Auditor General questioned on stalled wildfire planning
November 21, 2009 by BC New Democratic Party
Filed under BC finance, BC government, BC news, Environment, Safety
Macdonald asks Auditor General to examine follow-through on Filmon wildfire report.
New Democrat forests critic Norm Macdonald has asked Auditor General John Doyle to examine the B.C. Liberal government’s progress in implementing the 2004 Filmon report recommendations on wildfire preparedness.
Former Manitoba premier Gary Filmon made 42 recommendations, including insisting that the provincial government take the lead in reducing the risk of fires near populated centres. Macdonald wrote to Doyle today, asking for an independent assessment of the status of those recommendations.
“The premier pledged to implement all of Gary Filmon’s 42 recommendations, but five years later it seems that the follow-through has been incomplete,” said Macdonald, the MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke.
“An independent analysis may be the best way to get the government to live up to the responsibilities that the Filmon report laid out and that the premier himself accepted.”
During budget estimates this fall, Forests Minister Pat Bell admitted that the majority of the communities in B.C. have not completed fire preparedness plans.
“That was a fundamental component of the Filmon report, yet the B.C. Liberals passed it off to the municipalities, many of whom don’t have the resources to do the work,” said Macdonald.
“And because much of the land in question is provincial Crown land, some of the same municipalities weren’t even sure they could legally complete the work. These are the types of issues we would like to see raised in an independent analysis.”
Carole James and the New Democrats have been holding the B.C. Liberals accountable for breaking their word on the HST, and for backtracking on their election promises to protect health care, education, and other vital services.
Victoria
November 19, 2009
BC New Democratic Party
