KIMBERLEY—The Campbell government must adopt the recommendations of the coroner’s inquest into the deaths of four people at the Sullivan Mine without delay, New Democrat Labour critic Chuck Puchmayr said today.

“A coroner’s jury has completed their investigation and made recommendations to prevent such an incident from happening again,” said Puchmayr. “The Campbell government has a responsibility to honour their work, and the Opposition will be watching to make sure that those recommendations are implemented as soon as possible.

The jury’s recommendations, which came down late Friday, included increasing mine inspections, increasing fines for infractions of the mine safety code, and upgrading the mine safety code so that it matches the occupational health and safety standards of WorkSafe BC. The jury also called for changes at the B.C. Ambulance Service, including better conditions for dispatchers, a full-time station chief for Kimberley, and more training and equipment for paramedics.

“We learned from the death in 2003 of farm worker Mohinder Sunar that the Campbell government has a reputation for being slow to act on the results of a coroner’s inquest,” said Puchmayr. “In that case, the Coroner made several recommendations, but the B.C. Liberal government ignored those recommendations until the tragic death this year of three farm workers forced them into political damage control.

“The Campbell government must stop dragging its feet and work quickly to implement the changes recommended by the jury,” said Puchmayr.

Norm Macdonald, the MLA for Columbia River – Revelstoke, called for full implementation of the jury’s recommendations, especially the hiring of a full-time ambulance station chief for Kimberley. “Everyone in Kimberley was touched by the death of these four dedicated people, and I will be working with the community to make sure that such deaths never happen again,” Macdonald said.

The inquest was called to investigate the deaths last year from suffocation of Doug Erickson, Bob Newcombe, Kim Weitzel and Shawn Currier at a water sampling shed at the site of the decommissioned Sullivan Mine.