Ridley Terminals is Back on the auction block...

Like a homeowner who has made a few renovations and spruced up the property a bit, the Federal Government is apparently ready to part company with its investment in Ridley Terminals Incorporated.

With a few years having gone by now from when the Conservatives took power and made for a reset on the Ridley Terminals prospectus, they are now ready to see who may want to pop by and check out the place, take in the view and maybe put in an offer.

The Conservative Government of Stephen Harper announced this week that the marine terminal on Ridley Island is now officially For Sale, with provisions of open access apparently the one caveat between vendor and buyer.

In their press release of December 13th, the background on the proposed sale included the apparent main point of the Government in its quest to divest itself of its ownership stake in the Terminal.

“Moving away from public ownership of Ridley Terminals would align it with other major marine terminals in Canada, which are owned and operated by private companies,” said the Honourable Steven Fletcher, Minister of State (Transport). “Our Government will seek the best value from a buyer that will operate Ridley Terminals with open access on a long-term, sustainable basis.”

The decision to put Ridley Terminals on the market, seems to be an example of the Governments plans to Review all of their Corporate Assets, in this case a high profile marine terminal with a steady supply of product to be shipped worldwide.

It's not the first time that Ridley Terminals has been found in the Buy and Sell listings of wherever major corporations and infrastructure find themselves, a few years back during the Liberal years, the coal terminal was destined for sale, at the time thought to be to Coal Industry interests, but with the change from Liberal to Conservative government that prospectus was closed, the property taken off the market.

In the period since that first attempt at a sale, we've seen a new chairman (farewell Daniel Veniez, hello Bud Smith)  witnessed a rather vigorous expansion plan put in place and heard tale of increased shipments through the Port of Prince Rupert.

With all of that in place, the time it seems is nigh for privatization, the Conservatives apparently of the opinion that the nation has no business, in the business of coal transportation and shipment.

The prospect of a potential sale of Ridley has once again brought into focus the issue of infrastructure and who should have access to and control of the operations on the north coast.

One concern is that the Conservatives may be inclined to sell it of to foreign interests, a vital cog in the transportation network to be shopped off to the highest bidder, whether Canadian or not.

Others are concerned that if put into the hands of the coal industry, the Terminal may become more or less a closed shop to only those companies that have invested in the project, leaving smaller or competing coal companies without access to a shipment point.

Those, as well as any number of other concerns  are of course issues that the Federal Government will have to address, both the local NDP MP, Nathan Cullen as well as the outgoing NDP MLA, Gary Coons were less than impressed with this weeks announcement.

"They're broke. Frankly they are running huge deficits. My only worry is that they are doing this more out of desperation to balance the books rather than this is a smart thing to do right now."-- NDP MP, Nathan Cullen

 “It is a bit of a shocking, surprising announcement. RTI has been a key part of our community for many years and is making money hand over foot, so on one hand it seems a bit weird to sell an asset that is making money,” he said. “You would think that if something was making profit you would keep it under your wing... I guess the devil is in the details, and all we have now is a 10 minutes press conference.”-- NDP MLA, Gary Coons

The last time that the prospect of a privatization of Ridley Terminals came forward, the reaction was quick from the not only the MLA and MP, but from Mayors across the Northern part of the province, as well as from the Mayor and Council of the City of Prince Rupert.

With much concern at the time expressed over the impact, (on the industry and the North Coast) that such a development might have. It will be interesting to see if the last three years have provided for a changing of opinion as Ridley once again goes into the Federal For Sale Inventory.

There was no timeline provided by the Government on Thursday as to when they anticipate any deal to close, though we imagine. that even with the requirement of access that the Government states is a deal breaker, that there will be more than a few competitive bids submitted for consideration to the Canada Investment Development Corporation.

One thing seems certain, we most likely will hear from Dan Veniez at some point in the process, having been inclined to see the Terminal put in private hands at one time, the prospect of the Terminal finally being put into that position is surely something that won't slip under his radar over the course of the next few months.

