Thursday January 21, 2021 | DUNCAN, BC
by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
Cowichan-Malahat-Langford MP Alistair MacGregor has been appointed as the BC Regional Development Agency Critic in the NDP Shadow Cabinet, as announced on Tuesday January 19 by NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
MacGregor will continue to sit as the Critic for Agriculture, Rural Economic Development, and as Deputy Critic for Justice.
“I am honoured to accept this appointment as our party’s Critic for the yet to be implemented BC Regional Development Agency,” said MacGregor.
“I’m pleased that the federal government pledged to create a government agency to respond to the specific needs of BC businesses,” MacGregor said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to the hard work of guiding NDP policy on issues relating to economic development and local innovation in our province, particularly in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Government of Canada unveiled the possibility of creating an additional regional development agency (RDA) that would focus specifically on British Columbia, in the Fall Economic Statement tabled by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on November 30, 2020. The government noted that it proposes to “introduce a new approach to regional development in the West” by operating separate agencies for British Columbia (BC) and the Prairies. The BC RDA would mark the seventh such federal agency, with six others that currently span the country.
Alistair MacGregor was first elected in 2015 as the MP for Cowichan-Malahat-Langford and was re-elected in October 2019. He has been a vocal proponent for small businesses in his riding during the pandemic.
