Housing took the lead over Health care this week as the most read item from our list of five.
It was interest in the City's notes related to opportunities to add a secondary suite to our homes that captured the most interest of readers over the last seven days.
It being a City Council week, our look at a number of Council initiatives from the Monday session attracted a large audience.
Among them, the frustration over noise and smells for residents of Wayne Place Seniors Residences and the latest Report from the Prince Rupert Fire Department.
As well our look at some of the new construction projects and the pace of the demolition of the Angus apartments also gained a large audience.
And the Health care crisis in Prince Rupert continued into a second week of Emergency Room Closures, which also brought a visit to the community by Heath Minister Adrian Dix.
When it came to the most read item of the week however, changes to provincial housing regulations and how the impact on additional suites was the item which gained the largest audience.
Health Minister Adrian Dix comes to Prince Rupert to explore Hospital issues -- With a number of Emergency Room Closures once again this week, the Minister of Health came to Prince Rupert at the start of the week to learn more of the challenges in Prince Rupert. The full review of another week of concerning health care narratives for the city can be reviewed through our archive page. (posted March 26 , 2024)
You can find our weekly Blog watching feature posted every Sunday morning by 9AM, making for a handy way to catch up to the week that was, at a leisurely weekend pace.
You can also review the full listings of the week just past, from our Blog Archive index page found on the right hand side of the page.
For updates on new items posted daily to the blog, we direct you to our CharlesMHays Twitter feed, where we post notification of new stories as we post them.
Paul Adams from the Rural Health Network made a video presentation to Council on Monday on the work of the group in BC
The timing couldn't have been better for the Rural Health Network and their recruiting drive in Prince Rupert, with Executive Director Paul Adams seeking the participation of the City of Prince Rupert in their province wide advocacy group.
With the backdrop of a week's worth of ER Closures as part of Monday's Council session, Mr. Adams appeared via video presentation to share some background the organization's work.
Through the presentation, Mr. Adams outlined for the Council membership some of the benefits that the organization has to offer communities across the province.
The organization has been raising concerns about the state of the health care crisis in the rural areas of the province since that time and outlined the benefits that Prince Rupert could find by joining in with the other communities that make up the Network.
His short overview for Council provided a look at their engagement work and explored many of the health care issues that are shared across BC, though as he observed to an attentive council, each community is very different in its situations.
Towards questions on the night, Councillor Forster asked how communities could contact them towards more on their work in rural communities.
She also asked if Jennifer Rice, who is Parliamentary Secretary for Rural health was involved with engagement with the organization, as well as to their engagement with health care professionals.
Mr. Adams observed that they are engaged with both Ms. Rice and the other political leaders in the province, as well as to explain towards their communication work with front line health care professionals.
"I work very closely with Parliamentary Secretary Rice, I work with the Minister directly, I work with anybody who has an interest in rural initiatives and health care.
So we don't work, you know we're non partisan, we work across the political aisle.
So any time that we're meeting and we're presenting a solution or a position forward we do that apolitically"
For Councillor Nick Adey, the focus for his questions was to note of their website and how it provides a good volume of material for the community. He then asked towards their pitch to have Prince Rupert join the Rural Health Network, noting how MLA Rice has advocated for it.
Mr. Adey then asked what would change in how to address the concerns for Prince Rupert should they decide to join.
Mr. Adams noted of the still developing footprint of the Northern membership.
The Rural Health Network currently has participation from 30 Municipalities, 2 Regional Districts, 61 Organizations and 21 Individual members.
Towards that footprint, he outlined how each provides background that goes towards their research and advocacy to Health officials and government.
"We do have a fairly scarce membership in the North but that has got more to do with my ability to reach enough communities and we are currently you know under financed from the standpoint of being able to do more.
But with what we have we try to do a lot.
Everybody is, every member is welcome to get involved, we have a group called our Implementation Committee and we really do bring the brightest minds in the province together.
And there we look at the challenge that we're facing and then we collectively create solutions around those challenges and then we support then with the research and evidence that I was talking about"
Mr. Adams also noted of the current ER Closures in Prince Rupert and outlined how that is a frequent problem for many areas.
"You know, it's a problem that you've recently encountered; but we've encountered across the province for way too long.
We're looking right now at putting in the suggestions on contingency planning about how we can prevent these closures in the future and again that's a cooperative effort to bring people and communities that have been affected ...
There's just been so many emergency closures and they've all been in rural and remote communities, none of them are impacting on urban centres and we see that inequity needs to be addressed too"
Councillor Niesh asked about local recruitment in the north, the response noted how with a focus on urban recruitment for education in medicine, many of those graduates return to the large communities.
To that Adams noted that the Network has long been advocating for a more decentralized approach towards both education and medical practice and services in the rural areas.
"Part of the challenge that we face across rural BC is the lack of recruitment in rural communities and we're only picking urban students to fill these new seats, to create new positions for the future, then those students are likely to return to urban environment.
