Reflecting on BC Hydro’s infrastructure announcement and what it means for our members
August 12, 2024
By Kim McInroy, MoveUP Executive Board Member
On Monday, July 28, at the Terminal Substation in Vernon, The Hon. Josie Osborne, Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, alongside Harwinder Sandhu, MLA for Vernon-Monashee and the Deputy Government Caucus Chair, joined BC Hydro officials to make an announcement of $5.8 billion in capital projects across BC’s Southern Interior over the next 10 years to expand the electrical grid, and upgrade its infrastructure to ensure a continued, reliable supply of clean power across the region.
This was a series of announcements that our BC government and BC Hydro have been making in many communities across the province, demonstrating the BC government’s commitment to clean energy and combatting the climate crisis.
The BC government has also demonstrated a commitment to making sure unions and union members are recognized for our role in ushering in a clean energy future. That includes MoveUP as one of the unions that represents workers at BC Hydro.
As an executive board member, I had the privilege of being asked by MoveUP to represent our union during this recent visit. I had the opportunity to greet both Minister Osborne and MLA Sandhu prior to the announcement, as well as thank Maureen Daschuk, BC Hydro’s Senior Vice-President of Integrated Planning, for including MoveUP in this announcement.
After the announcement, I had the honour of hosting Minister Osborne and MLA Sandhu, along with their assistants, at our BC Hydro Vernon District Office. I was joined by MoveUP executive councillors Shelly Johnston and Liz Zlot as we provided a tour of the facility.
We were able to show them the areas where our design and infrastructure departments are, and closed out by showing them where our members who work as dedicated customer care agents work in the call centre.
We were all very pleased to see Minister Osborne and MLA Sandhu take the time to talk with our members, get to know about their roles at BC Hydro, and what working with the public entails.
On behalf of Shelly and Liz, I want to thank MoveUP for providing this opportunity to connect with our elected officials during their visit and we are excited to watch for more positive developments on clean energy and protecting our environment from our government and BC Hydro moving forward.