Wind Warning issued for North Coast, Freezing Rain & Snow Inland

An approaching front will bring
strong winds today and tonight

An approaching Pacific Frontal system is heading the way of the North Coast with Environment Canada issuing a Wind Warning for the region earlier this morning.

The intense front is expected to make its landfall this afternoon bringing winds of up to 90 km/h, the wind will shift to the south as evening approaches.

The winds are  then expected to ease by early Friday morning as the system moves inland.

Rain will also be a part of the approaching system with amounts of 10 to 15 mm through the day and a further 40 to 50 mm expected tonight and overnight, there will be a slight break in the weather through the day Friday, while period of rain are called for from Friday night to Monday morning.

The full weekend forecast can be reviewed here

Update: Snowfall Warning issued for Inland areas, as the weather system on the North Coast arrives weather conditions inland will see a shift with freezing rain in the Terrace/Kitimat region  and accumulation of snow to 20cm for Stewart. The Full inland forecast can be viewed here.

Past items related to weather events in the Northwest can be found here.

Rainmakers in holding pattern in Province listings for the week

They haven't cracked the top ten this week, nor however, have they dropped off the page altogether.

With the Senior Boys making ready to return to action this weekend, the dispatches from the North would seem set to have some impact on next weeks listings from the lower mainland.

In Wednesday's Vancouver Province AAA Basketball rankings, the Charles Hays Rainmakers continued to percolate just below the tenth spot, receiving another honourable mention.

Still in the conversation as we get closer to the regional zones and what could come beyond,  with the team hoping to more immediately make their move back into the Provincial Top ten following this weekends action.

The full Province rankings for all levels can be reviewed here.

Towards that goal of a return to the rankings, the Senior Boys head for Terrace and some weekend ball with other Northwest challengers.

Friday, Feb 5 --  CHSS Rainmakers 51 -- Caledonia Kermodes 42

Much of the  remainder of the Rainmaker program is on the road as well, with the Jr. Boys heading for Smithers this weekend.

The Senior Girls look to keep up their winning ways as they make the trek to Smithers.

The Junior Girls have the weekend off, making plans for the Junior Zones on the 19th.

For updates on the Rainmaker Sports see their twitter feed here.

For more background on the Rainmaker program see our archive page here.

NDP Leader John Horgan becoming a man of letters, opinion and LNG observations

With the BC Legislature winding down the days of its winter break, NDP Leader John Horgan has it seems been keeping busy by firing off guest contributions to the newspapers of British Columbia.

His latest presentation coming this week in the Vancouver Sun, where the Official Opposition Leader notes his concerns with the approach to LNG development by Premier Clark.

In the guest opinion piece, titled B. C. LNG not the 'greenest', Mr. Horgan highlights a number of areas where he believes that the Premier has gotten it all wrong with the LNG in BC strategy.

Among some of the areas he has concerns with:

The province's approach to counting LNG emissions, noting that as he sees it, the recent Liberal review of greenhouse gas emissions highlights the shortfalls of the BC Liberal climate change plan.

From her strategy Horgan suggests that British Columbia's climate change goals have been abandoned.

What he describes as the Premier's attempts to make LNG a political wedge issue, adding that so far this politics first approach hasn't delivered any results from the promise of financial windfall.

You can review the full submission to the Sun here.

Tuesday's column follows Mr. Horgan's previous appearance in mid January on the pages of the Vancouver Sun.

At that time he provided a range of comments on the industrial landscape of the North Coast for columnist Vaughn Palmer. With a good portion of the focus in that article related to the Pacific NorthWest LNG project proposed for Lelu Island, which Mr. Horgan called the worst possible place to proceed.

Comments which echo the recent sentiments as outlined by the NDP's Northwest MLA's who provided their support to those opposing the development of the site for LNG.

From some of his observations, it would seem however that the NDP research team might want to update the NDP leaders notes on the North Coast, or ask North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice to give the leader another tour of the area.

One fairly important error to be found in the discussion with Mr. Palmer comes from the leader of the NDP's knowledge of industrial development in the Prince Rupert area.

