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THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
City seeking yet another new manager Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
Just as the City of Merritt had its management staff operating at full capacity, yet another city manager position sits vacant. City of Merritt chief administrative officer Shawn Boven has confirmed that planning and development manager Sean O’Flaherty is no longer employed with the municipality. As this is a personnel matter, Boven said he cannot
Horgan hears from you NDP looking to reconnect with B.C. voters Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
B.C. New Democrat leader John Horgan and more than 100 NDP delegates came to Merritt to determine a path to victory in next year’s provincial election by getting a handle on local issues. The visit was for a NDP regional conference held last weekend at the Civic Centre. “This is a listening exercise for me and my colleagues,” Horgan told the Herald. “I can’t preach from southern Vancouver Island what’s the most important issue in the Interior,” said the MLA for Juan de Fuca. Horgan said he believes For all your landscaping needs call the professionals at
the NDP needs to reconnect with working people, and he understands their challenges as a leader with a workingclass background. “And I need to make sure that when people go to the ballot box they think of the NDP as the party that’s on their side, and they look at the Liberals as the party that for the past number of years has been focusing on the physical bottom line at the expense of services for people,” he said. “What I believe the defining issue over the next 12 months will be is how much trust does the Liberal government still has with the people of B.C.,” Horgan told the Herald.
While in Merritt, Horgan said he visited the Aspen Planers mill to discuss the challenges it faces, such as fibre supply, and met with Mayor Neil Menard regarding the relationship between provincial and municipal governments. In a speech at the conference, Horgan told a crowd of about 60 that the NDP needs to resonate with people in Merritt and throughout the southern Interior if it wants to form a majority government. Horgan said voters don’t want just a list of grievances with the other parties. “They want something to get excited about,” he said.
“We have to be proud of our convictions, not for what we’re against, but what we’re in favour of, and we need to be in favour of rural British Columbia,” Horgan said. “We need to talk about ranching, we need to talk about agriculture, we need to revive our forestry industry again in this province — the most renewable of resources.” “We need to look at the things that bring us all together. I think that’s what British Columbians are yearning for, and that’s what we’re going to deliver in 2017,” Horgan said.
See ‘Winning rural B.C.’ Page 5
comment beyond that. He said the city is currently seeking O’Flaherty’s replacement and confirmed the position is not being changed from its current description. “We’re actively seeking a manager of planning and development services,” Boven said. At the beginning of the month, the city’s new director of recreation and facilities officially started work, bringing the management staff to full capacity until now.
Tegart acclaimed as Liberal candidate for Fraser-Nicola Michael Potestio THE MERRITT HERALD
Liberal MLA Jackie Tegart has been acclaimed as her party’s candidate in Fraser-Nicola for the upcoming 2017 provincial election. The first-time MLA will head into the next election in the unfamiliar role of incumbent. Tegart told the Herald she’ll approach the next election
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similarly to the last one by getting out to communities and talking to voters. “I think that was our success last time and we’ve certainly tried very hard to serve the constituency with that in mind,” she said. In a press release, Tegart said she will look to continue to be a strong voice for all interests in Fraser-
See ‘Tegart says’ Page 5
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