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Premier Christy Clark (front row, centre) announced her cabinet on Friday. Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond (front row, far right) was named minster of jobs, tourism and skills training. Nechako lakes MLA John Rustad (back row, far right) will serve as minister of aboriginal affairs and reconciliation and Cariboo North mLa Coralee oakes (front row, far left) was named minister of community, sport and cultural development.
Bond named jobs minister Rustad, Oakes eager for roles
Peter JAMES Citizen staff pjames@pgcitizen.ca
Shirley Bond won’t have to look very far to get briefing notes on her new cabinet responsibilities.
Bond will be sworn in on Monday as the next minster of jobs, tourism and skills training - a position most recently held by former Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Pat Bell.
“I know that Pat did a good job creating the vision behind the ministry,” Bond said on Friday from Vancouver. “I now get to take that and expand on it and I think that’s just a sign of the strength of leadership that’s come out of the north in this government.”
Bond was one of 19 MLAs named to cabinet Friday at a splashy launch event. Premier Christy Clark put together an executive council that has a mix
of cabinet veterans like Bond and newcomers including Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad in aboriginal affairs and reconciliation and Cariboo North MLA Coralee Oakes in community, sport and cultural development.
Clark said she chose Bond for the jobs portfolio because of her experience and her ties to the north.
“Shirley is the leader in the north and the north is where the bulk of our resources are located and those resources are what create jobs, so I felt it was really important that we have a northerner as our minister of jobs,” Clark said on a conference call with provincial media.
“I also wanted a woman in what’s traditionally been a role filled by men.”
Clark said ensuring her government’s jobs plan is successful was
one of the cornerstones of her party’s re-election campaign and she trusts Bond will succeed.
“It’s an important one, it’s one we intend to honour,” Clark said.
“And that’s why I gave it to Shirley Bond.”
Bell had held the jobs portfolio since 2011, but didn’t seek reelection last month due to a health condition. Mike Morris won Bell’s old seat for the Liberals, but didn’t get a seat at the cabinet table.
In her new job, Bond expects to work closely with a number of her colleagues including Rich Coleman, who has been tasked with heading up liquified natural gas development and Teresa Wat, who is in charge of international trade.
“I’m very excited about this role and I think it was critical that we keep a focus on jobs and skills training in the north,” Bond said.
— See ROLE, page 5
Witness frustrated by inaction on concerns
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca
No action was taken on concerns raised by a student about the relationship between her sister and John Triplett due to a lack of specifics, the court heard Friday during the trial for the former D.P. Todd secondary school teacher and basketball coach.
Triplett is facing 11 counts in the case, nine of which are of a sexual nature and involve three different former students, as well as one count of assault
and one count of extortion.
It is alleged the offences took place between 1979 and 1984 when he taught at the school.
In earlier testimony, a sister of one of the complainants told the court she went to the school counsellor with her concerns, but nothing came of it.
During testimony Friday, a witness said she heard the student’s concerns and remembered being “frustrated that there wasn’t enough to move forward,” largely because the alleged victim herself would not speak to school staff.
— See LACK, page 5
Peter JAMES Citizen staff
After two terms in the back benches, Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad has earned his seat at the cabinet table.
Rustad was tapped as the new minister of aboriginal affairs and reconciliation on Friday and will officially be sworn into his new role on Monday.
“I’m quite pleased and it’s a tremendous honour for the premier to ask me to take on this file,” he said in a phone interview from Vancouver shortly after Premier Christy Clark announced her new team. “I think it’s a very important file. It’s critical, especially for northern B.C., but also the whole province.”
Rustad got the news about his new job on Thursday and expects to get a full briefing on his new position shortly after Monday’s swearing-in ceremony in Victoria. He takes over from Ida Chong, who was defeated in her Victoria-area riding last month.
His responsibilities will include working towards the government’s goal of 10 more nontreaty benefit agreements and working with First Nations on natural resource development files, including liquified natural gas (LNG).
“Clearly the Premier has said that moving forward with the LNG opportunity for B.C., the opportunity to become debt-free is a very high priority and the ministry of aboriginal affairs and reconciliation plays a role in that
and that’s going to be one of the high priorities for me to be working on.”
Rustad has had a host of committee duties in his eight years in office, but said he’s looking forward to taking the next step and joining cabinet.
“I was excited but I also recognized it will be a tremendous amount of work and some challenges,” he said when asked his first thoughts after getting the news. “I have good relationships with many of the First Nations around the province and in my riding and I look forward to expanding on that.”
Meanwhile, after knocking off two-term incumbent Bob Simpson in Cariboo North, Coralee Oakes was named to cabinet as the new minister of community, sport and cultural development.
With the Canada Winter Games coming to Prince George in less than two years, Oakes’s new ministry ties in closely with the largest multi-sport event ever held in the region.
She’ll also be expected to work with municipalities on cultural projects and discuss benefit agreements with communities that could be impacted by the creation and expansion of the liquified natural gas industry.
Clark said Oakes’s voice will be especially valued at cabinet meetings because of the region she represents.
“The Cariboo hasn’t been represented in cabinet for quite awhile,” she said.
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