Northern View-- Federal Government Announces Intention to Sell Ridley Terminals Inc. in Prince Rupert 
CFTK-- Prince Rupert's Ridley Terminals Up For Sale
Vancouver Sun-- Ridley Terminals For Sale
Yahoo News-- Ridley Terminals Users Group Supports Government of Canada's decision to sell Ridley Terminals Inc.
Globe and Mail-- Ottawa puts key B. C. link in Asian trade on the block
Huffington Post-- BC's Ridley Coal Terminal, Federal Crown Corporation, to be sold
Opinion 250-- Ridley Terminals Inc. Up for Sale
CBC-- Prince Rupert Coal Terminal to be sold by Federal Government

For those looking for more background on Ridley Terminals, we have a full review in our Industrial Development Archives.

Updates: Some interesting reviews of the Federal Government's decision in the days following the announcement.

Huffington Post-- How the Government Dethroned a Crown Corporation
Globe and Mail-- Ridley Terminals a lesson for market-interfering governments

Early morning snow and slush causes traffic troubles

The changing weather system over the North Coast on Saturday morning provided for treacherous driving conditions for an hour or so, as snow turned to sleet and then rain through the mid-morning period.

The snow which fell around the 9 AM portion of the day, created some traffic troubles on Highway 16 in particular, with reports of accidents on the highway, one which reportedly required the temporary closure of the road while emergency personnel worked on the scene between the Ridley Island Road turn off to the Port Edward turn off.

No details have been released on the nature of the motor vehicle incident, or of any injuries that may have resulted from it.

While the snow came to an end almost as quickly as it started, what was left was a slushy mixture that made road conditions slick within the city and on the Highway east to Terrace.

Caution will be the word for travelers through the day today, both on the highway and on city streets.

Environment Canada is calling for much of the same kind of weather pattern through the next few days, with temperatures in the 0 - +3 range, the precipitation could be rain, snow or sleet with any given shift of the wind.

Further Weather information can be found at their website.

Drive BC advised of those conditions in the mid morning period:

Heavy Snowfall from BC Ferries Terminal in Prince Rupert to 56.6 km east of Prince Rupert (63 km). Updated Sat Dec 15 at 10:25 am PDT. (ID# 141250)

Further updates can be found from the Drive BC website.

Update: The RCMP released further information on the Saturday morning accident on the Highway, advising that the incident which took place near the Oliver Lake area, resulted in a tragic loss of life, as a passenger in a eastbound car passed away from injuries suffered in the crash.

CFTK-- Prince Rupert Highway Crash claims life
Northern View-- Accident claims life between Prince Rupert and Port Edward

Wind Warning Issued for North Coast for Friday

Make sure your Christmas decorations are anchored down for the weekend, another Pacific front is making its approach to the North Coast and with its arrival Environment Canada has issued a Wind Warning for the North coast.

Daylight hours Friday will provide for Clouds and showers with winds no higher than 60 km/h in the morning, increasing to 80 km/h in the afternoon. Anticipated rainfall into the afternoon ins 10 mm.

Strong Southerly Winds of 80 to 100 km/h are expected to arrive Friday evening, affecting both the North and Central Coast regions. The winds are expected to ease by Saturday morning, giving way to gusty westerly winds.

Rain arrives with the weather system with a further 10 mm of precipitation anticipated through the evening into the early morning hours.

You can access further updates on the Wind Warning through the day from the Environment Canada website.

Update: We're not sure if the Environment  Canada dart board is malfunctioning, but once again, the anticipated high winds never quite made it as far north as Prince Rupert and environs, while windy at times overnight, the speed of the forecast never quite matched up to the actual conditions over Friday night.

Rampage bested by Terrace on Saturday night

It was another rough night for the home side at the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre on Saturday night, as the Prince Rupert Rampage goal scoring woes returned at the same time as their goals against tendencies increased.

