Residents of the Cariboo-Chilcotin provincial riding — which extends from Cherry Creek and Tobiano in the southeast to beyond Anahim Lake in the northwest — will now be able to access a constituency office in Ashcroft.
As of June 9, Conservative MLA Lorne Doerkson, who was re-elected in Cariboo-Chilcotin in the October 2024 provincial election, will be adding the Ashcroft office to the two he has maintained in Williams Lake and 100 Mile House for the last four years. The move comes following boundary changes that saw several communities that had previously been in other ridings, including Ashcroft (formerly part of Fraser-Nicola), added to Cariboo-Chilcotin in 2024.
Doerkson, who lives in Williams Lake, acknowledges that having three offices is an indication of how large the riding is.
“It takes seven hours to drive across. Next Wednesday [June 4] I have to be in the west end of the riding at Ulkatcho, but the day before I have to be in Kamloops, so the challenge is pretty vast.”
He says that the office is where people can obtain help in navigating any provincial systems they are dealing with.
“We want to focus on provincial problems, but we can direct them if it’s outside our ability to help. There are challenges for some, and we want to try to help wherever we can. It could be permitting issues, anything you can possibly imagine in respect to the province, and we want to be that conduit to the province, make connections, for anyone we can help.”
Victoria Astren will be the constituency assistant working in the Ashcroft office, and Doerkson says she is an amazing addition.
“She’s done some training in 100 Mile and is doing a great job. We’re getting some local art for our office, and will try to make ourselves accessible via Victoria. I’m going to be there on other days as well. We’ll have consistent hours, and the opportunity to meet outside those hours.”
Doerkson notes that some of the office hours in Williams Lake and 100 Mile have had to be cut in order to make the office in Ashcroft happen, but says he wants to continue the good service to the area provided by former MLA Jackie Tegart, who also had a constituency office in Ashcroft.
“Jackie was a great MLA and represented the area well. There’s a gap there that’s been created by the change in boundaries. For me to go to Ashcroft is a five-hour round trip, so that can be challenging when I have to go west to Anahim as well, but I’ll do everything I can to fill that gap, as she serviced it very well. I want to create a connection with the communities down here.”
The constituency office is located at #8-411 Brink Street in Ashcroft (dental office building), and the mailing address is P.O. Box 1118, Ashcroft, B.C. V0K 1A0. The phone number (which also goes to the offices in 100 Mile and Williams Lake) is (250) 305-3800 (toll-free 1-866-305-3804). Office hours are Mondays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Wednesdays from 1 to 4 p.m., starting on Monday, June 9.
