The Peace River-South MLA isn’t surprised Blair Lekstrom has resigned as the middle man on consultations for caribou recovery in northeast B.C.

Lekstrom was appointed by the Horgan government after frustration arose when the feds, the province and two local First Nations drafted a tripartite agreement on protecting caribou without consulting local governments.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Mike Bernier was asked if he thinks appointing Lekstrom was a sincere move.

“I think it was all just to give a shield, to the Premier and the government. They were feeling a lot of pressure. A couple of days before he appointed Blair, I was able to present a petition in the house with I think over 40,000 signatures, of people who were upset. So to all of a sudden throw Blair in, I think the Premier was being crass. Basically thought that would be an oppurtunity to dampen down some of the noise.”

Bernier was asked if he thinks the federal government’s role in the tripartite agreement hindered the B.C government from updating it to include other local governments.

“The feds have their role, absolutely, but this had nothing to do with that,” he says.

“We’re all, up in this region, everyone says let’s do what we have to to try to protect the caribou. What people were upset about is the way the government rolled out the process without even talking to people first, and that was part of the partnership agreement.”

Lekstrom says the province had to include local governments in consultations. He resigned when Premier wrote to indicate that won’t happen.