It was a short but sweet visit to Prince George for BC Premier David Eby.
On Tuesday night, he along with Lheidli T’enneh Chief Dolleen Logan provided their remarks during the opening night banquet to officially kick off the three-day Natural Resource Forum from the Conference and Civic Centre.
MyPGNow.com was able to snag a quick interview prior to the festivities. Eby is of the belief the additional supportive housing projects have gone a long way in pairing down the homeless numbers, now they just need the court system to play ball.
“Our goal is to close the encampment with the city. There are only six people left on the site as we opened a bunch of new housing and we have spoken with Chief Logan around mental health issues and addiction as well as a site (for involuntary care). People are really struggling that way.”
“Prince George is a hub city and there are a lot of rural Indigenous communities where people come to Prince George for services and sometimes they get stuck here. Providing support for more rural and remote communities so people can get home and be supported is only going to help communities like Prince George and we need to make sure we are opening those housing units in Prince George,” added Eby.
“A lot of the work we are focusing on are people with brain injuries and serious substance use problems and are really struggling in the streets very visibly that need that aggressive support from the government so that the community is safe and they are safe too. That discussion around involuntary care for people is a very live one and we have Dr. Vigo who is advising us on that and we are looking at potential sites including Prince George.”
Following his speaking engagement, Eby boarded a plane back to Vancouver so he can virtually partake in the First Ministers Meeting scheduled for Wednesday in Ottawa.
He added with a threat of 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods by incoming U.S. President Donald Trump, (who officially takes office on Monday) it’s up to everyone to stand up to the Trump Administration by punching above its weight.
“The critical piece for me in BC is that our retaliation or response to the Americans is that everyone shares the burden across the country and that we all do our part so that BC does not have to disproportionately have to do the heavy lifting as we often have to do in these discussions. And, the second piece, is that we are working hard to support those industries that are going to take a hit.”
While the sanctions on BC goods will hurt, Eby believes our province is better equipped to deal with the economic storm than most.
“I can say that our province is in a better position than say Ontario where we have a smaller exposure to the United States because we are on the Pacific Ocean. We have a lot of trading partners that Central Canada does not have and we can leverage that along with insuring we have a strong provincial economy with reforms.”
“The Americans are going to see a very significant price increase in lumber when they rebuild in Los Angeles and in other places. One in four sticks of lumber in the States comes from Canada and a lot of that comes from British Columbia. To put a 25% tax on themselves for that wood is bizarre.”
“One of our advantages in places like Trail is that we produce a critical mineral that is required for computers, night-vision goggles that China just restricted to the US. You can’t get it anywhere else except for British Columbia and so it is advantages like that, which will put us in a good position with the United States to push back if they go in this direction,” Eby said.
He noted while he doesn’t expect the tariffs to be in place forever, it will batter an already bruised and downtrodden forestry sector in BC, could see markups of nearly 50% when you combine the initial sanctions on Canadian softwood lumber.
“There is going to be some serious pain when they are in place. Making sure that we are supporting those families and businesses so that they survive the tariffs and come out strong on the other end is going to be critically important.”
“One of the realities is if we do see a decline in exported wood to the United States we will have more wood here and it will support manufacturing jobs for export overseas as well as value-added products. Taking advantage of that and expanding our trade relationships internationally to get more wood out of the door could be key.”
Tomorrow (Wednesday), Diana Gibson, Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation; Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests; and others will be present for an announcement about new investments for sustainable jobs for resource workers in communities throughout British Columbia at noon during Day Two of the Natural Resources Forum.
Eby will be among a large group of Canadian provincial and territorial leaders who will head to Washington D.C. on February 12th to meet with their American counterparts regarding the tariffs.
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