Christy Clark's BC Liberal Government Does Not Even Know Where Rural BC Is Located!

A recent BC Government News post, from Donna Barnett (Ministry of State for Rural Development), indicated that the "Province accepting applications to Rural Dividend Fund.  This will happen between April 3rd to May 31st

The government plans to provide funding in four different areas:

1. Community capacity building
2. Workforce development
3. Community and economic development ... and ...
4. Business sector development

CHILLIWACK:  Is this the face of Rural BC

Quoting the government release, it stated:

The Rural Dividend was established in April 2016, with input from the Rural Advisory Council, to help small rural communities reinvigorate and diversify their local economies. In its first year, the program has already provided over $24 million in economic development grants

Being the government of Christy Clark, "Balanced Budget 2017" had to get in there right away, (anyone else sick of hearing that term / phrase dozens of times a day?) , as they went on about how much they were making available.

But let me ask this ... why is there a Rural Dividend Fund in the first place?

Well according to the BC Liberal government it's, "... one of the key ways the B.C. government is taking action to strengthen, grow and diversify rural communities ... it builds on the immediate investments and long-term action plan outlined in BC’s Rural Economic Development Strategy that are expected to create over 26,000 jobs and add $2.8 billion to provincial GDP."

Cariboo South Liberal MLA, and former Mayor of 100 Mile House, glowing states that;  

“Investing in rural communities is a key priority for our government. The Rural Dividend is already making a difference by diversifying the economy and creating jobs in small rural communities.”

Let me say this Donna ... "You live in the Cariboo ... and far more than Christy Clark, and the majority of MLA's who all live in the Metro - Vancouver and greater Victoria area ... you know why rural communities are dying.  It's because of YOUR government!"

Hospitals closed ... Forestry offices closed ... schools closed.  Services that people in larger communities all take for granted, have been eliminated and removed from rural areas of the province.  And when it comes to medical care, and education, those are essential services rural BC not only deserves ... they are necessary for its existence.

You have ripped out the life-blood of small town rural BC, and as a result, more and more people are having to leave.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL you are allowing to happen.

There are examples everywhere, but the most recent just happened down the road from where I reside (Kamloops), and that's in Merritt.

In December, Tolko closed a sawmill, in the community, that provided several hundred well-paying jobs ... jobs that their workers could actually raise a family on.  Ainsworth stated that there wasn't enough lumber to continue operations there ... but there certainly seems to be enough that they can log it, ands ship it elsewhere.

That didn't sit well with Merritt Mayor Neil Mendard who recently told Steve Thomson (Minister of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resources); “[That timber is] ours and we feel very strongly that it should be staying here”

The Merritt Herald story went on to quote Menard saying that the government should introduce a law to fix the problem:

 “They need to come back with something in legislation that does not allow timber to leave this area that was feeding and producing lumber for our mills.  It goes back to the old adage; if it’s here, it should be produced here and it should be sold here as a finished product.”

Without jobs ... real jobs ... not those created through government manipulation such as the Rural Development Fund, rural communities will continue to decline.

Here's something however that should concern every rural BC resident.  Christy Clark's BC Liberal government does not even know where rural BC is!

Another Yeah For Us government news release, from March 3rd, stated:

With the release of Building on our Rural Advantages, the Province is also making targeted investments that will benefit rural communities throughout BC, including Chilliwack

INCLUDING CHILLIWACK? 

I'm sorry to have inform Chilliwack Liberal MLA John Martin the obvious, however his community would NOT be considered part of rural BC by ANY stretch of the imagination.  But then, that just goes to show why the real rural BC is in such a bad state of affairs.

Sad indeed!

In Kamloops, I'm Alan Forseth.  If you'd care to weigh in with your thoughts on this, just post you comments below.