So we really need to do a better job of recruitment of students from rural and remote communities across the province.
We've been a champion of the Physician's assistants and bringing more Physicians assistants into play. That's now been regulated so Physicians Assistants are basically monitored by a Physician but work independently of a physician so it's a really good way to extend a Physician into a multiple role."
Councillor Cunningham noted of the biggest problem coming through of education and outlined how other areas of the country ensure that the needs of rural communities are addressed.
He also noted of some of the inequalities found in the health care system particularly withe the dynamic of the on staff nursing model compared to the travel nurse program, which is impacting on rural communities.
"The agency nurse piece is a huge problem, the inequity there for local nurses who are working for the health authority versus the one's coming in and travelling its almost night and day
Not necessarily in pay equity, but in lifestyle equity, you know in the amount of on call that you have to do and the Overtime hours being put in.
Those are all extremes that the local resident nurse faces, where as the one flying in or coming in for a short term visit doesn't
So we've got to fix these problems and they are creating huge imbalances and a lot of cost to the system and it's been ongoing now for decades unfortunately, so we've got a long trouble to rectify"
To bring the presentation to a close, Mr. Adams made one final pitch for Prince Rupert to join the Network observing of the entry cost of 50 dollars, which he noted was a small cost to add Prince Rupert's voice to the network.
Toward the initiative, Council made no decision on Monday towards the fifty dollar investment that would be required to become part of the Rural Health Network.
You can review the full presentation to Council from the City's Video Archive starting at the 42 minute mark.
Prince Rupert's Rotarians will soon be busy hiding the bounty for their annual Easter Egg Hunt around the expanse of Prince Ruper's Mariner's Park, with the annual Easter Egg Hunt set for and 11 AM start time this Saturday.
The popular event brings the youngsters of the city and other communities to the park overlooking Prince Rupert Harbour, the event one which has been helped out by the Rotary Club's partnership with Save on Foods.
Earlier this month, Rotary provided a sneak preview of the fun ahead for Saturday, which will include the always much anticipated arrival of the Easter Bunny.
The Rotarians aren't the only ones in the Spirit of the weekend ahead, the Prince Rupert Recreation Centre is offering an Easter Swim for the public on Sunday from 2-4 PM at the Earl Mah Aquatic Centre.
The City of Prince Rupert planning department is looking to update the City's Housing Report, along with making some amendments to the Official Community Plan.
And towards those reviews, the Planning Department has issued a Request for Proposals through the provincial BC Bid program.
The Call for proposals was posted to the BC Bid website on Tuesday, providing for a synopsis of the City's focus for the work.
The purpose of this Request for Proposals is to solicit the best overall proposal for the provision of an updated Housing Needs Report and to review and propose amendments to the OCP for the City of Prince Rupert that builds upon the understanding developed in the updated Housing Needs Assessment, with respect to housing needs, while addressing current regulatory standards introduced in 2023 and local Council policy adopted since 2021.
The overview of the RFP provides a glimpse towards what the city would like to see as a final product.
The Project Overview digs a little deeper into the areas to be tackled as part of the initiative.
Note: As a sharp eyed reader has noted below, we're a bit ahed of ourselves on the date of the Celebration. We have revised our story to reflect the proper day of April 6th for the event.
The pride of the Prince Rupert Fire Rescue Museum will be celebrated this weekend, with the public invited to a BBQ at the Museum Saturday April 6th to celebrate the 100th birthday for the REO Speed wagon Fire Truck.
The Truck served the community from 1924-1950 and was then sold off and rested at a lumber yard in Oona River, a group from the Fire Department repatriated the truck from Oona River in 1985 and began an extensive restoration project.
Monday night was Prince Rupert City Council's opportunity for an update on the AltaGas/VOPAK plans for a new shipment terminal on Ridley Island, with representatives from the partnership on hand to provide a presentation towards the project.
The overview was one similar that which Port Edward Council recently received and was one part history lesson tracking the arrival of AltaGas in the community and then turning to focus on the large scale development that could move forward should the joint venture partners decide on a positive Financial Investment Decision.
From the History tutorial, Council heard from Jennifer Ozmar who spoke of the success of the Liquid Propane Export terminal, the volume of exports to Asian customers. When it came to terminal operations, the presentation highlighted how since the AltaGas terminal opened in 2019 the workforce had grown to 42 employee, 88 percent of them local residents.
Other elements explored the community partnerships and engagement that AltaGas has had with the communities of the region.
Among those highlighted was the Indigenous training program which hired 100 percent of the graduates once the facility had been commissioned.
The presentation also featured a look at the AltaGas Rail Safety training program.
Moving towards their future plans, Mr. Campbell took Council through the development plan that has taken place, as well as to what to expect should there be a positive FID announcement.
The AltaGas rep observed that he has been involved in the joint venture project for three years now, with anticipation of the FID decision to come in the second quarter of this year.
