UNBC to host info session in Terrace this week for prospective Teachers

Northwest residents who may be giving some thought to joining the ranks of the province's teaching profession, will want to make note of an information session planned for Terrace this week.

Representatives of the University of Northern British Columbia will be in Terrace on Thursday evening, ready to provide more background on the teaching program offered through the Terrace campus of the Prince George based university.

Some background on the 2 year Bachelor of Education elementary K-7 Stream program will be outlined, as well as the process required to seek admission to the new intake of September 2015, the Application for that intake comes up on March 15th, 2015.

The two hour public information session is set for Thursday evening at 6:30 at the Terrace Campus of UNBC, located at 4837 Keith Avenue.

Further details on Thursday evening's presentation can be found from the UNBC website.

You can review the full overview of the Bachelor of Education program at UNBC can be found here.

Those looking for a Terrace contact to learn more on Thursday evening's information session can contact Teresa Bartel at 250-615-3322 or 1-800-697-7388.

She can also be reached by email at teresa.bartel@unbc.ca

Northern Savings Credit Union heads for the playground...

A 5,000 dollar donation from Northern Savings Credit Union has gone a long way to making playtime in Laxgalts'ap, formerly known as Greenville,  a lot more fun in the future.

Earlier this month, the Prince Rupert based financial institution provided a 5,000 dollar donation to the Nass Valley Community to put towards a new playground project, part of a community engagement initiative with a provincial Architectural organization.

Northern Savings is joining with the Architecture Foundation of British Columbia to develop the play area which will encourage young children to become engaged in architecture though play.

The playground is designed to reflect the cultural context of the Skeena region, with one of the playground items to be a multi-see saw that will include the four crests of the Nisga'a.

You can learn more about the Laxgalts'ap Daycare Playground here.

Details on the Northern Savings contribution can be found here.

Flu Clinics set to open this week

Flu season is approaching once again for the Northwest, with some accounts of the flu's arrival suggesting that it has already made its presence felt in the region earlier than usual this year.

And as in years past, Northern Health is gearing up to distribute flu shots for those in need, with a schedule of clinics preparing to open up next week.

In Price Rupert Flu Shots will be available at the Prince Rupert Health Unit in the Ocean Centre Mall at the following times:

November 5 to 7 -- 9 AM to 6 PM
November 8 -- 11 AM to 5 PM
November 10 -14 1 PM to 5 PM (Closed on Remembrance Day November 11)
November 17  and beyond (see list here)

The North Coast Maternity Clinic will have Flu Shots available as well, contact the clinic at  250-622-6336 for the full list of available dates and times.

Flu shots are available for free for those who fall into these categories as outlined from Northern Health.

Likewise, those that fall into these categories can  receive the nasal spray vaccine for free.

As well, local pharmacies have the Flu Shot in stock now and ready for distribution, ask your pharmacist about the details and cost (if any) for the flu shot from that option.

Residents of Haida Gwaii, or other North Coast communities can find out where their Flu Clinics are being held by using the Public Health Unit Finder page, click on your community for locations and details regarding how to contact your local Health Unit.

Full information on the flu shots, ranging from eligibility for the shots to background on influenza can be found from the Northern Health website here or by contacting the Prince Rupert Health Unit at 250-622-6380.

MLA's Week, October 27 - 30, 2014

The week of October 27-30 would appear to have been a light one for the North Coast MLA when it came to participation in discussion at the Legislature.

From the seven sessions of the Legislature in the House, or Committee work listed for the week of October 26-30, MLA Rice  appeared once during the proceedings of the week, speaking to the issue of LNG and Green House Gas emissions as part of the Wednesday afternoon session.

Her brief appearance on Wednesday speaking to the theme of LNG, marked her only contribution to the proceedings of the week.

The LNG/Green House Gas discussions, occupied much of the attention of the MLA's through the week, with Robin Austin the MLA for Skeena providing for a fair amount of the NDP's response to the Bill provisions through the early portion of the week.

Our  item of review on MLA Rice and her discussion points in the Legislature can be found below:

MLA Rice outlines a number of concerns on Liberal Government's Bill 2 provisions on LNG

As for committee work, MLA Rice is a member of the Standing Committee on Children and Youth, that Committee had no meetings scheduled last week.


You can examine our reviews of past weeks of the Legislature sessions of 2014 from our Archive page.