Among some of his observations for Mr. Palmer,  was the placement of the old Skeena Pulp Mill on Ridley Island, which of course is not the correct location, with Watson Island the home of that particular industrial site and offering up an always fascinating topic that perhaps Mr. Horgan might want to dig into as well.

In the Palmer article, the NDP leader also offered up the suggestion that Petronas/Pacific NorthWest LNG might want to take the  current BG Gas Site on Ridley Island off the hands of Shell, which recently purchased BG Gas and up until today, was in the process of moving forward with its own development in Kitimat.

And while that would seem like a sensible suggestion all things considered, any shift by Petronas to Ridley would probably mean that a brand new Environmental Process would be required, which probably wouldn't be a welcome addition to the Petronas plan.

As we noted in January on the blog, the Malaysian Energy company, having invested much of its money and time on the Lelu Island proposal is more interested in moving forward that timeline sooner rather than later. So the prospect of a brand new environmental process for a new site is something  we imagine which would be a non starter for them.

The Vaughn Palmer article can be examined here.

Mr. Horgan has not been the only member of the NDP to take to the word processor in recent weeks.

In the January 27th edition of the local weekly, North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice took to the editorial page to make sure that the Northwest MLA's letter in support of the Lelu Island Declaration made it into the news cycle as well, gaining a guest opinion slot for last week's delivery.

The time for writing letters and submitting opinion pieces however may soon be coming to an end, as the Members of the Legislature are scheduled to return to their duties on February 9th .

With the start of the new Legislature year, new opportunities will be there for Mr. Horgan and his MLA's to pose their questions and make their suggestions in person to the Premier and Liberal government's ministers.

For more items related to news from the Legislature see our archive page here.

Overwaitea the long time fixture on Third Avenue rebrands as Save On Foods

Sharp eyed readers of the shopping flyers from Wednesday, are already in the loop on an upcoming change to the city's grocery shopping experience.

As Prince Rupert's Overwaitea store shifts brands this week, now opening for business as a Save On Foods outlet.

Still part of the Jim Pattison Family of Companies, but one that leaves behind the history of the Overwaitea brand that has been a familiar part of the Prince Rupert business community over many decades, the chain having celebrated 100 years in British Columbia just last summer.

The shift to the larger Save On Foods chain, is part of what appears to be a company wide move towards moving away from the iconic Overwaitea name.

Last week the Kitimat location became the latest Save on Foods location, with this week's shift in Prince Rupert, that makes all three of the Northwest stores now found under the Save On Foods banner.

Last month, BC Business Magazine released the details of a survey conducted with the research firm Ipsos which named Save on Foods as British Columbia's most loved brand for the second year in a row. The grocery chain was also named the number three most influential brand in the province.

With the change over, Prince Rupert will now be added to the online options to get your grocery flyer delivered to your computer desk top. An opportunity to check out the weekly specials and to find more background on what the Save On Foods Brand Story is all about.

For more items on the Northwest commercial sector see our archive page here.

Mayor Brain in Ottawa for meetings with Federal officials

Mayor Lee Brain is in Ottawa this
week for discussions with
Federal Officials
(photo from Mayor Brain's twitter feed)

Social issues and infrastructure concerns are among some of the topics to be reviewed as Mayor Lee Brain makes his way around the offices in Ottawa this week, with the Mayor making note of his trip to the national capital on his Facebook page on Wednesday evening.

According to the Mayor's update,  during his time in Ottawa he has met with Transportation Minister Marc Garneau, as well as officials with the Ministries of Natural Resources, Infrastructure and Communities, Environment and Climate Change, as well as International Trade and Foreign Affairs.

He also notes that there is a large contingent from British Columbia in Ottawa for the week, with a number of officials representing First Nations of the region among those in attendance.

The province of British Columbia is also well represented and in one of a number of photos making their way to the Mayor's twitter feed, he had an opportunity to catch up with Premier Christy Clark as part of the trip to Ottawa.

As well, the Mayor had the chance as to greet former Prince Rupert resident Francesco Sorbara who as we outlined on the blog last October, now represents a Toronto area riding in Parliament.

