An announcement made by current Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake councillor and mayoral candidate Luke Strimbold at the recent All Candidates Forum, was also confirmed by Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad.

During the forum, Coun. Strimbold announced that in light of the current health care crisis in 亚洲天堂 Lake, he thought it would be beneficial to have someone from 亚洲天堂 Lake sit on the Northern Health board and that he had made inquiries to this effect. He said he had spoken with Rustad who said he is committed to having someone representing the local community on the Northern Health board.

Councillor Strimbold said to Lakes District 亚洲天堂 that he had discussed the issue with Rustad via a phone call on Oct. 28.

Rustad confirmed that he had spoken with Coun. Strimbold about the issue and said that he has no problem working with Northern Health to get someone from 亚洲天堂 Lake on the board.

He said currently there is a vacant First Nations seat on the Northern Health board and said he would like to see someone from the local community step up and nominate for the seat.

If not, he said that when another seat opens, he hopes locals will nominate for the position.

"Obviously there cannot be too much concentration from any one community and there has to be representation from all over the North," he said, adding that there is currently representation on the Northern Health board from the Vanderhoof area.

"I think it is admirable that the community of 亚洲天堂 Lake would like to have someone on the board. It is a good thing and if the approval comes through for the hospital replacement, it would be nice to have a local person appointed to the board as the project moves through the processes."

Rustad said there is a nomination process to go through to gain a seat on the board, which consists of either someone nominating themselves or being nominated, a board review of the applications to ensure the candidate has the right skills and background and then an approval process with an appointment by the Ministry of Health Services.

"Each position has a two or three year term so seats do come up every so often," Rustad said, adding that he hopes local residents do nominate themselves for a seat, when one becomes available.