We have more background on the North Coast MLA available from our MLA's Week archive as well as our General Archive on the Legislature.

MLA Rice outlines a number of concerns on Liberal Government's Bill 2 provisions on LNG

Last week, MLA Jennifer Rice outlined her opposition to the Liberal Government's LNG Bill, known as Bill 2.

Offering her observations and commentary to the Wednesday Afternoon session of the Legislature all part of the Second reading process of the proposed legislation.

The North Coast MLA highlighted her concerns over Green House Gas emissions and offered up some observations on the Government's recent tax regime announcement, which features a scaled back expectation on returns for the Provincial treasury.

The bulk of last week in the Legislature was taken up with conversations on the issues of LNG and focused a great deal on the potential levels of Green House Gas that could come from development of the resource in the province.

For the Northwest, MLA Robin Austin was carrying the bulk of the conversation, with Ms. Rice providing her contribution during Wednesday's afternoon session.

Her focus when it came to the environment was to seek protection of air, land and water resources and to ensure that the province lived up to its Climate Change commitments.

Those aspects can be reviewed from these excerpts from the Legislative records from Wednesday:

Global climate change is that — a global issue. It's the issue of this generation. It should be imminent, uppermost, on our minds. I'd like to say that I support LNG for British Columbians. I support LNG for British Columbians, provided that it comes with good-paying jobs for British Columbians. I support it if we get a fair return for our resources.

I support it if First Nations are respected and they benefit from the resource. Lastly, and obviously, I support it if the protection of our air, land and water, including living up to our climate change commitments, are upheld. Bill 2 clearly does not meet this test. 

The North Coast MLA also expanded her review of the situation to developments in Prince Rupert, making comments related to the anticipation in the community regarding the LNG industry proposals here, as well as to express her concerns over the need for consultation with First Nations of the Northwest.

Ms. Rice also reviewed for the Legislature her thoughts on the balance between the enthusiasm for the prosperity promised by the Premier and the need to gain a fair return for the province's resources.

 I support good-paying LNG jobs for the local people in my community of Prince Rupert. They eagerly await the promised benefits from our enthusiastic Premier. The Premier touted a trillion-dollar industry for northern British Columbia, and my constituents eagerly await this prosperity. It is paramount that LNG proponents enter into express guarantees that put jobs and training opportunities for British Columbians first.

 As I said, we need to be guaranteed a fair return for our resources. However, we now see those benefits being cut in half. In the North Coast nearly half of the population that I represent is aboriginal. It's paramount that First Nations are being respected, made partners in LNG, and their rights to a share of the benefits must be recognized. There must be protection of our air, our land and our water, including living up to our climate change commitments. As I said, Bill 2 clearly does not meet this test, and I will outline why.

Towards an explanation as to how Bill 2 is failing to meet the test, Ms. Rice called on the recent events related to the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline controversy and her concerns over the flexible nature nature of the benchmarks that the LNG industry is being afforded through the Liberal legislation.

I parallel this to the way the National Energy Board terms of reference for the Enbridge northern gateway pipeline project were examined. That process did not look at the Alberta tar sands. It only looked at what the pipeline impacts would be. Yet tar sands development would need to be created, and industry would need to be stimulated in order to produce enough bitumen to put in that pipeline. 

All they wanted to examine was the impacts of the pipeline. Again, that's not realistic. According to the Pembina Institute, upstream emissions account for approximately 70 percent of GHG emissions in the LNG life cycle, and they're not covered by this legislation. 

The legislation also provides LNG proponents with the flexibility to meet that benchmark. If proponents cannot reduce their GHG emissions to the 0.16 carbon dioxide equivalent per tonne of LNG produced, they can either (1) invest in B.C.-based offset at market prices or (2) contribute to a technology fund at a rate of $25 per tonne. Therefore, this legislation does not actually require LNG operators to reduce their GHG emissions.
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She wrapped up her presentation to the Legislature, with a review of some comments from the Organization Clean Energy Canada, highlighting their concern over the Government's legislation.

You can review, the North Coast MLA's full overview from the Wednesday, Draft minutes, listed at the 1605-16012 mark.

The video archive of the Wednesday session can be found here, use the Chamber Video listing for Wednesday afternoon to view the proceedings, Ms. Rice's contribution arrives at the 16:05 point of the Clock.

Or from this version of her comments posted to YouTube




For more items related to her work at the British Columbia Legislature see our archive page here.

