Prince George, BC – It was gesture that was missed by the Prime Minister, but the NDP MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley followed up on a pledge to constituents on the floor of the House of Commons yesterday…

Armed with a small vial of water from northwest BC watersheds, Nathan Cullen told fellow MPs there can be no progress on oil and gas development without further dialogue.

Cullen collected the water during a mixing ceremony held earlier this month at a Sacred Headwaters celebration held in his riding to mark a permanent ban on oil and gas development in a 400-thousand hectare area of the Klappan in northwest BC.  "First Nations and non-First Nations, hunters, fishermen, average ordinary people, environmental groups and others all stood together to say we will stop this very bad idea to drill and frack for gas at the headwaters," said the NDP’s House Leader of the Opposition.

With Stephen Harper not in the House yesterday, Cullen said he will forward the vial directly to the PM with an accompanying letter urging the Conservative government to work directly and inclusively with Canadians on issues such as this one, that plague the country today.