ICBA’s Chris Gardner and Jordan Bateman were in Victoria yesterday to stand up for Site C workers and oppose the NDP-Green’s move to send the dam project to the B.C. Utilities Commission for review. Here are a few of our media clips from yesterday.
Canadian Press: Construction will continue while the review is underway, but that provides little solace to the 2,400 people working on the project, said Chris Gardner, president of the Independent Contractors and Business Association. “They’ve got to be thinking that six months from now they may not have a job,” he said.
Times Colonist: “We’re very disappointed; 2,400 men and women in construction woke up today, went to that job site to help build a clean-energy project that will provide hydroelectricity for B.C. for over 100 years. The review is unnecessary. This project has been a decade in the making,” said Gardiner, who showed up at the B.C. legislature with 2,400 fake pink slips to illustrate his point.
Energetic City: “This review is redundant and irresponsible,” said ICBA Communications Director Jordan Bateman. “The focus should be on finishing the dam, not slowing it or stopping it. With 20 per cent of the work complete, and billions spent or committed, we need to finish the job. Judging Site C on ‘current’ demand – as outlined in the NDP-Green agreement – makes no sense given that demand in B.C. is expected to grow by 40 per cent over the next 20 years.”
Vancouver Sun: “The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association held a press conference outside the legislature with more than 2,000 mock pink slips to symbolize the workers who might lose their jobs if the government cancelled the project. “The review is unnecessary,” said association president Chris Gardner. “This project has been a decade in the planning, an independent panel took three years and reviewed the project, the federal and provincial levels of government both approved this project. The focus now should rightly be completing this project on time and on budget.