Fro CBC News:
A former cabinet minister has resigned his role as “community liaison” for a controversial caribou recovery plan in northeastern B.C.
Government figures from 2019 reveal the Dawson Creek area has six caribou herds, but their numbers have declined from 800 to about 220 over two decades.
Blair Lekstrom was appointed by Premier John Horgan nine months ago to bridge tensions between local groups, including backcountry enthusiasts and Indigenous nations, over government plans to save the threatened herds.
Lekstrom’s role was to be an intermediary between the B.C. government and people in B.C.’s Peace region who feared saving endangered caribou would kill hundreds of jobs in mining and forestry.
Hunters and snowmobilers feared they would lose their access to the backcountry.
Now, Lekstrom says the B.C. government is refusing to listen. And so, he’s quitting.
“It’s staggering,” he said of the NDP’s position.
IMAGE: Blair Lekstrom was appointed by the premier as a “community liaison” after opposition to the caribou recovery plan boiled over in the Peace in 2019. (Getty Images)
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