Mayor Brain, MP Francesco Sorbara and Premier Clark
at a function in Ottawa this week
(Photo from Mayor Brain's twitter feed)

Provincial officials are putting a full court press on the Federal government when it comes to the range of LNG projects that they hope to see developed in British Columbia. Impressing on the Federal officials of the importance of forward movement when it comes to the B. C. Government's plans for development of pipeline and terminal projects across the province.

Those efforts to find momentum suffered a setback this morning, as word begins to circulate that Shell has postponed a final decision on its plans for the LNG Canada project in Kitimat due to slumping profits.

The LNG Canada Terminal was thought to be the one most likely to reach the finish line first of all the proposed Northwest LNG projects.

Shell postpones final decision on Kitimat's LNG Canada project

Plans for a Kitimat LNG Terminal
are on hold as Shell cuts costs
(photo from LNG Canada website)

The unsettled economics of the world energy industry has once again left a Northwest LNG project in pause mode, with Shell announcing today that they will be postponing their decision on the proposed LNG Canada project for Kitimat, as well as a number of other international projects that they had in planning.

As part of a fourth quarter financial report that outlined an earnings plunge of 44 per cent, the Anglo Dutch energy company noted that operating costs and capital investment across the companies components had been reduced by a total of 12.5 billion dollars, with further reductions anticipated in 2016.

In a statement that was part of the fourth quarter dividend announcement, Shell CEO Ben Van Beurden noted that the times were challenging for the industry, and the company was responding with urgency and determination, but also with great sense of excitement for the future.

Where the LNG Canada project might fit into that future wasn't included as part of the CEO's presentation, as no timeline was provided as to when Shell might reconsider the Kitimat project for a final decision.

The statement from Shell can be reviewed here, while a video comment from Shell Chairman can be viewed here.

Last week the company completed a mega merger with BG Gas, a 52 billion dollar transaction that will be complete by February 15th.

Prior to the that merger, BG Gas had been proposing its own LNG Terminal for Prince Rupert's Ridley Island, however there has not been much information to be found on that project since BG became more closely aligned with Shell.

The LNG Canada project had most recently celebrated the receipt of a LNG Facility permit from the BC Oil and Gas Commission, calling it a critical milestone in the plans to move their project forward.

Some of the items of note on today's announcement from Shell can be found below, we shall update the files as more items become available:

Shell postpones decision on LNG project in Kitimat due to profits slump
Shell postpones LNG Canada FID as 205 profits slump
Shell postpones decision on Kitimat LNG project after profits fall
Shell delaying LNG Canada joint venture in northern B. C.
Setback for Kitimat LNG as Shell postpones investment decision
Shell postpones final investment decision on Kitimat LNG project
Shell Delays Canada Gas Export plans Hampered by Crude Slump
Shell delays final decision on LNG export project planned for Kitimat
Shell delays final Kitimat LNG investment (video)
LNG Canada delay marks new blow to B.C. hopes
Shell's B. C. LNG delay is no surprise
LNG Canada delays plans for Kitimat Terminal project (video)


Some of the past history of the proposed LNG Canada project can be found on our archive page.

Rupert resident enjoys work camp experience offered by NWCC program

Prince Rupert resident Deepak Chana
in front of the work camp style
accommodations at NWCC
(photo from NWCC website)

A Prince Rupert resident currently working on his career path of carpentry has been featured by Northwest Community College in an] online article from the BC Government, featured on the NWCC website.

The benefits of the trades training program at NWCC is outlined in as part of the article which looks at now Prince Rupert's  Deepak Chana is expanding his trade skills through the program at the Terrace campus, studying to achieve his certified journey person carpenter status.

As part of his time at NWCC, Chana is taking advantage of the unique living accommodations that the college has set up, that recreates some of the work camp experiences that local residents might find once some of the major projects proposed for the region start to come on line.

NWCC outlined the concept of the work camp style housing last September as the modules for the living area began to of into use for students at the Terrace campus, you can review that from our item on the blog here.

The full story on Chana's journey through the trades program can be review here.

For more items related to NWCC in the northwest see our archive page here.