Horgan: Site C to see technical review

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Troubled dam project has an unstable foundation and other geotechnical problems

The saga over the future of the Site C dam has taken another strange turn, resulting in the government delaying its decision to sometime in the future. The Premier has announced two new technical reviews of a new fix being proposed by BC Hydro. The Horgan government hired a former deputy minister of finance to assess the troubled project one year ago. Peter Milburn was supposed to recommend to the government, whether the dam's unstable foundation and other geotechnical problems made the project unsafe or too expensive to proceed. At that time, BC Hydro said it did not know how to fix the problems, how long it would take or what the cost would be. Yesterday, Premier Horgan said Milburn's report did not answer the safety questions. In addition, he disclosed BC Hydro is now proposing a solution. Horgan says that's why the government has commissioned two more reviews.

"Milburn worked with the information that was available to him: the fix that's been proposed by Hydro and we're now asking for two other opinions on the efficacy of that fix and when we have those and they've been assessed and digested, that will all be made public." —Premier John Horgan.

Horgan did not provide the names of the experts doing the reviews, nor any details about Hydro's proposed fix, nor any timeline about when a decision on the future of the project will be made.

Calls for kindness from various leaders counter racist remarks and action towards Cowichan Tribes

The Mayor of North Cowichan is calling for kindness, in the wake of racist and anti-racist battles on social media. Last Sunday, Al Siebring posted on Facebook, condemning racist comments and actions that had been directed toward members of Cowichan Tribes following a COVID-19 outbreak in the First Nations community. Siebring says that the post went viral, with more than 200,000 views. Provincial and federal leaders endorsed Siebring's call to end racism, including the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Yesterday, Siebring posted again saying one of the people he called out had received hateful messages and death threats. He says the person tried to apologize unreservedly and was on a suicide watch, due to the harassment. Siebring is calling for kindness from all sides, writing "We're all human. We all make mistakes. And we all need to learn to apply grace and forgiveness. Please, please let's tone things down."