BC MLA fears trade war with Alberta will impact province’s bottom line

REVELSTOKE (NEWS 1130) – The MLA of one riding in the Interior fears his constituency and community will end up suffering the most as this ongoing trade war between BC and Alberta rages on.

However, it’s not so much the wine that Doug Clovechok is worried about. His riding of Columbia River-Revelstoke depends on Alberta tourism and the almighty dollar.

Since the start of the British Columbia wine boycott in Alberta started, his offices in Kimberley and Revelstoke have been flooded with calls from people angry with the BC government. He’s also received calls from Albertans who say they’re no longer coming.

“This isn’t necessarily just about pipelines,” Clovechok says. “It’s about bad behaviour between two NDP premiers. Quite honestly, both of them accidental premiers –neither one of them should be in the seats that they’re in.”

Clovechok says he wants people to know he’s just as outraged. “The antics that are going on between these two NDP premiers is going to have an incredibly negative impact on the people that elected me. So we’re out there swinging the bat, making sure that we tell Albertans that you know, well we’re friends.”

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has now established a task force to respond to what she says is BC’s unconstitutional attack.

However, Clovechok is hoping they’ll negotiate in the boardroom instead of the living rooms of British Columbians and Albertans.

Alberta had halted BC wine imports after the latter’s environment minister announced it would limit bitumen shipments pending spill response studies last month.

“They’re throwing grenades at each other but they’re not good enough to hit each other,” he says. “But they’re hitting everybody else and it’s really having a negative effect on just really, really solid, hardworking British Columbians.”

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