Mayor's journey North will feature notes on Alaska Ferry solutions and relations with Alaska cities and towns

What is shaping up as a busy couple of travel weeks for Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain will get underway shortly, with the City's top elected official set to chart his course to the North to Alaska first, before travels take him south to Vancouver.

That as Mr. Brain heads for Juneau this week for some discussions on the recently announced end of the Alaska Marine Highway System service to the city.

Earlier this month, the State of Alaska Transportation Office delivered the concerning news to Prince Rupert, releasing a statement that advised that the service would be terminated, owing to an inability to resolve issues related to safety for US Customs and Border Personnel that work the Alaska Ferry Terminal at Fairview Bay.

The Alaska Marine Highway System will loom large this week as
the Mayor joins Alaska politicians to discuss the fate of the service to Prince Rupert

The announcement of the service termination, set in motion a flurry of action, with a range of local political figures offering up some comments on the pending end of service.

Included in the group that discussed the issue in Prince Rupert last week was Alaska State Representative Dan Ortiz, who represents the Ketchikan area and surrounding panhandle communities.

Through his Social media feed on Friday, Mr. Ortiz offered up some thoughts on his one week stopover in Prince Rupert and made note of his conversations and made mention of his experience in the city, where he was heartened by the support of local officials.

Among his talks was a discussion with Mayor Brain, with the Alaska representative observing that the Mayor will be bringing some potential solutions with him as he heads North this week.

Mayor Brain also took to his Social Media stream on Friday, sharing much the same message as the Alaskan politician, including a repost of Mr. Ortiz's message.

As well, the Mayor through his Facebook page, noted that he will more to update this community about, as his week of discussions in Alaska moves forward.

Following his work in Juneau, the theme of the Alaska Marine Highway System will surely be a major topic for the delegates to the Southeast Conference Annual Meeting. 

That political body, which Prince Rupert is a member of, will be meeting from Wednesday to Friday at Sitka,  with Mayor Brain set to explore the theme of Building the Economy of Tomorrow with the rest of the Southeast delegates.

Next week the travels will continue for the Prince Rupert Mayor, as he, City Council and Senior Staff make the annual journey to the UBCM convention, this year taking place at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

That week long political event takes place from September 23-28.

Notes on this years convention can be explored here.

For more notes related to the discussion themes of Prince Rupert City Council see our archive page here.