He highlighted that all the permitting was in place and provided a tutorial on how the terminal facility and the wharf would evolve over the next few years, noting that if all moves on schedule the facility would be in service in 2026-27.
Other key themes was the extensive engagement with local First Nations and plans towards further training for the positions at the terminal.
At this point development of the footprint for the facility is underway with work on drainage and land clearing the immediate focus.
Towards questions from Council Safety and the impact of a large workforce arriving in the community made for much of the Council focus.
Councillor Randhawa's contribution to the conversation was to seek out a timeline for development and to ask towards the construction process, what kind of workforce would be assembled.
The timeline element was noted as still something in motion towards determining, with a target of late 2026, early 2027 for in service operations. As for the construction it would be a phased approach, with some of the large elements to be constructed offsite from the community and brought to the site.
For assembly over time it would feature a load level execution with lower levels of workers on site, with AltaGas looking to work with the local community. At peak it's anticipated that 250 people could be working the site, with 50 to 60 percent of them local.
"What we're looking at is a phased approach, with the initial infrastructure. So we've got a significant spend up front to get this infrastructure in place for all of the faculty to build out over time ...
We don't want to put too many people into a work force into a small footprint and you're working one on top of the other.
So we're trying to load level our execution and meet a reasonable timeline with lower people on site, I always find that you get better productivity with lower numbers of workers -- Sean Campbell from AltaGas/VOPAK
Councillor Barry Cunningham explored themes of Emergency services, asking about the nature of their in house emergency response.
He then observed of both the Prince Rupert and Port Edward Fire Departments and how they don't have the specialized training and the burden it would put on the local taxpayers and stretch their resources even more.
"We have a full time Fire Department, Port Edward has a volunteer one, they are both excellent But they don't have hazmat training, they don't have the specialized training that goes with the facility you're building.
You know like you're a border line refinery here, so that kind of training and the extra personnel is going to put a bit of a burden on our taxpayers toward a quality and level of our fire fighting department, which is already stretched because of the industrialization around here ...
So are you going to be in any way upping the ante as far as contributing to our fire department and the extra firefighters we're going to have to hire and the extra specialized training "
Mr. Cunningham also spoke to the volume of workers that would be working on the project and asked if they planned for a work camp for their workers and where it was going to be, noting of the housing situation in Prince Rupert.
Towards the workforce question, the AltaGas reps noted of the existing camp at Watson Island which they would use, as well as plans to expand that camp footprint. They also observed of the medical services that they plant provide for those camp residents to reduce any impact on local hospital services in Prince Rupert.
"There is a current camp sitting at Port Ed right now, it's a Watson Island camp it's operated by some of our Indigenous parters. It's 150 person camp, we have been working heavily with that camp provider and we plan to house most of our out of town workers at that location.
We also have provisions to build that 150 person camp into an additional 125 over and above that. So we've been mindful of exactly those pressure points that you have in the community and we don't want to add to those strains" -- Sean Campbell from AltaGas/VOPAK
You can review the full presentation from the City's Video archive, the AltaGas presentation was the first item on the Committee of the Whole agenda for the night.
It's been a day of message making for the community from Northern Health and MLA Jennifer Rice, first with a short overview of the visit of Health Minster Adrian Dix to the community, that from Northern Health which used their social media stream for the update.
While it spoke of their commitment towards supporting the hospital, the notes from today don't indicate whether any immediate solutions to the growing in frequency ER closures have been found.
Later in the day, North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice also used her social media stream to offer up some guidance for the community on how the situation in Prince Rupert is being managed when the ER facility is not available to residents.
The main focus being that of the skills that the paramedics, who have come from other communities in BC, will have to offer.
That while what has now become the community's new normal, of suspension of access to the care of a physician at the Emergency room continues.
Residents of Wayne Place Seniors Residence are frustrated by ongping evening and overnight noise in the area
What has become an ongoing issue of concern for residents of a Senior's Residence in the downtown core gained another mention at Prince Rupert City Council on Monday night.
That as Bruce Rempel, speaking on behalf of the residents of Wayne Place, outlined a range of noise and other concerns of the residents for Council members.
Speaking as part of the Committee of the Whole portion of the night, Mr. Rempel, the forrmer Manager of Prince Rupert Senior Housing, outlined some of the incidents in the area that are frustrating weary residents of the facility adjacent to the West side of the Rupert Square Mall.
"The Tenants asked me to represent them on an issue they have been having ... the residents of 630 Wayne Place Prince Rupert, which is commonly known as Wayne Place Senior Housing.
They are concerned about the quality of life, comfort, peace, enjoyment and especially their rest at night that has been greatly affected by the Transport trucks creating an unacceptable levels of noise as they park on First Avenue, in the Mall and in the entry to Home Hardware.
The noise goes on from the evening into the early hours of the morning and other occasions they come early and park at the Home Hardware and beside the noise level the fumes from the diesel is also affecting them."
