Clark talked about the province’s forest industry, fighting for a fair softwood lumber agreement and launching a comprehensive Rural Economic Development Strategy.

“This is a company that marries the best in innovation and technology with old fashioned hard work and sweat,” Clark said as she stood with Pioneer Log Homes of B.C.’s founder Bryan Reid Sr. and general manager André Chevigny.

Clark praised incumbent Cariboo-Chilcotin Liberal Donna Barnett as a “tenacious” advocate for forestry, ranching and rural communities.

She promised to extend the Rural Dividend for another year to $100 million, invest $150 million in the Forest Enhancement Society of B.C. to plant tens of millions more trees, which she said would create up to 3,000 jobs and said her government plans to launch a comprehensive Rural Economic Development Strategy.

“You cannot stand up for working people if you don’t stand up for them going to work and people won’t go to work in an economy where government is growing and taxes are growing,” Clark said.

Clark told local media because the Allowable Annual Cut will be reduced to 1.5 million cubic metres for the Williams Lake area Barnett fought for the Rural Dividend Fund to be created in the first place.

“We are trying to bridge rural communities through what could be a difficult time,” Clark said.

When asked if Thompson Rivers University in Williams can expect a funding increase, Clark said “yes” there will be more.

“The economy is growing and the number of jobs is growing and people need to be trained to take those jobs in communities where those jobs will be made,” Clark said.

Responding to concerns about treated water going from Mount Polley Mine into Quesnel Lake, Clark said everything being done in the area is being done based on the “best science” possible.

“Nothing will be done to degrade the lake or diminish its quality,” Clark said. “Yes we want to get people back working, but at the same time people are always concerned with these kinds of steps.”

When asked about the investigation into the mine breach, Barnett said while there is no news, she didn’t think there is a time limit.

“I know if you don’t have something in the courts within two years then it cannot happen, but if an investigation is ongoing it can take years I believe.”

Commenting on the two suspicious deaths in Williams Lake this week, Clark said she is “deeply troubled by it.”

“This is a great community to live in and nobody wants that here.”

The government’s guns and gangs strategy has been focused on the Lower Mainland until recently and now has $2 million focused for the Cariboo, specifically Williams Lake and the region around it, Clark added.

Clark was scheduled to visit Quesnel’s West Fraser Mill at noon with Cariboo North candidate Coralee Oakes and then head to Prince George to meet at 5:30 p.m. with Liberal candidates Shirley Bond, Mike Morris and John Rustad at Bond and Morris’s campaign office.