North Coast Mayors meet with Community Minister Oakes on infrastructure and other issues

Two North Coast Mayors took advantage of an opportunity to meet with Cabinet members of the Liberal Government this week.

As Mayor Lee Brain and Mayor Dave MacDonald took local infrastructure issues and other concerns to Victoria, part of the conversation during the Budget week discussions with provincial officials.

Community Development Minister Coralee Oakes made the first mention of the prospect of discussions  during her response to a question in the Legislature from North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice earlier this week.

During the course of her reply to the MLA's questions on infrastructure during Tuesday's session, Minister Oakes highlighted a planned meeting that she was about to have with the Prince Rupert Mayor later in the day.

For his part, Mayor Brain took to his Facebook page on the 17th, providing an update on the nature of the conversation that he, Mayor MacDonald and the Minister  had during their get together.

A session which the the Mayor used to make mention of the City's desire to connect with the provincial government on the theme of Northwest Communities hosting LNG development.

According to his short review of the meeting, Mayor Brain observed that the three discussed topics related to exploring solutions to some of the challenges that LNG development may bring to the region.

Mayor Lee Brain with an update on
his meeting with Community Minister
Coralee Oakes on Tuesday 
(from Mayor Brain's Facebook page)

During her commentary in the Legislature on Tuesday, the Minister outlined some of the programs currently available for assistance on infrastructure issues.

As we reviewed last week, the City is currently exploring some of those options.

For more items related to City Council developments see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review