The Rampage were on the wrong side of a 5-2 score, losing to West Division rival the Terrace River Kings in front of about 400 fans on Saturday.

The River King got off to a quick start with a game opening goal at the 3:32 mark of the first period, a lead that held until the early stages of the second, when Jared Meers gained the equalizer for the Rampage, scoring at the 2:59 point of period number two, assists on the Rampage first goal of the night wen to Josh Kierce and Kory Movold.

Terrace laid on the offence for the rest of the second period, scoring three goals in a row, two of them forty seconds apart, holding a 4-1 lead until the 13:51 mark of the second, when the Rampage picked up their final goal of the night with Josh Kierce assisting on Jared Meers second goal of the night.

Terrace grabbed one more goal on the night in the third period at 6:24, giving the River Kings their 5-2 lead which they held through a fight filled and nasty third period.

While the first two periods were relatively uneventful,  with but 14 minutes in penalties in forty minutes of play, frustration exploded in the third with a parade to the penalty box on a mix of penalties ranging from Cross checking, Interference, Roughing, Slashing, Tripping, Fighting and Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

Most of that nastiness didn't take place until the final five minutes of the game, when the fighting and Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties were assessed.

By games end, Terrace had been assessed 25 minutes worth of penalties on 12 infractions, while the Rampage sat for 27 minutes of play on 13 infractions.

Over the course of the game, the Rampage failed to take advantage of their five power play opportunities going 0-5 on the night, Terrace punished the Rampage once for their penalty infractions, gaining one goal on seven opportunities on the night.

Shots on goal were fairly equal on the evening, Terrace fired thirty shots on Keano Wilson, while the Rampage had 27 shots directed at Terrace's Patrick Leal.

The loss drops the Rampage record to 2 wins, 9 losses and an OT loss on their twelve games so far, they next see action on Friday night, when they travel to Kitimat to play the Ice Demons, which will be their last game before the Christmas break.

Prince Rupert's next home game is Saturday December 29th, when the River Kings make a return visit to the Jim Ciccone.

You can review all of our Rampage items from this season from the Rampage Archives.

He's got Jack's back

In the ongoing debate over the development of waterfront lands on the West side of the city, Mayor Jack Mussallem can count Brian Denton as on his side.

Monday night's agenda package for city council featured a lengthy letter of support for the Mayor stemming from his and Council's recent letter to the Prince Rupert Port Authority, a correspondence that proclaimed much disappointment in the handling of waterfront issues by the Port related to the community.

In that, it would seem that Mr. Denton is in simpatico with the elected officials who affixed their names to the letter to the Port.

To add to that support, Mr. Denton has composed his own correspondence, destined for the Northern View (though he has fears that the local paper may not publish it) documenting some history on Port Development in the city, as well as highlighting a number of concerns and issues on current development plans as he sees them.

Thanking the Mayor for his leadership on the important subject, Mr. Denton goes on to list a number of his talking points, a good number of which seem to be along the lines of those shared by Mayor and council.

Among the many, many concerns listed,  these are some of the key issues.

Concerns over the Pellet Plant development and the Air Quality and Noise issues raised previous.

Reports of declining home values in the affected section of the city.

Threat of fire/and or explosions from the Pinnacle development.

Questions over the environmental review of the project as conducted by the PRPA.

Questions over CN honouring its obligations to implement an idle shut down policy, concerns over any kind of noise management plan from the Port and questions over how the Port handles complaints from the public over issues from the waterfront.

Further concerns over the Phase II expansion of the Prince Rupert Port Authority's Fairview Terminal.

Calling into question the planned expansion northwards, which in Mr. Denton's opinion will add to the existing problems in the Fairview region from container traffic


He closes his letter with a suggestion that there appear to be many problems with Port Development in the community and that the Port and CN are in large part ignoring the input from the public during thei review process and not respecting or honouring their commitments or addressing complaints

The lengthy letter, six pages in total, which if published most likely will be edited for brevity, can be found as one of the first submissions in the Items for Council section of the City Council pages. (see here).

