clark also played up the family-oriented theme that helped her win the Liberal leadership in the first place.
"Economic activity is not an abstract concept, it's a very real meaningful thing in people's lives," Clark said. "It's meaningful because economic activity means jobs and jobs mean families are working and when families are working, it means they can look after the people that they love.
"And in the north, it means more than that. Economic activity here means that people can grow up and hope to work in the community where they went to school. It means that they can stay in the north."
NDP MLA Doug Donaldson, who has been attending the forum and sat in on the speech, questioned Clark's claim that 50,000 people left B.C. while the NDP was in power.
He noted that in a presentation Wednesday, B.C. Business Council economist Jock Finlayson put up a slide showing almost three times the number had left the north during the time the Liberals have been in power.
Donaldson, the MLA for Stikine, also noted the most recent B.C. Progress Board found B.C. ranked worse in terms of the economy, employment and personal income compared to the rest of Canada than in 2000.
He agreed with Clark's assertion that northern B.C. is on the cusp of a renaissance.
"I agree, there are lots of opportunities," Donaldson said. "It's just based on the track record of the LIberals - and the same crew is there, it's just a change of leadership - can we trust based on what they've done to take advantage of the renaissance."
Asked about possible gaps in the Liberal job creation strategy, Donaldson said it lacked emphasis on training.
"Even in today's speech we didn't hear much on that aspect," he said. "I hear from people in the north saying they do not want to be left behind again when these opportunities that we have in front of us come to fruitiion."