Mr. Rempel noted of a letter signed by the residents and outlined some measures that could be put in place by the city, such as No Idling bylaws and other civic options.
Also speaking to the topic, was resident Susan Visentin, who relayed some of the night time events.
"Every night, sometimes they come at 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock up to 5 o'clock in the morning, you won't be able to sleep because you can hear the noise, you can smell the fumes and everything, so it's hard to sleep.
I don't know what's the solution on that one, on behalf of the thing, maybe you can do something for that.
Because we want to sleep as a Senior, we want peace and every night it's like that.
So, how can you sleep at night if there's lots of lights on the truck, you can hear them every night so it's hard"
Some of the distress for the residents is related to the volume of trucks that transit to Home Hardware and stage in the Rupert Square parking lot
Following the presentation, Mr. Rempel was advised to hand the Wayne Place petition to the City's corporate Administrator.
You can review the presentation to City Council from the video archive starting at the one hour six, minute mark.
It's not the first time that area residents in the downtown core have had concerns presented to City Council, though the last time it was raised the plight of those with concerns did not receive a particularly sympathetic response.
"You know, clearly this is an issue that has been brought by a particular citizen, around a particular issue; of which after investigation, he and he alone is the only one that seems to have any concern over it.
The neighbours around him don't, the businesses around him don't
And the noise level, is the noise level one would expect in an urban downtown core 24/7.
It's not a residential neighbourhood out in quiet part of town. It is a downtown urban core that has trucks and traffic and whatever.
So, we can tighten the bylaw to make it more restrictive but you've got to be cautious how you walk there, because there's a certain amount of urban downtown noise that's just going to be and we're much quieter than most urban centres. -- Mayor Herb Pond on downtown noise in Janaury 2024
City Council didn't appear to attach much of a priority to the issue of downtown truck idling in January.
The residents of Wayne Place are likely hoping that their presentation and petition to the topic may generate some kind of assistance from the city towards their night time plight.
Prince Rupert Rotary Club members will hear some first hand accounts from North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice on the current situation at Prince Rupert Hospital tomorrow.
That as the MLA and Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Health appears as a guest at the Rotary Club Luncheon at the Highliner Inn, the event set for a Noon Hour start at the downtown hotel.
Ms. Rice's appearance at the Rotary forum comes amidst a stressful two weeks for Prince Rupert and area residents, that following nine closures for the Emergency Room Facility in the city since March 15th.
The public can attend Rotary functions, though if interested in learning more about the current situation, you will have to pay 23 dollars in this instance, part of the admission for the luncheon event to hear the MLA's update for the local service club.
Of the proposed changes to the Elections Act currently working their way through Parliament, one would expand the days for advance voting, with another to make for an easier process for mail-in ballots in the lead up to the current date of October 20th.
One measure however is gaining some attention, that of the fixed election date that is in place.
The Liberals don't seem inclined to keep that date, with the change to the Act also to move the date of the Election to October 27th, one week later.
That additional time will also allow more than 80 MP's to qualify for their Member of Parliament Pension plan, probably a relief for them we imagine, should the voters decide their time on Parliament Hill is done.
It features a collective that in addition to the MPs on the Government side of the House, also includes NDP and Bloc Quebecois members, as well as a significant number of Conservative moments
The Conservative members may want to consider voting against the extension, as the current trends suggest that they will have no problems making it to the next Parliament where they would qualify for their pensions under the current time parameters.
The same perhaps can't be said for the Liberals, NDP or Bloc members who may not find success when they hit the campaign trail in 2025.
Should the Conservatives choose to vote against the change to the Fixed Election Date, the focus then would shift to the other parties and the perception of their Members packing a parachute for what may come for the fall of 2025.
The progress of Bill C-65 is at second reading at the moment, you can follow its progress and learn when it will be up for debate once again through the House of Commons information page.
The Rubble of the former Angus Apartments made for a conversation topic for Monday's council session
The recent demolition of the Angus Apartments made for some kudos for staff from a pair of Prince Rupert City Council members at Monday's Council Session.
The long and challenging path for the City towards the eventual tear down of the fire damaged structure made for some comments at the tail end of the Monday session, with Councillor Terry Forster the first to offer her praise for the work of city staff on the issue.
"I did want to actually thank staff ... the Angus Apartments that have come down.
That is, that was a really great thing to see.
I recognize that for many people in our community it was a long time coming. But I wanted to pass on, I've heard from a lot of people in the community gratitude that while it took a while, it's done.
And to look forward to more work from our City Staff on getting more derelict buildings taken down"
Councillor Wade Niesh also picked up on the demolition topic, observing of the issues that staff faced with the former landlord before effecting the tear down
"I guess I'll chime in on the Angus Apartments, I'm glad to see that some of this stuff is coming down too.
You know a lot of people say that it took a long time and it sure did, and I want people to understand that was not because of staff, that was because of a landlord that chose to drag his feet on many things.
