After five weeks in Parliament in Victoria working on the budget, Assistant Deputy Speaker and MLA Jackie Tegart is back in the Fraser-Nicola district and hoping to connect with her constituency.
Tegart, who is a member of the Liberal Party, is currently doing a two-week constituency tour and her first stop, on March 14, was in Hope. For the entire day, Tegart, with Mayor Victor Smith acting as her guide, spent her time meeting the District of Hope — getting to know the new council, visiting the library for Pie Day (where every pie is 3.14 calories), visiting and speaking with various organizations, committees, and groups in Hope, and listening to the concerns of Hope residents while at the Blue Moose Cafe. She also spent time visiting areas of concern around Hope, particularly those affected by the flood, and getting a better understanding of what is needed for flood recovery and mitigation.
“I get the sense, when I visit Hope, that there’s a lot of optimism,” Tegart said. “It is a community that’s quite vibrant, and is pleasant to come to. You’re really the entrance to the Fraser Canyon, and the Coquihalla, and I [haven’t heard] a lot of concerns from people. Which tells me that your town council is doing a good job and that the community is quite positive.
“I went and looked at some areas of concern around the flooding, and around erosion. So, we’re going to see what we can do around that. And maybe, hopefully invite the Minister (of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness) to come and visit and take a look at it.”
Since the November 2021 flood, Tegart said she has been invested in flood recovery for the Fraser-Nicola and finding ways to better prepare communities for future atmospheric events. She said she understands the long-lasting impacts left by the flood and that people are still struggling to move on from the devastation caused by it.
“We’re so used to doing immediate response. But we’re (the government) not very good at following up later,” she said. “We have a whole bunch of people who are living with the impacts [of the floods], and finding it extremely frustrating to try and get assistance.
“And we have people who really need government help and like I said, I think we have processes for immediate response. We don’t have good processes for long term. We also don’t have good processes for mitigation.”
Aside from flood mitigation, Tegart said she wanted to know about the additional problems and concerns the Hope community is facing. She said that anyone who didn’t get a chance to talk to her, or who wants to contact her, can do so by her email at jackie.tegart.MLA@leg.bc.ca, or calling her offices at 250-356-6171 (Victoria), 250-453-9726 (Ashcroft), or 250-378-8831 (Merritt).
In addition to Hope, Tegart also visited/will be making visits to Ashcroft, Cache Creek, Clinton, Merritt, and North Bend. During her visit to Merritt, which took place on March 17, she attended the forestry rally to address the issue of delayed permitting.
The Fraser-Nicola is a provincial electoral district that comprises the southwestern portion of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, eastern portion of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and the eastern portion of the Fraser Valley Regional District. Communities of the Fraser-Nicola region include Merritt, Hope, Lillooet, Logan Lake, Lytton, Ashcroft, and Cache Creek.
This is Tegart’s third term as MLA for the Fraser-Nicola. She has been in charge of the electoral district since 2013, when she was first elected after beating Harry Lali, the previous MLA.
Previously, Tegart served as the Caucus Chair, as Official Opposition Critic for Education, Regional Economic Development and Small Business, and as a Member of the Select Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fish and Food. And, before being elected as an MLA, she served three terms on the village council in Ashcroft.
@KemoneMoodley
kemone.moodley@hopestandard.com
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