Austin presses Natural Gas Minister Coleman for details on tax issues and other key items for Northwest

It's as though Skeena MLA Robin Austin has been reading our recaps of the ruminations of Prince Rupert City Council sessions of late.

Last Monday afternoon, Mr. Austin as part of his critics role on Natural Gas Development  took on the main speaking role at a Legislature Committee Session on LNG and many of his questions involved items that the North Coast Municipal leaders have expressed concerns over in recent weeks.

And while the majority of his questions were based on issues of note in Terrace and Kitimat, his line of questioning and the answers from Natural Gas Minister Rich Coleman, should be something that Prince Rupert council members may find useful to review.

On the issue of industrial taxation capping and the prospect of LNG taxation for the region:

I'd like to begin by just asking some questions around some comments that have been made publicly around an issue that is very important to those parts of British Columbia where there are proponents, hopefully, going to come to a final investment decision either later this year or early next year. That's to do with the issue of industrial taxation. 

I think in some way, judging from some of the comments that have been made by the minister and by the Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, it may also be tied in with the whole notion of a regional fund to bring some benefit back to the northwest. My question to the minister is: does the minister believe that there will be, or is potentially going to be, a capping of industrial property taxation in any of the communities in the northwest?

Mr. Coleman offered up the prospect of further discussion with municipalities on the issue, looking to strike a balance for both municipality and industry. Cautioning that in the case of LNG development, the Government won't know what may be required or the impact on each community that will take place, until the final investment decisions are made by the proponents of the development.

The Skeena MLA then turned to issues of housing availability in the Northwest, particularly the current situations in Terrace and Kitimat.

I'd just like to go back specifically to some of the housing issues in the northwest. I know that the minister has spoken with folks in the district of Kitimat, and I know that he's been in touch with people in Terrace. I'm sure that they have told him of the housing crunch that's taking place today. 
... 
What is it that the minister can do in Housing to assist us in the northwest, to help those who have what I would call a normal wage, as opposed to those who are coming from out of town, who are earning these fantastic wages and who very often not only earn fantastic wages but have housing allowances given to them if they're not already put into a camp? This is creating a big problem in the northwest, and I just would like the minister to comment on those things.

Minister Coleman reviewed how the local communities can revisit their community plans to bring in some density and innovation into their community approach.

He also spoke to the issue of the temporary accommodations that were being created in work camps and how communities could learn from the Olympic experience to create supportive housing following large project development.

And with a question that proved timely by the time Thursday rolled around, Mr. Austin spoke to the issue of further consultation with First Nations in the region:

I would just like to move for a moment with regards to the potential of LNG and how it will affect First Nations groups. Of course, it doesn't have to be repeated here that the Haisla community are hugely in support of LNG. I know that Chief Councillor Ellis Ross has been on board with the companies and working with the government since day one, since early days, when the companies were coming to Kitimat and to Haisla territory probably six or seven years ago, long before LNG became something that most of British Columbia was aware of.
... 
My question is broader than that. Aside from those groups, my question to the minister is: in what way are this ministry and this minister working with the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation to discuss LNG? What are the working groups? How many people sit on them? What's the progress of these meetings with the First Nations?

Minister Coleman provided a fairly comprehensive review of the process involved in government and the various challenges that come from trying to bring all sides of the discussion together on subjects of this large an impact.

However, Mr. Coleman did not tip the Government's hand as to the nature of what must have been by Monday, the closing moments of ongoing talks between the Government and First Nations of the North Coast.

Most likely, he would have found it politically helpful to outline the nature of those talks as part of his response to Mr. Austin's line of questions. However, when it came to what would be the the major announcement of Thursday, Mr. Coleman did not let slip any of the details which highlighted the arrangement that the Provincial Government had made with both the Metlakatla and Lax Kwa'laams First Nations.

Over the course of his one hour presentation, Mr. Austin dug deeper into those issues and raised a few other items of note, key among them air shed concerns of the Kitimat region.

All of it as part of the back and forth with the Natural Gas Minister, a session which proved to be a fairly useful bit of background on a number of important questions for the Northwest.

The full review of the Committee session can be found here, both the timely questions of the day and the answers which Minister Coleman provided in return. The video of the Committee Session can be found from the Legislature Archive page for Monday afternoon.

