“What stuck with me was the length of time Carson was in contact with this predator.”
Those are the words of BC Premier David Eby after speaking with the father of Carson Cleland, the 12-year-old boy who tragically took his own life after falling prey to online sextortion.
During an interview with Vista Radio, Eby stated his government is planning some changes to better protect youth from this type of occurrence.
“I think there is a real opportunity for us to use schools more effectively on the front line on the fight against this sort of predatory behaviour. I think we can hold these social media companies to account for what they expose our kids to as well as the relative lack of safety for our kids online.”
“We are looking at several different avenues and I look forward to having more to say about this in the weeks ahead. I committed to Carson’s dad that Carson’s death would not be in vain and that we would take lessons from this and support kids across the province. He was willing to work with me to make sure from a parent’s perspective we are meeting the mark.
“What stuck with me through our conversation was the length of time Carson was in contact with this predator, which resulted in Carson taking his own life was just 12 hours and that it could happen so quickly.”
As of the end of November, the Prince George RCMP received 62 reports of online sextortion, surpassing the 56 reports received in 2022.
The Prince George RCMP is holding an information session on online safety and sextortion Monday at 6 pm from Vanier Hall.
In addition, Eby noted talks remain ongoing with Fortescue to bring their proposed 2-billion dollar green hydrogen plant in Prince George to fruition.
It will require 1,000 megawatts of clean electricity to run in our city.
He stated bringing this project to the finish would add to the green-related projects already based in PG.
“It’s not just the Fortescue project Prince George is also home to Canada’s first renewable diesel refinery, which is also very exciting. We are engaged in conversations with Fortescue but the big challenge for us is the amount of electricity Fortescue needs to make this plant work
Furthermore, the province, Fortescue, and BC Hydro remain at the table to hammer out a solution to the clean energy requirement.
“What we are doing is working with BC Hydro and Fortescue, They put forward their formal request that they require, which was a step that was needed and so we are working with them to make sure they provide as much electricity as possibility so we can make a go of it and employ as many people as possible in Prince George.”
Once up and running, the plant will produce “approximately 140,000 tonnes per year of green hydrogen and approximately 800,000 tonnes per year of green ammonia,” making Project Coyote one of the largest hydrogen projects in the country.
The plant is estimated to bring over 100 permanent jobs to Prince George.
Eby will also be attending the BC Natural Resources Forum in PG, which begins on Tuesday.
The premier is looking forward to addressing delegates about both mining and forestry during the three-day conference.
“In mining, there is a massive opportunity for us around critical minerals that have been laid out by the Mining Association of BC and we are advancing a critical minerals strategy to take advantage of that. Minister Osborne (Josie) was in the United Kingdom with several international and national mining companies talking about British Columbia and advocating for us.”
“Forestry though, is a sector that has been struggling due to a combination of a lack of trees and due to forest fires as well as the mismanagement of our forests for generations combined with a very low price for our wood has been a huge challenge.”
“I try to figure out how we could be facing record global inflation and still have very low wood prices and it’s wildly frustrating. In any event, it’s hurting families in the province who have been relying on the forest economy for a long time,” added Eby.
Eby will be speaking to a sold-out crowd from the Prince George Conference and Civic Centre at the opening night banquet dinner starting at 6pm.