South Okanagan West Kootenay MP Richard Cannings appeared before Castlegar council Monday night to give an update on how things have been going in the House of Commons.
Cannings reported that the private member’s bill he introduced last fall has made progress, passing a second reading in the House of Commons and moving to the committee level. The bill asks that the government seriously consider using wood in infrastructure.
“I thought it would be a good idea, considering the state of the forest industry in Canada that needed some help,” said Cannings of the bill. “It applies two tests to that choice — whether to use wood or some other material … It uses a dual lens, one is the overall cost of the material, the other is the carbon footprint of the material.”
“I was very happy — it got full support from the Liberal side,” added Cannings. “For some reason, the Conservatives all voted against it — they felt it was picking winners and losers, which it doesn’t.”
As for other things that are being discussed, “There’s been a lot of talk about pipelines lately and wine, although it is seen primarily as a little spat between Alberta and British Columbia,” said Cannings.
“Things are happening behind the scenes, I hope that we can get through this by having people talk together in a civilized way,” he said. “In the meanwhile, my main industry in the Okanagan is getting caught in the middle. The wine industry, getting picked out by Alberta as one way of putting pressure on B.C., is one thing that I have a bit of interest in, trying to resolve.”
Wildfire prevention grant application
The city will be applying for a Strategic Wildfire Prevention Initiative grant managed through the Union of B.C. Municipalities for $10,000.
If the city is awarded the funds, it will partner with the Selkirk College Forestry program to encourage and adopt FireSmart practices to mitigate the negative impacts of wildfire to community assets and private property.
Some of the eligible items the grant may cover are public education and communications such as the use of local government newsletters, websites and social media, FireSmart day events, FireSmart community plans for specific areas, FireSmart home and property assessments, providing dumpster, chipper or other collection methods to private property owners who have undertaken their own treatments and providing additional curbside debris pickups.
Free community movies
Council decided to sponsor two free community movies to be shown at the Castle Theatre during spring break.
The events will cost $900 and will be paid for out of the special events budget.
One movie will be a children/family movie and the other movie will be suitable for older kids and teens. Suggested dates for the matinee events are Sunday, March 18 and Sunday, April 8.