Cariboo Connector money welcome

We welcome Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon’s announcement that a portion of Highway 97 will be four-laned, and that transit service will be expanded to areas outside the city.

It’s clear from past announcements that the government is making good on its promise to four-lane Highway 97 between Price George and Cache Creek a few kilometres at a time. A handful of kilometres have been finished, including short stretches near Quesnel, Lac La Hache, and Prince George.

As the Cariboo Connector announcement was made in April 2005, it’s good to see Williams Lake is getting some of the 45 kilometres promised to be completed by 2010.

The project will address what Cariboo Regional District chair Jon Wolbers calls a high-risk area of the Highway. Safety on the roads is extremely important, and we’re pleased the government is prioritizing with safety as a primary criterion.

The $173,000 announced for new transit service in September is also exceptional news, especially because the government is urging residents — rural as well as urban — to use transit as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Let’s hope the provincial government, Taseko Mines, and the Chilcotin First Nations can find some common ground on which to work on the Prosperity Project. It’s too vital an opportunity to let it go by.

It’s also worth pointing out that it was the government, not Taseko Mines, that chose the environmental assessment process without a joint panel review.

The government and the company need to continue to consult with First Nations, and make them very much a part of the approval process.