When B.C. Premier David Eby walked in to the Starbucks at Quinsam Crossing, he was followed by a coterie of other MLAs, assistants and RCMP.
He sat down after ordering a coffee, and remarked on how nice and new the building looked. It was Eby鈥檚 first stop, albeit an unofficial one, on his trip to Campbell River to be part of the official signing of an agreement between the Nanwakolas Council and Western Forest Products to manage timber in the North Island.
鈥淭his is a celebration of a really important forestry agreement between Western Forest Products and the local First Nations and its really a template for what we hope to do across the province,鈥� he said.
鈥淚ts really a template for what we hope to do across the province: agreements between Nations and forestry supported by the local community where there鈥檚 economic development and opportunity and stability particularly for the forest industry, which we know is facing a lot of challenges right now around price and availability of trees.
鈥淪o this is exactly what we鈥檙e looking for that kind of alignment of interest where the community comes out the net winner and First Nations are recognized and environmental values are protected,鈥� he said.
The signing of the agreement comes after more than 2.84 million hectares of forest and land burned in 2023, and some fires carried on burning through the winter despite the snow. According to a by the Auditor General of Canada, 鈥渂ecause of climate change, forest fires in Canada are expected to get bigger and happen more often. Canada鈥檚 forests are becoming a net source of emissions because of forest fires and disturbances caused by insect outbreaks, such as the mountain pine beetle. In some recent years, forest fires and insect disturbances have released over 200 Mt CO2 eq per year to the atmosphere.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty dire situation across the province,鈥� Eby said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of parts of the province in the most extreme level of drought we鈥檝e had a lot of fires burning over the winter under the snow.
鈥淭he really remarkable thing about wood products is that they鈥檙e part of the climate solutions,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o instead of using steel or concrete which are very carbon-intensive with products have the potential to sequester carbon as well as reduce the carbon footprint of new buildings and construction. So we鈥檝e really been emphasizing mass-timber construction and developing mass timber industry here in British Columbia.鈥�
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Eby said that so far, over 2,000 people have applied to fight forest fires for the upcoming season. The province recently updated the emergency preparedness act, part of which was discussed in a recently held BC Townhalls Event.
鈥淥ne of the realities in an emergency 鈥� is that people might be away on vacation,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey might own a property that is a vacation home itself, and they鈥檙e not there full-time. It鈥檚 very difficult for firefighters to get permission to go on the land and fight the fire to protect those homes. The law has to provide them with a shield to be able to go in and fight the fire 鈥� I would be glad for firefighters to go in to any property that I would be so fortunate as to own, to fight a forest fire.鈥�
Wildfire and disaster management is not the only concern on the minds of North Islanders going into the 2024 election season. Eby acknowledged the overdose crisis, the healthcare crisis, affordability and housing, saying that these problems are bigger than even B.C.
鈥淲e鈥檙e regularly in contact with Alberta, Washington State and other jurisdictions that are dealing with (the opioid crisis) to find out are they trying something that鈥檚 working really well and and how can we learn from what they鈥檙e doing? And we hope they鈥檙e doing the same with us because nobody has found the silver bullet yet.鈥�
Despite some changes in B.C.鈥檚 political landscape, Eby鈥檚 NDP party is polling ahead with 43 per cent of undecided votes.
鈥淭he focus of our government right now is is on the legislative session. We鈥檙e in right now about dealing with the issues that are important to British Columbians. We鈥檒l be going with the fixed date election in October,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l present the direction that we鈥檙e going and the progress that we鈥檝e made the piece we put in place. All the big issues are not going to be solved by October.
鈥淚 want to under promise and over deliver,鈥� he said, laughing.
Eby posed for a photo outside of the coffee shop, and went back inside to prepare for the next stop on his itinerary.
Through the discussion, Eby had barely touched his coffee.
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