John Rustad, Leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia, unveiled his shadow cabinet on Wednesday.
Rustad calls it “a dynamic team of talented individuals ready to hold David Eby’s disastrous government accountable and present a strong alternative vision for British Columbia.”
“Our shadow cabinet is a diverse and experienced group, committed to restoring prosperity, public safety, and affordability for every British Columbian,” said Rustad. “With experts in every field, we are focused on delivering real solutions for the challenges our province faces.”
Kamloops North-Thompson MLA Ward Stamer has been named the forestry critic. “This is certainly a portfolio near and dear to my heart. I’ve made my career pretty much in the forest industry. So I really look forward to having the opportunity to represent our party as the shadow minister critic for forestry, and I certainly want to make sure I impress upon everybody that I am going to do my very best to make sure that we try to get forestry back on track in this province.”
Stamer says one of the biggest challenges that we have in our forest industry in British Columbia and in Canada as a whole, is having a soft wood lumber agreement that hasn’t been ratified since 2015. “That puts enormous pressure on our manufacturing industries when we try to compete with other markets, particularly in the US. And that’s one of the things that we certainly have to work forward to.”
“Being able to ratify our stumpage system is totally in disarray. I mean, we’re paying the largest stumpage fees in North America when it comes to to the taxes that we have on our products. Those are the kinds of fundamental issues that we have to get changed right away. I’m not entirely convinced that the NDP is going to change that, but I’m hoping with with our assistance and our help, that we’ll be able to do some do something rather quickly.”
Meanwhile, Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar has been handed the job of finance critic. That is the same position that he held during the previous government as a member of the BC United Party.
The appointments are as follows:
- Aaliya Warbus – House Leader
- Bruce Banman – Whip
- Sheldon Claire – Deputy Whip
Portfolios:
- Tony Luck – Municipal Affairs and Local Government
- Sharon Hartwell – Rural Communities and Rural Development
- Ian Paton – Agriculture, Fisheries and Agricultural Land Commission
- Jordan Kealey – Agriculture Expansion and Food Security
- Steve Kooner – Attorney General
- Dallas Brodie – Attorney General – Justice Reform
- Amelia Boultbee – Children and Family Development
- Heather Maahs – Children and Family Development – Indigenous Self-Government in Child and Family Services
- Rosalyn Bird – Citizens’ Services
- Lynne Block – Education
- Mandeep Dhaliwal – Parental Rights and Sports
- Reanne Gasper – Child Care, Children and Youth with Support Needs
- Hon Chan – Climate Solutions and Climate Readiness
- Larry Neufeld – Natural Gas and LNG
- David Williams – BC Hydro and Electricity Self-Sufficiency
- Macklin McCall – Emergency Management
- Trevor Halford – Environment and Parks
- Peter Milobar – Finance
- Ward Stamer – Forests
- Anna Kindy – Health
- Claire Rattee – Mental Health and Addictions
- Brennan Day – Rural Health and Seniors’ Health
- Linda Hepner – Housing
- Kristina Loewen – Rural Housing and Building Code
- Scott McInnis – Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation
- Misty Van Popta – Infrastructure and Construction
- Gavin Dew – Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation
- Kiel Giddens – Labour
- Pete Davis – Mining, Critical Minerals and Columbia Treaty
- Korky Neufeld – Post-Secondary Education
- Lawrence Mok – Skills Training and International Credentials
- Elenore Sturko – Solicitor General and Public Safety
- Bryan Tepper – Community Safety and Integrated Services
- Tara Armstrong – Social Development and Poverty Reduction
- Teresa Wat – Tourism, Arts, Culture, Anti-Racism and Trade
- Harman Bhangu – Transportation
- Brent Chapman – Transit and ICBC
- Donegal Wilson – Water, Land, Resource Stewardship and Wildlife Management
