I have voted NDP since I was first able to vote. I have been a party member, contributed to financial campaigns during the provincial and federal elections and contributed monthly to the provincial NDP. We’ve waited a long time for an NDP government to come to power in B.C., and environmentally what a disappointment that has proven to be.
The environmental record of the current NDP party is abysmal, and in particular, its failure to implement the recommendations from the document A Strategic Review of How British Columbia Manages for Old Forests Within its Ancient Ecosystems. My line in the sand has been crossed and my support for the BC NDP party stops today.
It may be true that the NDP is engaging Indigenous leaders to review the report — the No. 1 recommendation in the report — but there has been no further action on the other 13 recommendations that the public has been made aware of.
The report also recommended the immediate deferment of logging in high-risk old growth to prevent the loss of rare ecosystems. What the public sees is that logging in old growth forest continues unabated as demonstrated in the Fairy Creek watershed on Vancouver Island. I’m pretty sure old growth logging is occurring in our West Kootenay forests as well.
Thanks to the Liberals, the B.C. government has pretty much lost control of the forest industry that now runs amok on B.C.’s Crown land, and all the positive changes that I had pinned on the NDP to implement seem to be tanking as demonstrated by their lack of initiative to carry out the report’s recommendations. I never thought I’d see the day when the NDP lost my vote but it’s happened, unless they can turn their ship around and set a better course of action.
Patrica Wray
Nelson