To get an idea of how much the B.C. Liberals don't want to call an inquiry into the Babine Forest Products and Lakeland Mills explosions, regard the open, weeping sore that is the provincial government's handling of the so-called Highway of Tears.
The dramatically monikered stretch of road linking Prince George to Prince Rupert has for years been one long crime scene for a dozen or more murdered and missing aboriginal women. And while the question of what happened to this long list of victims remains a mystery, the how and why they may have been preyed upon requires little deduction - solitary females hitchhiking from remote First Nation communities, often fleeing from poverty, abuse, make easy targets for even the laziest of deviants. Likewise, the solution to this social and safety inequity is apparent - vulnerable First Nation women need an affordable way to travel Highway 16 - but successive provincial governments have had neither the dollars nor the political will to do much more beyond leaving those same women on the side of the road.
However, there have been plenty of studies - from a 2006 report by a symposium of highway stakeholders to a portion of former attorney general Wally Oppal's 2012 report into the failures surrounding serial killer Robert Pickton and the Downtown Eastside that addressed northern B.C.'s missing women and Highway 16. For the past few months the NDP - notably North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice and Women`s Issues critic Maurine Karagianis - have been hounding the government over why, a year and a half later, the Liberals have produced little movement on Oppal's recommendations on, among other things, the Highway of Tears.
Last April, Rice now infamously asked Liberal Transporation Minister Todd Stone about the inquiry's call for "urgent action to bring in a shuttle bus along the Highway of Tears". Stone answered "a tremendous number of discussions and meetings" had been held on the issue "particularly with local government officials, community organizations and other stakeholders."
Yet, according to The Canadian Press, the province hadn't gotten round to contacting mayors and other stakeholders on those consultations and, when asked for specifics, the ministry could point to only two meetings.
Amid the fallout from that revelation, Justice Minister Suzanne Anton stepped into the breach. Highway 16, she declared, was safer than it has ever been, with plenty of transportation options, what with Northern Health's Connections bus, the train, and the Greyhound. Unfortunately for Anton, the Northern Health bus is strictly for patients with medical appointments and Greyhound service has gotten worse, after the firm cut the number of trips in 2013.
Now the the only thing scarcer for some than either a safe ride or cell phone signal on Highway 16 have been any further thoughts on the matter from Stone or Anton; they have both declined repeated interview requests on the issue.
The NDP wants what the 2006 symposium report calls for: a shuttle bus system linking each town and city along Highway 16; it figures seven would do the trick, operating year round.
Before their radio silence, Anton, Stone and the Liberals insist Oppal only asked for "a safer travel option"; Anton told Rice in March that "the words 'shuttle bus were not used.'" Anton is correct but Oppal did write in 2012 "[my] main recommendation is to support the full implementation of the action plan established through the Highway of Tears Symposium process." The number one recommendation of the latter report was the shuttle bus system.
On the other hand, Premier Christy Clark would probably rather have a full-back tattoo of Adrian Dix and Glen Clark French kissing than commit to a northern B.C. shuttle service. From the Liberal point of view, it could a headache: it would be costly to run in proportion to the users it would serve; service levels would likely be constantly criticized as inadequate; and everything from insuring the bus drivers themselves weren't predators to potential accidents would present a welter of legal issues. There's also a cynical political calculation to be made: neither hitchhiking First Nations women nor those with more than a passing care for their well-being are likely to cast a Liberal votes in significant quantities in the next election.
That said, both Stone and Anton's answers betray a certain disdain for the region and its concerns. The Liberals promised at least a dog-and-pony show in Highway 16 consultations but Stone and his ministry could barely supply one mangy mutt when the curtain was drawn. Anton apparently couldn't even be bothered to check a bus schedule when answering Rice.
Maybe they're right to take northern B.C.'s support for granted. But the more contempt they show for this issue, the more people will wonder why the Liberals found billions for synchronized luge tracks, expressways for millionaire skiers and other Olympic frippery but can't seem to scrape up the coin for insuring a northern B.C. highway isn't an all-you-can-kill buffet for any psychopath with a set of wheels and a map. It's the kind of resentment that can eat at a brand even as strong as the Liberals.
And while the Liberals hope the controversy burns itself out, neither the symposium report nor Oppal's are going anywhere. They'll be there when fresh Highway of Tears questions get asked and it'll all come up again: Todd's lip service, Anton missing the bus and why it's been one, two, five years since the Liberals ignored the report written by their guy who chaired the inquiry they called.
Hopefully when that time comes there won't be new ghosts on the road, wondering when the Liberals will find their way.
