Prince Rupert trends middle of the pack in Earth Hour involvement

The annual day dedicated to energy conservation came and went on March 31st and as far as participation goes, Prince Rupert was around the middle of the pack go BC communities to turn off their lights for an hour.

Earth Hour which is the creation of the World Wildlife Fund and is supported provincially by BC Hydro, first took place in 2007 and since that time grew from its humble roots of an Australian based initiative, with Toronto signing on in 2008 the idea soon spread across the globe.

The 2012 event across the Province of British Columbians saved 121 megawatt hours of electricity, reducing the provinces electricity load by 1.67 per cent. Which BC Hydro says works out to the equivalent of turning off 9 million 12.5 watt light bulbs of the LED variety.

Revelstoke was the community most in tune with conservation this year, with a 12.1 percent reduction in energy usage, Prince Rupert's totals were 4.1% while the energy hogs of Fort St. James reduced their energy consumption by only 0.2%

The Northern View-- Rupertites come out to celebrate Earth Hour on the waterfront
Vancouver Province-- Revelstoke leads B. C. in power conservation during Earth Hour
Global BC-- B. C. communities conserve 1.6 per cent of energy during Earth Hour 2012

CityWest dispute delayed?

CityWest operations were supposed to be behind a picket line on Monday morning, as the labour dispute between CityWest workers and management came to a stalemate and the  the Prince Rupert based communications company was served with 72 hour strike notice on Friday.

However, labour trouble was deferred for the moment, after Industry Minister Lisa (Step into a dispute) Raitt, weighed into the situation to send both sides to the Industrial Relations Board.

Minister Raitt, who has been in the news quite a bit over more high profile disputes, offered up her take on the CityWest situation by outlining how the public safety was at risk if CityWest workers took to the picket lines on Monday.

CityWest was quick to take that advisory to the public, through their website (a forum not particularly well used by the City owned company in the past) the thrust of their review of the latest developments was that perhaps IBEW Local 337 might want to get back to the bargaining table.

The topic of wages, pensions and changes to the internal workings of the company all seem to be the major items on the labour/management checklist, topics which seem to show little common ground at the moment.

Should the labour difficulties eventually morph into a strike, then CityWest often a frequent discussion topic around the city, will certainly become the number one discussion point at coffee break and dinner tables over the next few weeks.

As the labour strife percolates, service issues, cost of operation and even the concept that the city shouldn't perhaps be in the business of telecommunication and television services at all, could be up for discussion well beyond the negotiating table.

The prospect of the labour dispute and the impact it may have on the Northwest was outlined through a number of media providers over the last few days, some of their work can be found below.

The Northern View-- CityWest union responds to company and relations board
The Northern View-- CityWest workers can't go on strike
The Northern View-- CityWest addresses negotiations with the IBEW workers
CFTK-TV-- CityWest strike stalled over essential services

No collusion, just Price confusion

Wednesday night provided for a variety of pricing options for gasoline at the gas stations of Prince Rupert.

Not so much as a price war  as to perhaps a sense of confusion from the various stations in the city.

The price at the pump ranged from 1.39 at the Hays Cove Petro Canada to 1.25 at Chevron, in the mid range were 7-11 at 1.29 and Husky a 1.32, we neglected to check out the Petro Canada at the Industrial Park, fearful in this new era of spiking gas prices of using too much of the black gold from the pumps to get there and back.

Still, it leaves us in wonderment every time a price spike appears in Prince Rupert, where drivers rather than price shopping stick to their traditional patterns, pulling in to the pump at the higher priced locales to fill up.

The pricing roulette wheel no doubt will continue to spin on in the foreseeable future if this cautionary warning is any indication, if so and providing the local stations continue on with their incremental approach to posting the rising prices, shopping around might help take the bite out of the overall bill of a fill up.

BC Ferries increase no April Fools Day joke

The timing is perhaps unfortunate, but when the calendar flips from March to April, travellers who use British Columbia Ferries will be digging a little deeper once again for their journey.

An increase of 4.15 percent is ready to go into effect on April 1, which means that travel from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy will increase from 130 to 135 dollars, while the vehicle tariff will jump from 300 to 312 dollars.

BC Ferries outlined how the cost of operating and capital expenditures, as well as lower than anticipated traffic levels have combined to make the rate increase a required thing from the Ferry corporation's point of view.

