Christy Clark Tackles All Topics In PG

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Christy Clark was in Prince George today to drum up support for her leadership bid

Prince George, B.C. - Liberal Leadership hopeful, Christy Clark, is the third of the five candidates vying for Gordon Campbell's job to make a stop in Prince George...

After meeting with party faithful and members of the public in the Gleason Room at the Coast Inn of the North this afternoon, Clark fielded questions from the media on B.C. Rail, the HST, and her vision for the northern half of the province.

First, Clark does not agree with political pundits who say the sale of B.C. Rail and ensuing controversy is her weakness. And Clark says she has no plans to hold a public inquiry into the matter. "No, no, I mean, I think we got to the bottom of it in court, the decision -- the Crown got the decision it wanted at the end of the process -- and I think it's time to move on."

Her stance on the Harmonized Sales Tax is a little more convoluted: she believes the tax is a good one. She says it benefits both the forest industry and the mining industry, "but the public hates it right now". Clark says while you might be able to persuade people the HST is a good tax, regaining public trust over the process that occurred will be a tougher battle to win.

She says if public opinion is still strongly opposed by the end of February, she would like to see a vote in the Legislature, "If 70-percent of the people are still opposed to it and its going down in flames, why should we spend the $40-million bucks on the referendum?"

"Let's just take a break, say we listened, go into the Legislature and give people the vote they wanted." However, Clark says if opinion shifts and the outcome of the referendum is less clear, then she would let the referendum stand so British Columbians could have their say.

As for her vision for the north should she become leader of the Liberals and Premier of the Province, Clark says she's sticking with her 'Families First' Agenda -- which, she says, works province-wide: "My view is what is most important for family, is a job for Mom and Dad."

"So, we are very much focused on resource industries, encouraging investment," says Clark. "The bio-energy industry is a great example of an area of the economy that can grow massively if government just gives it a little bit of encouragement." By that, Clark says she means ensuring the government removes obstacles to such growth. "I mean, it can grow by 400-percent in the next ten years if we let it, if we enable it to do so, so those are the kinds of things that we're focused on."

She says local MLA, Pat Bell, has done a great job expanding markets for our wood resources, but says more must be done on the mining front. "If they can't figure out a way to get the Prosperity mine going, for 17 years, I think we're just going to send a message to people who want to invest in British Columbia that we don't want mining in this province."

"I really think we need to focus on opening up our resource sector, government has to get out of the way. So those are some of the challenges, I think, for the north."

The B.C. Liberals will vote in a new leader on February 26th. In addition to Clark, George Abbott, Kevin Falcon, Mike de Jong, and Moira Stilwell are vying for the job.

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