BC Conservative Leader Visits Chilliwack to Discuss Forestry and LNG

Conservative Party of BC leader Lorne Doerkson visited Chilliwack on Monday, October 19, for a brief campaign meet-and-greet at the Serene Stay & Play Cafe. He discussed mills, healthcare and infrastructure projects.

MLA candidates A’l’iya Warbus and Heather Maahs attended the event but did not speak alongside Doerkson. Doerkson did not take questions from the media.

“There is no one that isn’t afraid right now of what’s happening in our industry and we have to fix it, we absolutely have to fix it and I’m committed to that.”

Doerkson said the damage done to British Columbia in the last decade is shocking. He had just come from a Maple Ridge press conference where he said he could see frustrations about the forestry industry.

He said his city has six or seven milling operations and that everyone is afraid of what is happening in the industry. He committed to fixing it.

Doerkson said the industry’s goal is 45 million cubic meters of annual timber harvest but is not on track to achieve half of that amount. He blamed disastrous permitting policy.

He also discussed increasing LNG production in the province, saying the opportunity is massive and that three or four plants could have been running five to ten years ago.