NDP leader highlights green policy

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – NDP Leader Adrian Dix is scheduled to make a green policy announcement today in a park in Liberal Environment Minister Terry Lake’s Kamloops riding.

Making policy statements in ridings held by Liberal cabinet ministers has been a Dix tactic during the first week of the election campaign.

He’s already made announcements in the ridings of Finance Minister Mike de Jong, Education Minister Don McRae, Social Development Minister Moira Stilwell and Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick.

The only ministry left for him to hit after today will be Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid’s Vancouver-Fairview riding.

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At a Sunday evening rally in Vernon, Dix faced questions about the safety of so-called smart meters installed by the Liberal government.

He was also asked his views on the Northern Gateway pipeline project.

Dix did not pass judgment on the audience’s safety concerns about the smart meters that allow users to track and measure their hydro consumption rates.

However, he said if he’s elected premier on May 14, he will submit the smart meter program to a review by the independent regulatory body, B.C. Utilities Commission.

On Northern Gateway, Dix was applauded when he said an NDP government would withdraw B.C. from an agreement that gives Ottawa final say on approval of the $5 billion pipeline

He said Calgary-based Enbridge’s (TSX:ENB) plan to pipe Alberta oil 1,100-kilometres to a tanker port in Kitimat in northwest B.C. is too environmentally risky.

“I think some things are too valuable to sell,” he said.

Dix also has a townhall meeting scheduled today at a Kamloops high school.

Premier Christy Clark, meantime, will take part in an open line radio show in Vancouver.