Monday's Committee work was a fairly comprehensive question and answer session and one which provides much information not only for the City councils of Terrace and Kitimat, but one which offers up some background on issues of note to Prince Rupert City Council.

For anyone looking to learn a little bit more on the complicated topics that Council has been working through of late the full session is well worth the hour of time required towards it.

We're not sure that Mr. Austin got many of the answers that he had been hoping for from his inquiries of recent weeks.

Whether they were from the many, many questions he took to the Natural Gas Minister during this week's Committee session, or to the large volume  of questions to other Ministers during House sessions in the weeks that have already passed in this session of the Legislature.

But, for the residents of Terrace, Kitimat and the Nass, at least he's asking questions for them.

Prince Rupert council members may wish to review our Legislature Archives to see which of their concerns are being addressed in Victoria, even if they have been addressed by the member for Skeena.

For the moment, the work of  Mr. Austin,  seems to be about as close as they're going to get to a review  from any regional representatives in Victoria.

Nathan Cullen puts his support behind John Horgan for BC NDP leadership

At one time he was considered one of the favourites for the job himself, but having made his decision to stay in Ottawa, Nathan Cullen now is being courted for a different reason.

Today, he threw his support towards John Horgan for the BC NDP leadership, which isn't really much of a surprise. Especially when one considers that after the withdrawal of Mike Farnworth from the campaign, there's only one candidate left for the job, that being Mr. Horgan.

Cullen outlined his enthusiasm for Mr. Horgan's aspirations with a press release today.

Mr. Cullen highlighted the strengths that he believes Mr. Horgan brings to the job ahead.

“John believes in good resource jobs that respect the planet and benefit local communities, and he can connect with British Columbians in any part of the province,” said Cullen. “This is the only way we’re going to build a 21st century British Columbia and John is the leader to get the job done.”

Mr. Cullen's support is not the first from the Northwest that the apparent leader in waiting has received, in March Skeena MLA Robin Austin offered his backing for Mr. Horgan's quest.

Mr. Austin was prominently listed in this list of names of MLA's that were supporting Horgan's bid, so far there has been no mention of the thoughts of the North Coast MLA Jeniffer Rice when it comes to Mr. Horgan's prospects.

The support of Mr. Austin is not the only connection to the Northwest for Horgan, who it appears once again has Dan Miller in his corner.

Horgan served the former Premier and North Coast MLA as his assistant during his time in Victoria and considered Mr. Miller to be his mentor on many issues.

In 2011, Mr. Miller was a key advocate for Mr. Horgan's run for the leadership at that time and from all accounts out of Victoria, he has again been advocating with the party for Mr. Horgan's leadership ambition.

Should Mr. Horgan receive the nod from the BC NDP next month,  it will be interesting to see how his mentorship through Mr. Miller and his own thoughts on development, may impact on the political relationship with the NDP's current North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice.

For more on Provincial politics and the legislature see our Archive page

Petronas LNG project described as having a "high degree of momentum"

For those looking for positive signs when it comes to the many LNG proposals for the North Coast, the Financial Post is offering up some interesting thoughts when it comes to the Petronas (Pacific Northwest LNG) project.

While the prospect of a final investment decision is not expected in the near future, Petronas appears to be busy laying much of the foundation for the project on the North Coast and beyond.

The Financial Post article focuses mainly on the work of Progress Energy, which is the gas development arm of the project and the rapid growth that it has realized since it was purchased by the Malaysian energy giant and became part of the Petronas project.

As part of the review, the various benchmarks that the Petronas plans have reached are outlined, from the various partnerships that they have formed through the last year with Asian buyers; to the number of exploratory wells that Progress is working on as part of the project.

The article offers up a well balanced review of the preparations and challenges ahead for the project, with market certainty for the natural gas product and an unknown when it comes to provincial taxation on the industry as key to the final decisions.

And while there is caution that some of those factors could change the dynamic at any time, and that final approval from the Malaysian company is not considered to be a formality, the consensus is that of the various projects that are being proposed for the region, Petronas seems to be at least six months ahead of the pack in their development planning.

Much of that success based on the partnerships they have built both in Canada and elsewhere in the world, an indication of the global nature of the projects that have been proposed for the North Coast.

