With another early start to the wildfire season in BC, NowMedia sat down with a BC MLA to discuss how the NDP government plans on responding to the impacts on communities and the province's tourism sector.
BC has seen 177 wildfires since the beginning of this year and, as of April 26, there are 114 active wildfires burning across the province.
This week, Ravi Parmar, MLA for Langford-Juan de Fuca, sat down with NowMedia to discuss claims made by the leader of the BC Conservative Party in regards to rehiring unvaccinated healthcare workers.
However, with the federal and provincial elections happening in about six months, NowMedia also wanted to know how the NDP would commit to wildfire mitigation and response.
“How do we step up our mitigation so that we can lessen the impact of interface fires on local communities,” NowMedia asked.
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Parmar said the NDP listened to the people last year and pointed to the fact the Premier was “on the ground multiple times” in Kelowna and other parts of the province during BC’s most destructive wildfire season on record last year.
Data released in October 2023 showed that the McDougall Creek and the Bush Creek East wildfires were the most costly insured event in BC’s history. The BC Wildfire Service released has said 2023 was the most destructive wildfire season on record for the province.
“This is a non-partisan issue,” he said.
“We listen to feedback from the BC (United Party), from the Greens, from the Conservatives, you name it. It's so important that when we're fighting these climate change disasters that we are using a science based approach, but, of course, listening to people on the ground.”
He also pointed to the NDP’s investments of “hundreds of millions” into organizations like the Forest Enhancement Society of BC to address forest mitigation.
Not only were hundreds of thousands of people evacuated and hundreds of homes destroyed across the province last year, the government issued a contentious travel ban on Aug. 19, 2023, restricting travel to and from fire-impacted areas like the Okangan, Kamloops area and the Shuswap.
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NowMedia suggested that a lot of people thought the travel ban, which was lifted three days later, was a “knee jerk reaction” that hurt a lot of businesses, some of which are still dealing with the impacts on revenue.
NowMedia spoke with Catherine Pynapples who owns Cedar Falls Campground in Vernon.
When the travel ban was implemented, Pynapples said they were ordered to clear out their 65-site campground to make way for evacuees which resulted in significant revenue loss.
She told NowMedia that when she went to the government for some sort of assistance, they directed to her insurance company who said she did not qualify for business loss insurance.
“Ultimately, how are businesses (expected) to prepare when you’re looped in, blanketed in on this ban. How can we prepare,” she told NowMedia.
"We were legally forced to provide a vacant property for evacuees but we didn’t receive any … we actually received one the night the fire jumped the lake, but we didn’t receive any after that.”
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NowMedia asked if the NDP would be more thoughtful in issuing those types of bans and if there will be any help for those people who were still recovering from the lost revenue.
Parmar said the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport was introducing and supporting more tourism-related initiatives in the Interior to help drive up the tourism economy.
He pointed to the Country Music Week and CCMA Awards coming to Kelowna later this year.
“Those types of initiatives will drive investment opportunities and be able to support local businesses on the ground,” he said.
“Very clearly climate change is costing all of us. It's costing the people of Kelowna to see beautiful scenery tarnished by these wildfires. It's costing businesses. It's costing people their lives. It's costing them their households.”
In terms of the last-minute travel ban, Parmar said the NDP government has listened to concerns raised by people and business owners and said this wildfire season, they plan on “better utilizing the local contractors on the ground.”
“I would say it's a very similar approach to healthcare, is we need to listen to our experts and our public safety experts,” Parmar said.
NowMedia pushed for a response in regards to some type of support for tourism-related businesses that were hit hard during the 2023 wildfire season.
“Is there something that the NDP is discussing in a way of some kind of assistance like during COVID when they did get some assistance,” NowMedia asked.
Parmar said BC’s Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation is on the ground engaging with local chambers of commerce and community leaders to address those “challenges,” however, did not confirm if any sort of grant or loans would be provided.
To watch the full interview on YouTube, feel free to click this link.
