Kootenay Central MLA Brittny Anderson says her new job as Minister of State for Local Government and Rural Communities – a new position in the B.C. cabinet – is a sign that the provincial government will take rural communities seriously.
"That is bringing a rural voice to all government decisions." she said. "My focus is going to really be connecting with rural people from across the province, listening to them, hearing their creative solutions, and then bringing those to ministers and then also to the premier."
A minister of state is a junior member of the cabinet who assists a specific senior minister. Anderson will be working directly with Premier David Eby.
"I think he recognized the work that I had done as co-chair of the Rural Caucus over the last three years."
Anderson said her new cabinet role will formalize work she has already been doing to advance rural issues.
As an example, she pointed to this past summer's wildfire that forced the evacuation of Argenta. A local volunteer fire brigade that had been preparing and training for two decades sprung into action and stayed behind in the community to help BC Wildfire Service with the evacuation and assist firefighters in protecting the community.
"They knew that it was going to be not if, but when, there would be a forest fire near their community," Anderson said. "They got trained, they got certified, they got the equipment, they mapped their water systems."
She said she brought this program to the attention of Eby, and now the province intends to support other communities in creating a similar model.
She also cited the Youth Climate Corps, started in the Kootenays and now spreading to other communities due to funding she sourced. The program "pays young people a living wage to do climate action work, whether it's retrofitting homes for nonprofits, for adults with diverse abilities, or fire smarting around the Kaslo Town Hall."
The Rural Caucus in the previous government, Anderson said, made a list of issues affecting rural communities. The list turned out to be quite long, so they narrowed it down to three: health care, transportation, and transportation to health care. She said her job will be to continue with those.
She said the government's Travel Assistance Program, which now covers medical travel for eligible people by air, rail, or ferry, will now begin paying mileage for people who want to drive for example from Nelson to Kelowna for medical treatment.
Anderson said that is the kind of gap that she hopes to fill.
She wants to see rural communities connected by bus, like BC Bus North, that was put in place in 2018 for the security of travellers along Highway 16, also known as the Highway of Tears, in northwestern B.C. That service is funded by the provincial and federal governments.
"We have private providers right now that are covering some of those gaps, but we know that it's not a complete service model."
Asked if the government intends to directly provide more bus services like Rural Bus North, Anderson said the government "is studying different service models."
Regarding attracting doctors and other practitioners to rural areas, Anderson said she thinks of Creston as an example of what is needed.
"They've created a really good model where the physicians and the nurse practitioners and nurses, they feel very supported. Doctors want to work there, because they get a full scope of practice. Rural B.C. is an incredible place to live, and there are medical practitioners that want that for themselves and their families, and want to be a part of the community and serve rural British Columbians."
Anderson said the government's plan for the Kootenays regarding the toxic drug crisis and its attendant mental health and housing issues includes Anderson and new Minister of Health Josie Osborne going out and listening to people.
Asked if the government has not been doing that for the past decade, Anderson said, "We definitely have been. I mean, you look at me in my capacity of MLA in the last four years, my office and myself personally, we have been in direct contact with the organizations and the people that are impacted by the opioid crisis, if not on a daily basis, at least on a weekly basis."
Anderson offered no government plan to address the overdose crisis in the Kootenays.
She wants rural issues to become a new lens that will be incorporated into all government decisions, similar to the two currently established lenses, Indigenous reconciliation and gender equality.
"Everything always goes through a reconciliation lens, and so it discusses how First Nations are impacted by this decision, what their comments are, what their feedback was on the specific decision that you're making, and there's also a gender-based analysis. So I also want the rural piece to be considered."
