Ron Cantelon says he’s relieved the voters won’t be going to the polls for an early election — but it’s not because he’s afraid to face the voters.
Rather, he said, Premier Christy Clark’s announcement Wednesday that voters won’t go to the polls until May of 2013 gives his party an opportunity to do what they were elected to do — govern the province of B.C.
“I’m certainly relieved,” he said. “It’s clear that the message is ‘lets get back to work. Let’s get governing.”
Cantelon said he’s relieved that the government can finally get beyond the HST issue and get down to creating economic opportunities for the people of the province.
“The HST has preoccupied us for too long,” he said.
“We need to get the health care centre moving and we’re very close to a final announcement — within a couple of weeks. We need to get back to the basics of governing the province. Rather than have an election and throw the question of who is going to win up in the air, we need to govern.”
With the world teetering on the verge of another possible recession, Cantelon said there’s no shortage of work to be done.
“We are in a challenging governing situation,” he said. “There are revenue challenges and we need to get the lumber industry going on the Island. Western Forest Products is looking at a new plant and we need to encourage them to move on that.”
The premier’s statement, he said, sends a clear message that the governing Liberals are going to move forward with their jobs and opportunities agenda.
“People want us to get back to work and govern the province,” he said.
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