April 15 to 21, 2018, is National Volunteer Week, a time to celebrate the too-often unsung labour of ordinary citizens accomplishing extraordinary feats.

During Tsunami Preparedness Week, we need only reflect on the events of Jan. 23, 2018, when many of us were rousted out of our beds just before 2 a.m.

Our government continues to take urgent action to keep auto insurance rates affordable. At the same time, we're preparing for the legalization of non-medical cannabis, and its implications for road safety.

April showers bring spring flowers, but they can also unleash floods and trigger landslides — a reality that those of us who reside along flood plains, unstable slopes and river banks know all too well.

Facts:

When I took on my new role as parliamentary secretary on July 18, 2017, wildfires were sweeping through the Interior, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes and communities.

Here in British Columbia, forests have always been a vital part of our way of life ― anchoring our economy, and providing both recreation and tourism opportunities. 

The stories of people taken by the overdose crisis come from every corner of the province. A forestry worker in the North who became addicted to painkillers for a workplace injury and then turned to street drugs. Friends celebrating after a wedding in the Interior. Suburban parents who left behind young children. Middle-aged men who were clean and sober for years.