NANAIMO — Premier Christy Clark unveiled plans today for a 2017 economic and investment platform tailored to Vancouver Island needs and development in the next decade.
“Vancouver Island is growing, vibrant, and unique — with its own opportunities and challenges that deserve government’s full attention,” she said.
Clark was in Nanaimo as keynote speaker for the 10th annual Vancouver Island Economic Summit, which ran on Wednesday and today. She addressed nearly 600 people at the event held in the Nanaimo Conference Centre.
Delegates gave Clark a standing ovation when she walked into the room and again when she finished speaking.
She reeled off highlights about the Island, saying it has one of the most diverse economies in B.C. and in the country.
Comox Valley MLA Don McRae has been appointed chairman of the Vancouver Island platform project to gather ideas on a broad range of issues during the next six months.These will become part of the B.C. Liberals’ platform for the next provincial election, on May 9, 2017.
Subjects include where investment need to go on the Island, post-secondary education, ways to encourage more tourism attractions, how to decrease barriers for First Nations, and ways to promote high-tech, Clark said.
“Technology companies are flocking to this Island,” she said. “How can we do more to grow support for the tech community?”
McRae has announced he will not run again. Parksville-Qualicum MLA and Social Development and Innovation Minister Michelle Stilwell, who is planning to run again, is the only other Vancouver Island B.C. Liberal elected to the legislature.
Clark also announced another 774 seats for North Island College for skills training in high-priority trades through to March 2017.
She said the $2.7-million initiative is new money for training as electricians, welders, carpenters, plumbers, cooks, and heavy mechanical trades.
“We have worked hard to build those fundamentals, to make sure our economy is strong and well supported.”
Talking about trades training on the Island, including at Camosun College in Victoria, Clark said developing skills is “what is going to propel us into the future.”
NDP Leader John Horgan said the announcement of an empty platform was a weak attempt by Clark to stir up interest in her party.
“Good, I’m delighted they’re going to have candidates on Vancouver Island,” he said, wryly. “I think that’s a bold move by the premier.”
He said that if the B.C. Liberals are serious about talking to Islanders, the first thing they need to do is fix the ferry system.
“The B.C. Liberals have ignored coastal communities and increased costs to get back and forth on what everyone that lives here believes to be a marine highway system.”
Horgan mocked Clark’s promise of “continued support” for the forestry industry in a region that trucks raw logs past shuttered mills and ships them overseas for processing.
“I think that that’s offensive to Vancouver Islanders, and the Liberals didn’t get it then and don’t seem to get it now,” Horgan said.
— With file from Lindsay Kines
