A coalition northern B.C. groups advocating for resource communities will be holding a truck convoy through Prince George Wednesday, concluding with a rally at the Civic Centre coinciding with the Natural Resources forum and Premier John Horgan’s keynote address.
The coalition of groups is made up of #TheNorthMatters Kitimat, #TheNorthMatters Prince Rupert, #TheNorthMatters Quesnel, #TheNorthMatters Bulkley Valley, Fort Nelson for LNG, Fort St John for LNG, and SHARE BC.
Line-up for the rally starts at 9 a.m. at the intersection of Boundary Road and Highway 16. The convoy will start making its way downtown at 10 a.m. with speaker taking the stage at 11:30 a.m. at the Civic Centre. Horgan is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the luncheon.
Speakers will include: Ian Fife of Fort Nelson for LNG, Chris O’Connor of SHARE BC, Dave Johnston of #TheNorthMatters, James Robson of Canada Action, and Nicole Malchow of Rally for Resources.
“Urban environmental groups are leading the current debate over the use and management of B.C.’s rich natural resource legacy with little reference to the resource producing economies of rural B.C.,” reads a statement from the group. “Consequently, many good mining, oil and gas, hydroelectric, forestry, fisheries & agriculture industries, the essential transportation infrastructure projects (pipelines, transmission lines, rail etc), and service industries are under siege. Left out of the conversation are the working families of these industries. Our goal is to combine and amplify those voices.”
Organizers say they are attending the BC Natural Resources Forum with hopes of identifying established Prince George natural resource citizen’s groups that may wish to join the coalition or identifying local individuals looking to start a Prince George chapter of one of the established groups.