Article content continued

Jackson plans to meet with Premier John Horgan, Liberal Opposition Leader Christy Clark and Green party Leader Andrew Weaver to convince them that the project should go ahead.

“I really think I’ve got to stress with the three leaders (to) set your politics aside and look at the issue and what’s best for the province and the people that live here, and let’s do the right thing,” Jackson said.

Photo by Dharm Makwana / PNG

The bridge was a pet project of Clark’s when she was premier, but Horgan has said a bridge is not necessarily the right way to address congestion in the area. He has stopped short of saying he will scrap the project altogether, and instead has talked about reviewing options.

“I’m going to take counsel from the ministry when I get a chance to sit down with staff and be guided by the hard work the mayors in the region have done,” Horgan said Tuesday after he was sworn in as premier.

Newly appointed Transportation Minister Claire Trevena echoed Horgan’s comments that more research will need to be done on the bridge project, but that most local mayors don’t want it and the NDP will focus on what the mayors want for transit in the region.

The Greens have taken a similar approach, saying during the election campaign they would put the project on hold and conduct a review.

“How quickly we can get together with the three leaders I don’t know, we’ve certainly been trying to get meetings with them to explain to them how important this is,” said Jackson. “The thing is shovel ready, everything is ready to go. It would be such a waste because of somebody’s political agenda to negate this really huge need, not only for Delta.”