Uncertainty looms for BC big ticket items as Horgan sworn-in as premier

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – John Horgan and his NDP team have been sworn in as British Columbia’s 36th provincial government, but that doesn’t mean the Massey replacement bridge or the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion projects are dead.

The proposed 10 lane bridge to replace the Massey Tunnel has been slammed by the Mayor’s Council as being too expensive and the wrong option for Metro Vancouver, Premier Horgan is refusing to rule the $4-billion project out altogether.

He says he wants to hear more from transportation ministry staff.

“There’s a possibility that we’ll look at every option available to us but again, I’m going to take council from the ministry when I get the chance to sit down with staff and also be guided by the hard work that the mayors and the region have done to make the hard choices about where they want to put their priorities,” said Horgan at his first news conference as premier.

“We need to address congestion at the Massey tunnel, but we need to make sure we’re doing it in a way that addresses the other needs for transportation and infrastructure in the region. The Pattullo bridge is at the end of its life –we need to get on that this summer to make sure we’re getting decisions made so that we can have that replacement up and running as quickly as possible.”

The question put to BC’s new premier on Trans Mountain pipeline was direct: will he use every tool at his disposal to stop that project from going ahead?

“We’re going to get a briefing from the attorney general’s ministry on the status of various legal cases that are currently underway. We’re going to talk to the ministries responsible for permitting and we’ll have more to say about that in the future.”

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