CFTK-- BC Ferries Announces Fare Hikes Effective April 1st
The Northern View-- BC Ferry fares going up slightly at the end of the month

Tsunami flotsam approaches BC coast

The wreckage that stemmed from last year's massive earthquake and tsunami  in Japan is finally making its way to our side of the Pacific Ocean.

The Department of Fisheries reports that one of its surveillance planes has spotted the wreck of a Japanese fishing boat currently due south of the Islands of Haida Gwaii.

The last plot mark on a map puts the 150 foot ship 120 nautical miles south of Cape Saint James.

To that end, the Canadian Coast Guard has issued  a notice to all vessels that the vessel is an obstruction to navigation.

It's the largest piece of flotsam from the Japanese tsunami that has made it to British Columbia waters to this point, though certainly it won't be the last, it's anticipated that more reports will be arriving from Alaska to Washington State as the currents steer the floating debris fields to North America.

CBC-- Tsunami linked fishing boat adrift off B. C.
Vancouver Sun-- Japanese ghost ship lost in tsunami found off B. C. coast
Globe and Mail-- Japanese fishing boat tied to earthquake and tsunami spotted off B. C. coast

And the lucky winner is???

Now mister the day the lottery I win I ain't ever gonna ride in no used car again -- Bruce Springsteen, Used Cars

We're not sure if a new car is on the agenda, but there will no doubt be some planning going on around Prince Rupert today.

Rupertites awoke on Thursday to the news that someone in the city (or at least someone who bought a ticket in the city) was holding 500,000 dollars in their hands, courtesy of the main jackpot win in the March 21, 2012 BC Lottery Corporations extra lottery.

The Extra which is the afterthought to most lottery ticket purchases, paid off handsomely for someone on Wednesday night's Lotto 649 draw,  with but four numbers, 14, 30, 64 and 81 the key to instant financial security.

No word has been released yet as to who the lucky winner was, or where the lucky ticket was purchased, but somewhere in the city is someone or a group making their arrangements to go pick up some cash...

Just a guess, but a grand opening for April 20?

Prince Rupert has seen a fair amount of businesses close their doors over the last few years, the empty storefronts along 3rd Avenue testimony to the economic climate of the city over the last decade or so.

Still, hope like the arrival of spring is a highly anticipated thing around here, so there's much chatter about a few new business offerings in town of late, including some excitement generated by the Mayor himself.

There's the new meat market in Cow Bay which has had locals talking of late, as well as the pending arrival of Wal Mart after Zeller's liquidates itself (and Fields) out of existence later this spring.

There's word of a Dollarama for the Mall and  relocation of Shopper's Drug Mart to the old Extra Foods location in the mall as well, but we imagine, that once word gets more widely delivered, the majority of the talk over this sudden surge of business opportunities will belong to the store set to go directly across the street from Subway in the heart of the downtown on 2nd Avenue West.

The Chad Smoke Shop reportedlyhas taken root in that location (at least that's the inference from the sign on the outside) once the home of an ice cream parlour many years ago, it would seem it will be seeking a slightly different clientele upon its opening.

One thing is certain, we don't think that they'll be much of a threat  to Eddies News.

Google us goes the sign in front of the building, so with a few clicks of your keyboard here's some of what you may find... and this and this

Of course a few more clicks and we'll find that the business plan hasn't always found a welcome mat out in other communities across Western Canada where the franchise has arrived.

Chad Smoke Shop owner gets rough ride

Town to review position on smoke shop

Smoke Shop sparks backlash

We're not sure how much due diligence the city is required to do before granting a business licence, nor if in fact they have the ability to refuse such licences. But surely they had time to look into the application and the reaction to past applications elsewhere, it's not like the city has suddenly faced a gold rush like quality of business applications.

One also wonders if City Council members and the Mayor were even aware of the nature of the business prior to the arrival of the delivery trucks earlier this week.

Perhaps they were too busy discussing such things as website development and keeping  any would be tanker fleet out of Prince Rupert harbour to track such mundane concerns.

Like any new business the key to success is to get a bit of a buzz about town on their venture, to that we're fairly sure that they'll be the talk of the town in short order.

We're also pretty sure that City Council is going to hear much more about the newest addition to the Prince Rupert Business scene.

All that's left for now we guess is the grand opening, hmm, wonder if the Mayor will be there to cut the ribbon.