The Merritt-area MLA says it was important that Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth see the damage that was caused by flooding last month for himself.

Jackie Tegart was one of several dignitaries who got a first hand look at that damage and devastation in Merritt last Thursday, Dec. 9.

“It is great to come and see and tell people ‘yes, we have your backs’ but I think that after our experience in the Village of Lytton of having your back, we’re going to hold their feet to their fire,” she said.

“People in Merritt are devastated along with people along the Highway 8 corridor and we have a huge amount of work to do and the provincial government is very much a part of that.”

Local media wasn’t made aware of the tour, which Tegart says was unfortunate. Also part of the delegation was B.C. Minster of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Murray Rankin, several local First Nations Chiefs, Merritt Mayor Linda Brown, and TNRD Board Chair, Ken Gillis.

Tegart tells NL News she was also disappointed that a meeting between the Minster and Merritt City Council had to be cancelled.

“My understand is that he ran into a weather issue around Hope and so everything was pushed back a couple of hours,” she said. “It was pretty clear to me though that there very much is a wish for the City of Merritt to have a good long talk with the Minister with what their needs are.”

Speaking on NL Newsday, she says people in other communities in her riding of Fraser-Nicola are also hoping to have these ongoing discussions with government.

“This very definitely is seen from the people in the local area as a first step. This is not the only visit that they expect from ministers and from government,” Tegart added. “We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’ve got to have those conversations on how we build back and build better.”

And while there is no indication when that next visit could be, Tegart is hoping it will be as soon as possible.

Spences Bridge Area Director Not Informed About Farnworth’s Visit

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District Spences Bridge Area Director was not happy that he wasn’t told when Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth was in the area last week.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Steven Rice says the government needs to start revisiting its business plan when it comes to interacting with communities. Last month, he told NL News that people who live along Highway 8 between Merritt and Spences Bridge will likely not be able to go home for years.

“Wildfires and flooding are no longer the exception, they are the rule,” Rice said. “So its time we start addressing something that is going to be facing us every single season, every single year, and we’re, I’d say, three or four laps behind climate change in these disasters. So, time to catch up folks”

Rice says that the government should be going from ‘the bottom up’, meaning it should be getting ahold of local area directors or mayors first. He also says all levels of government will have to work together on recovery efforts for fires and floods from this year.

“We’ve got a year to two years, where some of these people will never go home. Where people aren’t even gonna get back to home that still have their homes. They need to know the ministry cares about them,” Rice added.

“Because in the long term, who is going to make the decisions that make that happen? It’s gonna be the ministry. Its gonna be the province and the federal government”

Rice adds his constituents want to know that they have not been forgotten by government.

– With files from Amanda Thode and Brett Mineer