Even before that place burnt, he was known as one of the worst landlords in provincial history, tenancy board actions against him.
So you know, we've been trying for years even before it burnt to try and deal with that building and it was definitely one of the worst ones.
And finally, you know, he left us the pleasure of gifting us a burnt building, that we ended up getting on the tax sale. So we get to deal with it now and that's the type of people that we have to deal with sometimes.
It's great to see it down finally and I'm sure you're going to see lots more of this in the future.
In the next couple of months there's going to be a lot more houses and buildings and we're kind of, its time to start, now that we can dedicate a little bit of resources to it, although were stretched on other things like infrastructure. At least now we're starting to crack down on making it not acceptable to have plywood on your windows and other things in our community ...
It's actually kind of nice driving down Third Avenue now, it's looking a little bit better, we've still got a long way to go but it is getting better and I appreciate what the staff has done to facilitate that"
City Manager Rob Buchan, who was participating in the meeting remotely from elsewhere, likely was relieved that the Councillor had wrapped up his dissertation on terrible landlords when he did; lest the City have to contact their legal team over any potential defence over concerning statements coming out of the Council session.
You can review both comments from the Council members through the City's Video archive, Ms. Forster at the one hour 20 minute mark, Mr. Niesh at one hour twenty three minutes.
A look back at some of the key moments of the Angus Apartment timeline can be reviewed below:
With a string of Emergency Room Closures having taken place since the last City Council session of earlier this month, it was no surprise that Heath Care made for one of the key discussion points for the City's Councillor on hand for Monday's session.
"The closure brings an immediacy, it is very concerning, And as Council knows, we wrote a very strongly worded letter to just about anybody that is involved with health, saying under no circumstances can that facility close ... and it did.
So I have asked staff to put me in contact directly with the Minister of Health Adrian Dix and I will convey to him personally that every stop has to be pulled out" -- Mayor Herb Pond speaking on Health care on March 11th
Mr. Pond was not in attendance at the March 25th session, so we don't know how successful he has been in impressing on the Minister of the urgency of the situation; though in a timely confluence of events for the week, Mr. Dix was in town on Tuesday.
The Minister making the trip down the Highway from his time in Terrace, for a first hand discussion with those at the hospital and at Northern Health.
Carrying the torch for Health Care in Prince Rupert on Monday night however were a few of those that were in attendance for the regular council session.
With the first to speak to the issue on the night Councillor Nick Adey who observed of the late addition to the Consent Agenda for the night, that of two letters the city had written to Northern Health officials related to the Emergency Room closures.
Mr. Adey noting of the strong wording of the letters and recommending that the public have a look at them.
" I would just note that the late items, the letters that have been included as a late item, represent one of the rather limited array of things that a municipality can do about a problem that we're all concerned about.
For those of you that take the time to read them, I think you will find that they are fairly strongly worded, coming from my perspective, I think they needed to be.
So I do recommend that people have a look at those, if they get a chance and if they are interested"
While the Councillor might have had a copy of the letters to reference on the night, it's not clear how the rest of us may be able read them.
So far, the twin correspondences have not been attached to the Agenda for Monday night, nor have they been made public on the city website, or through the range of other information portals that the city administers.
Mr. Adey returned to the Health care issues towards the end of the session, seeking some guidance on what measures had been taken towards additional measures during the ER closures.
"Given that the ER has been closed, I'm just wondering if we have a sense of what extra precautionary measures have been taken to mitigate the risks that are created by the closure of the ER in terms of emergency service providers and so on."
City Manager Robert Buchan, who was participating in the session by remote connection on the night, directed that question over to the City's Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller.
Ms. Miller outlined some of the measures she was aware in recent days.
"So, unfortunately when the Emergency Department is closed, my understanding is that additional assets are brought in with BC Ambulance. I believe last night there were, I want to say there was three additional crews, so that would probably be four all in, as well as a critical care paramedic available as well.
So my understanding at least in the short term while these closures are happening, that that's what will be put in place in order to help residents.
There is some additional information as well on the Northern Health Facebook page about when to call 911, when to look for a virtual physician, all sorts of things.
You can also find those links on the City's Facebook page where we've shared information from Northern Health"
Mr. Adey also had praise for the city's work in relaying the notices from northern Health through the city's social media outreach.
Councillor Reid Skelton-Morven also shared some thoughts on the issue, observing of how the regional Indigenous Nations rely on the Prince Rupert Hospital and the Emergency Room.
"I know that it's critically important that we alleviate this issue not only for Prince Rupert but just for our region as a whole as a designated Regional Hospital"
Councillor Wade Niesh observed of all the measures that will be needed to be used to address the concerns.
"Obviously we want to see as much pressure from every which way we can to try and resolve this situation because it's a terrible situation for our community to be in, especially a community with a lot of industrial partners and we need to be able to look after their employees if there's an accident.
