VICTORIA — The New Democrats have been working in secret to limit the province’s obligation to pay compensation to forest companies for the loss of timber-cutting rights on some 400 parcels of land being transferred to First Nations. The NDP government says it can no longer afford to pay compensation because of “ongoing fiscal restraints,” meaning the record debt and deficits accumulated under Premier David Eby. The plan was laid out in confidential documents leaked to Northern Beat, an online publication, and published Thursday. This latest revelation is reminiscent of the deal the New Democrats struck before the last election to deliver $104 million and six square kilometres of public land to the shíshálh nation on the Sunshine Coast. The Eby government signed that deal in confidence weeks before the formal start of the election campaign. The terms were not made public until January 2025, well after the New Democrats were returned to office. [A Vancouver Sun subscription is required for full article access]