Cariboo North

Cariboo North sits in the geographic centre of British Columbia, encompassing the city of Quesnel and surrounding communities between Williams Lake to the south and Prince George to the north. Quesnel, the riding’s largest centre with a population of about 12,000, has historically been a mill town whose economy revolves around the forest industry. In 2013, Coralee Oakes won the seat for the BC Liberals, and during the 2013–2017 term she served in cabinet as Minister of Small Business, Red Tape Reduction and Minister Responsible for the Liquor Distribution Branch, and later as Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development.

Cariboo North has been one of the most competitive ridings in BC’s interior. Every election except 2001 had been decided by fewer than 800 votes, a reflection of the riding’s political split: Quesnel’s unionized mill workers tend to lean toward the NDP, while the entrepreneurial and resource-extraction economy of the surrounding rural areas favours the Liberals.

Candidates

Coralee Ella Oakes (BC Liberal Party) — Oakes was the incumbent MLA and cabinet minister seeking a second term. Before entering provincial politics, she had served two terms as a Quesnel city councillor and was Executive Director of the Quesnel and District Chamber of Commerce. She had also served as a director of the BC Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Executives, and the Cariboo Chilcotin Tourism Association. She received the BC Chamber of Commerce Executive of the Year award in 2009.

Scott Elliott (BC NDP) — Elliott was a two-term Quesnel city councillor who worked as a government liquor store employee and part-time fly-fishing guide. He brought local government experience and a connection to Quesnel’s working-class community to the campaign.

Richard Edward Jaques (BC Green Party) represented the Greens in the riding.

Tony Goulet (Conservative) ran on a platform emphasizing education, economic development, and environmental stewardship.

Local Issues

The forest industry’s future was the overriding concern in Cariboo North. Quesnel had been at the epicentre of the mountain pine beetle epidemic, which had killed vast stands of lodgepole pine across the region. By 2017, the pulse of beetle-killed timber that had temporarily boosted salvage harvesting was diminishing, and communities faced declining timber supply. The prospect of mill curtailments and closures hung over the riding. Diversifying the local economy beyond forestry—through mining, value-added manufacturing, and tourism—was a priority that candidates addressed.

The opioid crisis was reaching into BC’s interior communities. While most media attention focused on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, smaller cities like Quesnel were experiencing rising overdose rates as fentanyl contaminated the illicit drug supply. Access to addiction treatment and harm reduction services was limited in rural areas, and residents called on the provincial government to expand resources beyond the Lower Mainland.

Rural healthcare access was a perennial issue. Physician recruitment in small communities lagged behind urban centres, and residents of outlying areas faced significant travel times to reach hospitals in Quesnel or Prince George. The staffing and capacity of the G.R. Baker Memorial Hospital in Quesnel, the main healthcare facility for the region, was a topic of concern at candidates’ forums.