B.C. Returning to Separate Forestry and Rural Development Ministries

British Columbia Premier John Horgan has announced that the B.C. ministry with the biggest name and footprint in provincial history is being broken up as part of a reform of rural and resource development. In explaining the change Horgan said, “The ministry was created by Gordon Campbell just days before he resigned as premier. It’s been existing for almost a decade without any amendments or visions, and I think it’s an important part of our economic vitality, certainly forests, but also to have the permitting and other processes separated so that they can have a stand-alone minister.” To that end, what today is officially known as the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development will be broken up into two government departments. That will leave Kootenay West MLA Katrine Conroy with a focus on forests and rural development as B.C.’s first female forests minister. Cullen, a long-time northwest B.C. MP appointed “minister of state” or assistant to Conroy, will likely end up in charge of the vast Crown lands and resource roads that wind through them.