For those seeking more background on the work involved in delivering a proposal to an active construction project, this article provides a timely review as to what the process looks like and where it may be going next.

For more on LNG developments on the North Coast see our archive page.

In Ketchikan they're examining the four day school week

While the discussion regarding the recently defeated prospect of a two week school break in Prince Rupert plays out on the editorial page of the Weekly newspaper, north of Prince Rupert the bigger picture of a four day school week is getting some review.

The Ketchikan School Board recently started the process of examining the benefits and drawbacks of shifting to a four day school week for the Middle and High School in that community.

A key factor into those discussions, is a review of the number of days that students miss from school owing to sports or other school related activities.

Like School District 52, for Ketchikan schools travel can disrupt the routine of classroom instruction for the students, with Friday for the most part giving way to a travel day in most cases.

Owing to its geography and limited transportation access, travel for the Ketchikan students is even more challenging than for students of SD52, so the four day school week proposal may make sense for them.

However, there will clearly be a split in that community as the discussion moves forward, a number of those that have weighed in on the topic have already suggested it would be too disruptive for families and for those students that don't participate in the extra-curricular travelling activities.

It will be an interesting debate to follow and considering the concerns over local school attendance and travel requirements, could be one that School District 52 may wish to follow and ask for updates on from their northern neighbours.

You can learn more about the Ketchikan discussion from this report from community radio station KRBD, which outlines the project and the thoughts of those for and against the proposal.

For more on issues on Education in the Northwest see our Archive page.

WestJet expands BC destinations; Prince Rupert not on the list

WestJet is rolling out a few more new destinations in British Columbia, but for many on the North Coast, the news today will once again be disappointing for those hoping to see the popular airline arriving at the Prince Rupert airport.

In a pair of news releases this morning, WestJet outlined that Penticton and Kamloops are about to see an increase in their flight options, the latest communities to see expanded WestJet service.

The two new routes will provide service between Alberta and British Columbia, with the new Kamloops option linking that city with Edmonton, a compliment to the already existing service to Calgary.

In the south, the new route into Penticton will provide access to Calgary and marks the introduction of WestJet service to that community.

Municipal government in both communities heralded the additions to the flight schedule as welcome developments for their city and something that they had been putting much work into.

Background on the two new routes can be found from the News releases section of the WestJet website.

It has been just about a year since WestJet announced its plans for the Northwest, a prospect that had residents of the North Coast hoping to be included on the list.

After reviewing a number of options for their expanding Encore service including service to Prince Rupert, WestJet selected Terrace in July of 2013 as their Northwest entry point.

Service to the Terrace airport started on November 25th and has proven to be a popular addition to the departures and arrivals board in that community.

For more on transportation in the region see our archive page.

PRDTU offers different interpretation of two week break tempest

As they say there are two sides to every story and for the accounts of the recently defeated proposal for a two week break for School District 52, the PRDTU is making their points by way of a letter.

In a letter to the editor of the Weekly newspaper (along with a brief reproach for the paper on the concept of balance in journalism) Kathy Murphy outlines the PRTDU position on the theme.

Providing some background on the topic and taking issue with the School District on how the proposed two week break was sent to the shelf for another year, stating that the Teachers were not to blame for the way events played out.

According to her review of events, the main stumbling blocks to the prospect of a two week spring break came down to the timeline of the discussions and the compensation for Teachers on Call and temporary teachers.

Two groups who according to Ms. Murphy would be required to work longer hours, but would not be paid for that time put in.

The letter wraps up that the local teachers "were not willing to achieve a two week spring break on the backs of our most vulnerable members"...

Over at the School District, other than a short couple of mentions in local media, no background on the process, or how the decision was made to stay with a one week spring break was provided at all.

Once again for the most part leaving the parents and students of those attending the schools of SD52 in the dark on the discussions that were involved on the issue.

Also left off the distribution list was the wider pool of taxpayers, who provide a share of the funding for School Operations.

The School District does have a website, not that they make much use of it of late. As it seems that using their portal isn't high on the to do list, particularly when it comes to delivering information to the residents of the District in anything resembling a timely manner.

Which is too bad, as for an item of such importance as any proposed change to the school year, background information would be rather helpful to the theme.

It was one issue which they could have reached out to parents to explain the entire process pro and con.

