Kootenay West MLA Katrine Conroy has been appointed as B.C. Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, and Rural Development in John Horgan’s new NDP cabinet. …Conroy has represented the West Kootenay in the B.C. Legislature since 2005. …Conroy will continue in her role covering “all things Columbia” including the Columbia Basin Trust, Columbia Power Corporation and the treaty. She will also remain on the Committee for Indigenous Relations. …Conroy says she is looking forward to her new role in the Forestry Ministry, which also includes Rural Development. Conroy is a long-term resident of a rural community and one of her first jobs was in the forest industry at the Celgar Pulp Mill in Castlegar — both things that she thinks will help her in the position. Conroy says the forest sector needs attention as it is a corner stone of the provincial economy.