It's well worth a read, providing a bit of background on some of the complaints from residents on the West side of the city, who are feeling a little dis-enfranchised of late. Mr. Denton seemingly ready to take the lead from the West side in the ongoing debate with the Prince Rupert Port Authority over waterfront development.

Give yourself some time to work your way through the correspondence, there is quite a bit to review, or wait for the Coles Notes version to make its way (if it does) to the local paper.

You can find further background on the topic of Industrial Development on the Prince Rupert Waterfront from our archive section.

They're here... Joint Review Panel sets up shop in Prince Rupert

The Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel opens up the first of the latest scheduled sessions for Prince Rupert today  set to start at 8:30 this morning at the North Coast Convention Centre at the Chances Entertainment Centre on First Avenue West.

The Joint Review Panel last appeared in Prince Rupert back in February, amid much interest and vocal contribution at the time. Since then the Panel held lengthy and extended sessions in Prince George, before rescheduling an increased number  of further sessions for Prince Rupert, owing to the large volume of would be participants seeking an opportunity to make their presentations on the issue.

The first phase of the latest Prince Rupert stop features a seven day opening review, that offers up residents of the North Coast the opportunity to weigh in on the controversial pipeline and terminal project, that if approved will bring Northern Alberta bitumen across Northern British Columbia, to a planned terminal at Kitimat.

The current session runs from 8:30 am to 4:00 PM each day (except Sunday) and are just the first instalment of the homestretch for Joint Review Panel, which upon next Monday's concluding session  will break for the holidays and then return to Prince Rupert in February for more sessions through until May.

The Panel recently concluded over two months of presentations and observations in Prince George, sessions that at times became contentious over issues of the environment and the challenges of geography, wildlife habitat and the potential effects of pipeline development on them, to name a few.

The Prince Rupert sessions (an audio broadcast of the proceedings will be available online) will no doubt continue on with that theme, with added input as to the concerns of those that live on the North Coast and the impact that the project may have not only on the environment, but on communities up and down the North Pacific region.

Among the discussion topics for the Prince Rupert stop for the Panel will be:

--The potential impacts of the project on Aboriginal rights and interests
--The environmental effects associated with the marine terminal and marine shipping
--The socio-economic effects associated with the marine terminal and marine shipping
--The operations, safety, accident prevention and response related to the marine terminal and marine transportation
--Engagement and Consultation

As a bit of background on what has taken place so far, you can review our catalogue of items from the Prince George sessions from our Northern Gateway Pipeline Archive.

Details on this next phase of the conversation which starts today can be found from the Joint Review Panel's website, which also features the full schedule of upcoming sessions and transcriptions of the past sessions.

Among the useful links from the website:

Hearing Schedule
Daily Update Page (features line up of participants that day)
Audio Broadcast
FAQ's on Joint Review Sessions

Enbridge also has a website developed that is dedicated to the Northern Gateway project, which you can view here.

We will follow the developments of the Prince Rupert stop of the tour below, providing our own ongoing archive of items of note.

Joint Review Panel Prince Rupert Sessions

December 10 to 17, 2012
February 4 -8, 2013
February 8-23, 2013
February 25 - March 1, 2013
March 11-16, 2013
March 18-22, 2013
April 2-6, 2013
April 8-12, 2013
April 22-27, 2013
April 29- May 3, 2013
May 13- 18, 2013

Friday, December 14

National Post-- Northern Gateway hearings turning into showdown over First Nations rights
Victoria Times Colonist-- Spectators barred from Enbridge hearings in Victoria
Vancouver Sun-- Enbridge can't deny islands, Great Bear Rainforest