Blog Watching, week ending November 2, 2014

Municipal politics and LNG developments once again dominated the reading list for those reviewing our items over the last seven days.

As they did last week, those twin themes highlighted the interest that local residents have in the progress or fate of the numerous LNG project proposed for the North Coast, as well as the interest that the municipal election campaign is finally starting to generate.

Every Sunday we offer up a recap for the week of the top five items viewed over the course of the last seven days. Included in the countdown, we will provide links to the articles in question, offering up with one click of the mouse, those items of the week that you may have missed.

This week, the prospect of learning more about the issues and concerns that those seeking a seat on City Council proved to be popular, as many took the time to read our preview of Tuesday's council forum.

Likewise, a large volume of readers found some interest in the latest campaign points from incumbent Mayor Jack Mussallem.

CityWest returned as a theme of news, with readers finding some interest in our item related to the City's latest moves related to the CityWest Board of Directors.

And it was a very interesting week on the LNG story for the region, with word of the BG Group's pause in development plans for their Ridley Island project and more news on the Pacific NorthWest LNG project perhaps to be deliver on November 11th, both of our items on LNG found a large audience this week.

Kicking off the five most read items of the week however, the City Council forum of Tuesday.

City Council hopefuls to face questions Tuesday evening -- Our look at the first of two opportunities to learn more on City Council candidates (the second is this coming Tuesday) proved to be a popular item this week (posted October 27, 2014)

That item was followed by:

CityWest makes major changes to Board of Directors  -- A surprising development from the City owned communications company, finds a number of members of the City's administration team now installed as members of the CityWest Board of Directors (posted October 28, 2014)

BG Group to approach Prince Rupert LNG on a prudent basis  -- Our original item on the rumblings of possible delays (expanded on the next day) provided for a large volume of interest on Tuesday (posted  October 28, 2014)

Mayor Mussallem warns of inexperience of rivals as campaign heads into November --   The Mayor's latest talking points for the Municipal election involved the Mayor's belief that his competitors don't have the experience for the job at this time( posted October 30, 2014 )

November 11th set as date for Petronas and Provincial Government to meet on Pacific NorthWest LNG --  Residents of the North Coast looking for some signs ahead for the other major LNG project proposed for the region, can circle November 11th as a possible benchmark date (posted October 30, 2014)

You can find our Blog watching featured posted every Sunday morning by 9AM, a handy way to catch up to the week that was, at a leisurely weekend pace.

The Permanent link to the feature can be found here or above our Blog Archive section, found on the right hand side of the title page.

For those looking for updates to items as they are posted to the blog, don't forget about our email alert access.

A daily review of the latest items on the blog can be delivered to your email in box, simply by entering your email address into the information bar, items posted to the blog will be delivered to your e-mail account each day.

You can find the link to that feature on the upper, right hand side of the blog.

Our archive of weekly reviews can be found here.

Tock, Tick; Tock Tick; Tock Tick! Set your Clocks back one hour tonight!

Spring Forward; Fall back  

The simple rule of time change for across Canada is soon to be observed from coast to coast to coast. (Saskatchewan excepted)

The fall ritual of setting the clocks back has arrived, your opportunity to catch one hour's extra sleep on Sunday morning, with the simple backwards swipe of the hour arms , or the reversal of digits on a clock.

For those that wish to treat the shift of time like New Years Eve, the reversal of time arrives at 2 AM Sunday, though most people wisely turn their clocks back as they retire for bed.

And while the shift of sleep patterns is the main aspect of the weekend requirement that people will deal with, caution on the roads on Monday morning, when many return to work or school is recommended as key while we adjust to the new cycle of time.

And as it is every year (since we shifted to the November date) at the start of the month, there's no shortage of information related to the pros and cons of the shifting of time.

Just in case you wake up early on Sunday anyways and have some time on your hands, some of the more interesting items can be found below:

National Post-- It can save lives, and also kill people-- ten things to know about daylight saving time 
CBC-- Time change can cause symptoms similar to jet lag
CTV News-- Fall back into bed for an extra hour as daylight saving ends
CBS News-- What changing the clocks does to your health
Time-- How Daylight Saving Time Costs You Money
News 1130-- Be careful on the road after we "fall back" this weekend
Yahoo News-- Can changing our clocks make us sleepy
Bustle-- Why Do We turn Back the clocks?
Health Hub-- 4 Tips to Help your Body Adjust