You know ... this is the top priority for the community right now in my eyes, we do need drinking water but this is very important and hopefully these letters that we've sent today and you know other conversations to he had in next time will make it hopefully to come to a resolution"
Councillor Barry Cunningham spoke to the theme of the departure of local physicians and how that has impacted on the Emergency Room at the Hospital.
"Not only are the villages and that getting more and more dependant on places like that, but a lot of people in town that no longer have doctors have to go there for different things, that normally didn't have to go there.
So now that they don't have a doctor, they're going to be going there more and more. So it's crucial, there's ... all of a sudden the vulnerability is rising up in the community.
To the point where you know, a lot of people whether their executive of a company, middle class worker, vulnerable person on the street or somebody in a village that has to travel hours to get here with no doctor are now be going to that ER.
So it's going to be used more and more until we solve this problem and the ER is front and centre on it, but getting family doctors is also important.
Mr. Cunningham also noted of his concerns related to the bureaucracy of Northern health over the assets of health care workers in communities across the region.
"And you know, I've asked before and I'll say it again, I'd like to know the ratio of desks to beds in Northern Health. Because you go to Prince George and there's desks everywhere and you go to a local hospital and there's fewer and fewer beds all the time
So I really think the priorities have to be reversed a bit. I don't know how Northern Health is going to solve but it but I think it's going to have to go higher than Northern Health"
To add to the urgency towards their efforts and following their commentaries, there have been two more Emergency Room Closures announced since the Councillors left City Hall on Monday evening.
You can review their discussion of Monday from the City's Video archive starting at the one hour, eleven minute mark and again at one hour, sixteen minutes.
Monday's Council session saw a reduced collective in the Chamber on the night, with Mayor Herb Pond away for the session and the City Manager Robert Buchan participating by video connection.
With Councillor Wade Niesh serving as the chair for the session, most of the night was taken up with three presentations as part of the Committee of the Whole. That session featured representatives from AltaGas, the Rural Health Network and a delegation from the Wayne Place Seniors residences all speaking to Council on the night.
The agenda for the Regular Session for the night had few items to be dealt with, of note from their work, was the Consent agenda, with a late addition of a letter to Northern Health officials and a variety of reports, included on the night was a proposal for a bandshell project for Mariner's Park from Prince Rupert Rotary.
Council members had also participated in a Closed Session earlier in the evening, the details towards why it was closed to the public can be reviewed here.
Of the one hour and twenty five minutes for the session, the Presentations of the Committee of the Whole accounted for one hour and ten minutes of the night; the Regular Agenda was dispatched with in fifteen.
Further information from our overview and placement in the video archives can be found below; with the permanent record of the Council minutes added as they are posted to the city website.
( 0:00- 1:45) Approval of Agenda -- With Mayor Herb Pond not in attendance for the night, Councillor Wade Neish served as the Chair, to open the Committee of the Whole he reviewed the Agenda for thesession and then sought approval of Council towards it.
PRESENTATIONS
( 1:45 -- 41:00) Presentation from ALTAGAS
The delegation from AltaGas provided for an update on their plans for development of the Ridley Island Energy Export Facility. They provided a review of some of the past five years of history of AltaGas in Prince Rupert through their RIPET facility at Ridley Island and the importance of their Prince Rupert operations to their corporate interests.
As part of the overview they focused on the training provided through Coast Mountain College in the northwest, as well as their commitment to hiring locally and within the Indigenous community.
They also highlighted the Rail Safety program that they have in place with fire fighters across the region, as well as their community investment in the Prince Rupert/Port Edward area.
Looking to their next project, an update was delivered to Council on the progress, the bulk of the presentation focused on the joint venture with VOPAK in RIEEF, the Ridley Island Energy Export Facility.
The Presentation outlined that while they have not yet made a Final Investment Decision for that terminal project, the plans have been in place over the last three years, with the expectation that they will make that decision in the second quarter of this year.
A review of the design of the proposed terminal and the regulatory licensing, Indigenous engagement and site preparation made for much of the overview. They also provided a look at some of their outreach with Coast Mountain College towards training.
Towards questions, Councillor Adey led off the discussion, first noting of the changes that have taken place on Ridley Island from what residents may have remembered from the past when it was previously accessible by the public.
His questions were related to the Wetlands Compensation Function plan, it was noted by the Alta Gas reps that the discussion of the program was currently underway with area Indigenous communities.
The councillor's Second question was towards the FID, Mr. Adey asking what the plan would be if they decide not to move forward. The AltaGas reps outlined how they are still looking at ways to manage costs and how they will develop it in phases, expressing confidence towards that decision.
Councillor Teri Forster asked for more background on the waste wood burning that is taking place, it was outlined how the trees that could go to market did, with the remainder the material they being disposed of through a burn operation.
The Councillors second question was related to response to any emergencies at the facility, in reply the AltaGas Emergency Response plan was outlined, as was the relationship that they have with local agencies.
