The Quesnel Seniors Centre was a lively spot to be on Tuesday evening as the Cariboo’s placer and hard rock miners gathered to listen to BC’s Conservative Leader John Cummins talk about some of the outstanding issues that are on the minds of most placer miners these days.

John and his wife traveled up by car to the hub of the gold fields after CMA member Linda Brown had extended an invitation to him to come and speak to the association.

While John has not had a lot to do with placer mining he did relate a story about how he had worked for a period of time on the WAC Bennett dam back in the 1960s when it was under construction and experienced what it was like working underground.

He also told the audience that his own life as a commercial fisherman on the west coast of the province was in many ways very similar to that of the small, independent miner and the types of issues and concerns that the placer miners have paralleled his own experiences while working on his boat.

The CMA has been pressing government on a number of issues regarding the volume of bureaucratic overburden that miners are expected to remove each year prior to going to work. Onerous permits and fees and increasing regulations in terms of first aid requirement plus complex forms to fill out were just some of the issues that came up for discussion.

The topics of Environmental issues and First Nations consultations by each placer miner who is forced to comply with regulations that the miners feel ought to be dealt with by the provincial ministries were addressed by Cummins who also took time to explain to the members how the treaty negotiations have worked over the past twenty five years or so. As John put it if the resources of the province are not controlled by the province and dealt with in a fair and equitable manner to the benefit of all the citizens of B.C. then what’s the purpose in have a provincial legislature.

John fielded a lot of questions from CMA members in the audience and while he didn’t have all the answers to the many issues he did assure them that his party would be taking their concerns seriously when they became either the Official Opposition or the party to run the province come the next election in 2013.

After John had finished speaking he was given a warm round of applause and then was presented with a fine looking gold nugget donated on behalf of the CMA and member John Bot. Chris Winther, President of the CMA, made the presentation and thanked John for taking time to come all the way up to the Cariboo to speak to the group.

In a news release from party headquarters on May 9th, 2012 John had the following to report regarding his visit to Quesnel:

“British Columbia’s Conservatives are a party that puts the little guy ahead of the special interests,” said Cummins. “That’s why we support policies that will make life easier for everyone from placer miners to hard working families. Policies like scrapping the carbon tax that makes everything more expensive, especially for people who have to drive long distances.”

“We believe that the natural resources of this province belong to all British Columbians and the process of granting permission to extract those resources should treat everyone the same from the largest company to the smallest claim-staker. And no one group or community should have veto power over the development of those resources.”

“Small businesses employ more than half of the private-sector workforce so government should be making life easier, not more complicated for small businesses. Small businesses do not have access to the lobbyists and insiders who influence the Liberal government in Victoria – and so they have been losing out. Decisions like cancelling the small business tax cut show you were the Liberal priorities lie.”

“British Columbia’s Conservatives are the only ones who will stand up for small businesses and individuals against the special interests, lobbyists, and cronies who control the old line parties.”

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For further information on John Cummins and the BC Conservative Party please contact the following:
Media Contact:
Jim Mitchell
604-355-8152
conservatives@bcconservative.ca