Thursday, December 13

CBC Radio Almanac-- Northern Gateway and First Nations Consultation in Prince Rupert
Global BC-- First Nations communities oppose pipeline due to thriving seafood industry (video)
Prince George Citizen-- Enbridge, environmental group squawk on Twitter
Vancouver Province-- Spill could wipe out pipeline benefits
Vancouver Sun-- First nations leaders sign declaration banning pipelines, oil tankers int B. C.
Vancouver Sun-- B. C. Pipeline proposal heading toward showdown over First Nations rights

Wednesday, December 12

Vancouver Sun-- B. C. native leaders plan declaration banning pipelines, tankers and oilsands
Vancouver Sun-- Cost of worst-case tanker spill outweighs rewards of Northern Gateway: UBC study
Vancouver Province-- UBC study shows cost of a major tanker spill would offset any benefit of Northern Gateway pipeline
CFTK TV-- Pipeline Play (video)
CTV BC-- Cost of Oil spill could wipeout economic gains: study (video)
Northern View-- Oil spill could cost the north coast economy more than $300 million, UBC study finds
National Post-- Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline faces fight from scallop farmers

Tuesday, December 11

Global BC-- Enbridge hearings focus on marine life (video)
Vancouver Sun-- Enbridge underestimates tanker risks in North Pacific, pipeline hearing told
Globe and Mail-- Anti-Gateway rally shines light on marine mishaps
National Post-- Oil pipelines remain a hard sell, industry working to 'get the message out'
Vancouver Observer-- Sixty percent of British Columbians oppose Enbridge pipeline: poll
Vancouver Province-- Enbridge consistently underestimates tanker risks in North Pacific, critics say
Vancouver Province-- Northern Gateway hearing begins with conflicting opinions
Vancouver Province-- Ship-oil discharges cited as danger
Northern View-- Gitga'at commissioned poll shows 60 per cent of British Columbians oppose Enbridge
CKPG TV-- New poll on Northern Gateway Project
CFTK-- Rupert JRP Day 2 (video)
CFTK-- JRP Hearings Continue in Prince Rupert

Monday, December 10

CFTK TV-- JRP Enbridge Hearings Begin Prince Rupert Phase Today
CFTK-- Rupert JRP Enbridge (video)
CBC Daybreak North-- For unemployed, Northern Gateway pipeline offers hope (audio)
CBC-- Enbridge Northern Gateway hearings return to Prince Rupert
CTV BC-- Big oil spill less harmful than regular minor ones, pipeline panel told (video)
CTV BC-- Pipeline panel arrives in Prince Rupert for next phase of hearings (video)
Opinion 250-- Northern Gateway Hearings Move to Prince Rupert
Vancouver Province-- Northern Gateway pipeline foes shift focus to tankers
Vancouver Province-- Eco-Activists more dangerous than industry
Vancouver Observer-- Citizens deliver petition opposing Enbridge's 'missing islands' video
Vancouver Observer-- Enbridge pipeline hearings return to Prince Rupert, days after tanker with crack in hull arrives a terminal
Vancouver Sun-- Chronic Oil a greater risk than tanker spill, Northern Gateway panel told
Vancouver Sun-- Pipeline panel arrives in Prince Rupert for next phase of hearings

City Council Report, Monday, December 10, 2012

City Council Sessions for Monday, December 10, 2012

Home page and archive of sessions can be found here

Live Broadcast of session can be found here

Notice of Special Council Meeting   December 10, 2012 
(resolution to exclude the public)

Regular Council Meeting Agenda December 10, 2012

Info to Council

November 8 2012


Note: Official Attendance and Minutes not posted to City website yet.

Mayor Jack Mussallem-- Present
Councillor Anna Ashley-- Present
Councillor Judy Carlick-Pearson-- Present
Councillor Gina Garon-- Present
Councillor Nelson Kinney-- Present
Councillor Jennifer Rice-- Present
Councillor Joy Thorkelson-- Present

Minutes of Regular Meeting December 10 2012  (not available yet)

Audio Recording of December 10 2012    

Video Recording of December 10 2012   

North Coast Review City Council Timeline December 10 2012  

News items from the December 10th Council session