Climate Change key focus for Nathan Cullen as he takes on his new duties as Minister of Municipal Affairs

Nathan Cullen has settled into his new duties as Minister of Municipal Affairs, sharing the stage on Monday with Selina Robinson the Finance Minister and George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy on Monday to highlight the province's commitment to climate change and the additional funding that the province is putting forward towards their programs.

As part of his commentary, Mr. Heyman paid tribute to the community of Hartley Bay and the work of the Git'gat First Nation towards their efforts on climate measures, that through their Heat Pump program.

"A little over a decade ago I was a guest of the Git'gat people in Hartley Bay and they were celebrating around that period of time, transferring off diesel generated electricity to small local hydro that they had built. 

Today, in this remote community with leadership from Christa, who has served as the health director of the Git'gat Nations' health department for four years.   

The entire community 52 homes have electric heat pumps installed. They were installed with support from the Clean BC Indigenous Community Heat Pump program and not only are their electricity bills going down, as they will for everyone who adopts heat pumps, they also double as air conditioners to ensure that we can live in safety and comfort if we experience future events like last summers heat dome. 

This is what kept people safe in Hartley Bay during last summers heat wave"

For Mr. Cullen, who noted that it was his first event as the new Minister for Municipal affairs the focus was on the impact  of climate change and the leadership of municipalities that made for the theme of his share of the presentation delivery.

"From wildfires to extreme heat, to flooding and mudslides this place we call home has never been at greater risk from the effects of climate change. When BC communities were hit with multiple, devastating weather events, Local governments were on the front lines providing critical services to people wherever they needed them most.

Local governments have always been there for British Columbians when it comes to driving action for Climate change and that's why our government is going to be there for them. 187 local government signed on to the Climate Action Charter, and today we are investing in cleaner energy, sustainable infrastructure and reducing pollution.

We are all inspired by the leadership that local governments have shown in protecting people in communities from climate change and the steps that they continue to take." 

Among the work done by local government that Mr. Cullen made note of were the efforts of Smithers, Terrace and Haida Gwaii to take on huge efforts in infrastructure and community programming to make sure that they continue to play a part in climate change issues.

As part of the information release towards the provincial plans, Mr. Cullen also noted how

“Local governments are on the leading edge of fighting climate change and our government is committed to amplifying their work. Budget 2022 provides $76 million in new funding to create a new climate-action program that will support local governments in developing more resilient, compact and environmentally sustainable communities.”

In reply to questions at the end of the session, Mr. Cullen observed to the differences and changes with the program announced on the day.

"A couple of differences and they are significant, one is significantly more dollars because we realize the challenges in front of us are of this scale and great and also a deepening of the partnership with our Local Municipalities and modern Treaty Nations.  

As the ones on the front lines who will be able to implement this, is the co-development of making the program as we talked about, flexible and also something that people can rely on. 

When Council's and Mayors, Modern Treaty Nations are making their plans, knowing that they have something in place that they can count on and that it goes out over a number of years. 

And has the kind of flexibility that they need to make the programs work for their communities in the best way to fight the climate crisis, make their communities more resilient for the number of the things that we've talked about"

More notes from the Monday info session can be reviewed here.

A wider overview of the Clean BC program is available here.

You can review the full presentation from the three government officials below.

More notes on the work of the Stikine MLA in the Legislature can be reviewed from our archive page.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.