Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen stopped in Fort St. James as part of the riding-wide tour he is on.
Cullen had hoped to hold his own event on March 12, but the Community Visioning Session planned by the District of Fort St. James was planned for the same night, so he attended their event instead, to support the community.
While Cullen did take a few points from the Fort St. James event, it had a broader scope than what Cullen is talking about through most of his tour.
Specifically, Cullen is talking to people about development in the region. He calls the tour “Getting to yes” and describes it as a three-part process to find out what people are looking for from industry in order to give them a “social licence to operate.”
The first part of the process is establishing the community values, then Cullen asks about major industries and how those industries are performing or viewed.
“People feel a bit overwhelmed, so much coming at them, and they’re not always sure who to believe,” said Cullen.
So far, Cullen has said the responses he’s been getting have been very consistent, and include the topics of local jobs and local benefit, the environment, First Nations relationships and integrity of the company and the process.
“It’s remarkable … it’s wild, I never would have guessed it would be that consistent,” said Cullen.
About halfway through his tour, Cullen said once he’s done, he will take the information he had gathered to three different audiences: the people themselves so they have this guide which can help them evaluate things, the industry so they can find out what communities are looking for from industry looking to develop projects, and the government, so they can better understand the region and what the people here want to see from government regulation and industry.
“The federal government has done a terrible job at understanding how we work and who we are,” said Cullen.
“I want to put this in the hands of the ministers who claim they want to see development,” said Cullen. “And I’ll challenge them … if you’re sincere, then that means you’ll listen.”
Cullen does have some reservations about how easy the federal Conservative government will be to convince to take his findings into account.
“Industry - the smart ones - will be on board,” said Cullen. “I think the Harper government cuts off its nose to spite it’s face all the time.”
“Often I find myself thinking, I wish some of these ministers or prime minister could be in some of these rooms and listen to people, these are not radicals, these are not enemies of the state, many of them are deeply conservative yet we share very common values.”