Councillor Randhawa's contribution to the conversation was to seek out a timeline for development and to ask towards the construction process, what kind of workforce would be assembled.
The timeline element was noted as still something in motion towards determining, with a target of late 2026-27 for in service operations. As for the construction it would be a phased approach, with some of the large elements to be constructed offsite from the community and brought to the site.
For assembly over time it would feature a load level execution with lower levels of workers on site, with AltaGas looking to work with the local community. At peak it's anticipated that 250 people could be working the site, with 50 to 60 percent of them local.
Councillor Cunningham returned to the themes of Emergency services, asking about the nature of their in house emergency response.
He then observed of both the Prince Rupert and Port Edward Fire Departments and how they don't have the specialized training and the burden it would put on the local taxpayers and stretch their resources even more.
To that he asked if AltaGas would be contributing to the local Fire Departments to reduce those burdens.
He also observed of the volume of workers and asked if they planned for a work camp for their workers and where it was going to be, noting of the housing situation in Prince Rupert.
Towards the workforce question, the AltaGas reps noted of the existing camp at Watson Island which they would use, as well as plans to expand that camp footprint. They also observed of the medical services that they plan to provide for those camp residents to reduce any impact on local hospital services in Prince Rupert.
A question on the volume of trains required to serve the site, provided a response of roughly 75 train cars per day of LPG for the first phase, expanding up to 90 additional cars for each of the additional commodities should they come on line.
Mr Cunningham noted of the city's concerns over the growing need for travel to Terrace for hospital purposes and how the increase in trains would increase wait times at the level crossing between Prince Rupert and Terrace.
The Councillor also observed as to how the city will be the service centre and how the terminal will bring impacts and challenges to policing and other services in the community.
In reply the AltaGas reps outlined of some of their internal programs for consultation with the community towards those issues. They also highlighted how they are tax payers to the community and how that property tax payment goes to those initiatives.
To close his commentary, Mr. Cunningham praised the working relationship with AltaGas in the last few years, noting how he was raising the issues that make for local concerns.
Councillor Niesh outlined how he was hopeful for a Final Investment Decision and thanked AltaGas for their contributions through taxes paid to the community.
The focus for the second presentation was a recruiting drive to have Prince Rupert join the Rural Health Network to advocate for better health care services in their community.
A portion of the presentation from Paul Adams was plagued by technical issues, what was available outlined the scope of the program, tracing its beginnings back to 2017.
The organization has been raising concerns about the state of the health care crisis in the rural areas of the province since that time and outlined the benefits that Prince Rupert could find by joining in with the other communities that make up the Network.
Towards questions Councillor Forster asked how communities could contact them towards more on their work in rural communities.
She also asked if Jennifer Rice, who is Parliamentary Secretary for Rural health was involved with engagement with the organization, as well as to their engagement with health care professionals.
Mr. Adams observed that they are engaged with both Ms. Rice and the other political leaders in the province, as well as to explain towards their communication work with front line health care professionals.
For Councillor Nick Adey, the focus for his questions was to note of their website and how it provides a good volume of material for the community. He then asked towards their pitch to have Prince Rupert join the Rural Health Network, noting how MLA Rice has advocated for it.
Mr. Adey asked what would change in how to address the concerns for Prince Rupert should they decide to join.
To that, Mr. Adams noted of the still developing footprint of the Northern membership, highlighting how each area provides background that goes towards their research and advocacy to Health officials and government.
The Corporate Administrator joined the discussion to note that while the technical difficulties impacted on the council members, the audience at home was able to hear the presentation fine.
Councillor Niesh asked about local recruitment in the north, the response noted how with a focus on urban recruitment for education in medicine, many of those graduates return to the large communities.
He noted that the Rural Health Network has long been advocating for a more decentralized approach towards both education and medical practice and services in the rural areas.
Councillor Cunningham noted of the biggest problem coming through of education and outlined how other areas of the country ensure that the needs of rural areas are addressed.
He also noted of some of the inequalities found in the health care system, which are impacting on rural communities.
To bring the presentation to a close, Mr. Adams observed of some of the challenges in place that have been impacting rural areas for decades, he made one more pitch for Prince Rupert to join the Network observing of the entry cost of 50 dollars, which he noted was a small cost to add Prince Rupert's voice to the network.
( 1:06:00 -- 1:10:30 ) Presentation from Residents of Wayne Place Seniors Residences
Bruce Rempel spoke on behalf of the residents of the Senior's residences that are adjacent to the Rupert quare Mall, highlighting a topic that has come before Council before, that of the noise related to truck traffic in the area in the late evenings and in the overnight period.
In addition to Mr. Rempel's commentary, a tenant of the residences spoke to the reduced quality of life that they have in their homes.
That due to the excessive noise and fumes from the trucks that is found in the area through the night and in the early morning hours.
As part of the presentation a petition was handed over to Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller.