Instead,  as we outlined on the blog in February, other than a short notice when the topic was first brought up  there wasn't much to discuss, at least in public it seems.

Of note from the whole tempest, is the fact that there has been no mention in the talking points of either side of the discussion, as to what impact the two week break might have on student achievement in the classroom.

Nor, how they were planning to implement the two week break, as far as making up the extra week of vacation time and what would be required of the students at District schools.

And while the monetary aspects of the discussion and the impact on School District administrative items are important, once again on this item, like many other issues, the need to provide for more information for students and their parents just didn't make it to the discussion table.

You can find more items on education in the Northwest available on our archive page.

Nothing for the public on Watson Island expenses?

The mystery of the Watson island situation continues to percolate, with little in the way of information forthcoming from the City, the Mayor or Prince Rupert council members.

The Mayor did pop his head out of the office for a short comment to the weekly newspaper earlier this week, advising that he doesn't have the dollar amount at hand regarding the required maintenance costs of the industrial site at the moment.

Unable it seems to outline just how much the city will be required to put up towards upkeep at Watson Island, now that the City is once again responsible for those costs.

A rather shocking thing to hear from City Hall, which hasn't been too shy about sharing some of their other financial struggles during the budget process, making their case for another tax increase, money that is required to keep the city whole as one councillor put it.

Yet, when it comes to the topic of a long running issue, one which once again will require financial contributions from the city and we imagine have an impact on the Financial Officer's financial projections, we apparently are not to be privy to the details.

Whenever it comes to Watson Island, the city's administration, Mayor and Council are one it seems, with no one offering up an expansive comment, review or explanation.

As history has shown they do talk about Watson Island and rather frequently it appears.  Normally in a closed session, of which there have been many in the last year.

Regular readers of the blog will have followed our archive of Council sessions, which in 2013 met in 28 special closed to the public session, a good number of which appear to have been related to the Watson Island issue.

Council in 2014 is well on to the pace of last year, having met six times in three months in some form of closed session, some of which have again featured the industrial site and developments there.

What's most confusing about the latest twist, is that in recent months the Mayor and Council have frequently expressed their desire to move beyond the past and put Watson Island behind them. Indeed this year, Watson Island was one issue that they identified as their number one priority for 2014.

And yet as we pointed out on the blog back in March here we go again, with more drama and the need for municipal financial resources to be spent on the industrial site.

While we wait for further word from the city on the Watson Island situation...
No sunshine after all after Sun Wave settlement - as the court room beckons again

Considering the experience that they have had on the Watson Island file, we imagine it shouldn't be too hard for the Mayor and Council to determine how much the city now has to pay to cover off maintenance issues (and maybe share a bit on the legal bill to go with the latest developments), something they should share with the public as soon as possible.

While they're at it, a public explanation might be helpful for the public, in order to better understand how a seemingly done deal to rid the city of an economic albatross has again fallen through, with the City now apparently having to return to a court room to defend its interests.

In recent weeks Prince Rupert Council has been pretty quick to shift some of the attention on their financial planning issues to the Port and the Province. No doubt those are worthwhile discussion points to be made and in recent years are the main talking point as part of the city's annual financial review.

However, when it comes to the case of recent developments at Watson Island, they are suddenly very quiet, with no opinion to share.

In other communities, questions regarding a surprise demand for maintenance fees, as well as another trip to the courts, would be the kind of thing that would be asked in council chambers by elected officials.

Not in Prince Rupert, where it appears no one at City Hall whether in administration or elected office, has anything of interest to share with the community regarding the one ongoing issue which continues to confound the community on a daily basis.

Council seems to have this representation process a bit backwards.

For most residents, we imagine that when they cast  their vote in the November elections it is to have their Councillors advocate their interests at City Hall.

Instead, more and more of late, it seems that Council members are mostly representing City Hall to the residents.  And with that, keeping a fair amount of their knowledge within their circle of seven.

Transparency, Accountability and all of those neat slogans we heard at the last election and no doubt will hear again in the coming fall campaigns, for the most part it appears that they are just  campaign props.

Apparently campaign platforms that are not actually to be put in motion, nor some might suggest not to be taken very seriously when we hear them.

There is more on the Watson Island file to be found on our Archive page on the topic.

We also have more items on City Council developments available on our anchor page for council discussion points.