Council members had no questions or comments related to the Committee of the Whole, with Council then adjourning to the Regular Session.
( 1:10:30 - 1:11:00) Approval of Agenda -- Mr. Niesh reviewed the Agenda of the March 25th Regular Council session and then sought approval of Council towards it.
He noted of one addition to the Consent Agenda, that of correspondences from the City related to the Health care situation at Prince Rupert Regional Hospital.
( 1:11:00 -- 1:11:30 ) Public Comments regarding Agenda items -- No members of the public took the opportunity to speak to any topics.
( 1:11:30 -- 1:12:30) Consent Agenda
Building Department Activity Report for February 2024 (see pages 7-8 of Agenda) Request for Support Application to he Local Government Development Approvals Process Fund (see pages 9-10 of Agenda) Monthly Fire/Rescue Report February 2024 (see pages 11-12 of Agenda) Minutes of the Accessibility Committee of January 16, 2024 (see pages 13-18 of Agenda)
Correspondences:
Prince Rupert Children's Festival - Certificate of Appreciation (see page 19 of Agenda)
The only comment that was heard from the Consent Agenda was that from Councillor Adey who noted of the late items and the rather limited areas where the city can engage on the issue of Health care.
He recommended that the public should review them, observing how they were strongly worded coming from his perspective something that it should have been.
As the letters were a late addition to the Agenda, they have yet to be posted to the Agenda for the March 25th Council session, nor do they appear on any of the city's information streams.
Council then provided approval for the Consent Agenda
Reports
Staff Reports
( 1:12:30 -- 1:15:00) Report from Rotary Club or Prince Rupert Re: Bandshell Proposal - Pacific Mariner's Memorial Park (see pages 20-21 of Agenda)
Towards discussion Councillor Cunningham called on the past experiences of Councillor Adey as a musician to speak of some of the challenges that site location may provide, noting of a comment from the consultation on exposure to rain.
He asked Councillor Adey for his thoughts on the positioning of the bandshell, to that theme he observed of the increased challenges that outdoor weather can provide for.
Adding that a consideration towards design might help to reduce some of that as well.
Councillor Niesh observed how that could be mentioned to the Rotarians.
Business Arising
( 1:15:00 -- 1:25:00 ) Council Round Table
Towards discussion Councillor Adey led off the contestation for the evening.
His first was a note of appreciation for the local group that cleaned up the Moresby Park Trail area over the weekend. He also noted of some solo efforts in the community
His second topic was to speak to the Emergency Room Closure issues, speaking first to the impact on the BC Ambulance service and to mitigate the risks of the ER closure.
The City manager directed the comment to the Corporate Administrator.
From her overview, Ms. Miller outlined that when the Emergency Room is closed additional assets are brought into the community by BC Ambulance, observing that at the most recent overnight closure that three additional crews were in town, making for four crews and a critical care paramedic.
She also noted that additional guidance is available on the Northern Health social media stream and the city's own social media stream.
Councillor Adey offered his praise for the city's initiative to relay that information.
Councillor Skelton-Morven spoke of the importance of Prince Rupert Regional Hospital for the local First Nations communities and how the closures are a concerning issue for those communities as well.
He added of the importance for the communities to alleviate the issue.
Councillor Niesh pointed to the previous presentation on Rural Health and added that there is a need to bring pressure to the government towards the issues of health care, noting of the strong industrial presence in the community and how it was a top priority for the community.
He outlined how the letters that the City has forwarded and discussions that the city will have in the future will resolve the issues.
Councillor Forster spoke to the theme of the recent demolition of the Angus Apartments and how for many in the community it was a long time coming and relayed some of the gratitude that she heard from the public that it had taken place.
Councillor Cunningham returned to the Moresby Park clean up to pay attribute to the work of organizer Chantal Meggison, who has been in the. lead in the community towards community clean ups.
On the Health Care situation in the area, the Councillor noted how the ER has now become a doctor's office owing to the recent departures and how the facility is crucial to the community, noting of the vulnerability that is here at the moment.
He observed how its going to be used more and more, the also wondered as to the ratio of desks to Bed for Northern Health in Prince Rupert and how there is a need to reverse those priorities.
Councillor Niesh had a few thoughts on the Angus Apartments demolition, noting how the delays to that demolition were not the result of staff, but more related towards the actions of the former landlord, recounting some of the many challenges that he had provided for the city on that file.
He shared his enthusiasm towards its demolition and observed that more buildings and houses in the community will see similar action in the months ahead. He also noted how from the recent work downtown, it's more enjoyable to drive down Third Avenue these days.
And from that final thought, the Council session was adjourned.
From that a number of items related to the Monday session can be reviewed.
As always, our Council Timeline is only a reflection of our observations from the Council session of the night. Be sure to consult with the official minutes from the City, when posted to their website for further review.
The next City Council Session is scheduled for Monday, April 8, 2024.
