Prince George, B.C. – Prince George Chamber of Commerce  CEO, Christie Rae says she is not surprised,  but very  happy  that all four of the resolutions submitted  by  her group were passed at the recent  BC Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting.

Initially, the PG Chamber had submitted three resolutions,  but  added  one more  as a “late  submission” dealing with  pipelines,  just prior to the  meeting.

The other three resolutions dealt with  funding for  airports,  brownfield remediation and forestry.

The Prince George Airport doesn’t qualify  for infrastructure funding  because it is located on property leased  from the Federal Government.  There are five other airports in the country  which  have the same issue.

The resolution notes “These six airports have been deemed essential by the NAP but are experiencing difficulties paying for all of the capital requirements necessary for airports in Canada, for property, buildings and infrastructure that the Crown maintains ownership of.”

The resolution  called for an updating  of the  funding program to allow YXS and the other five airports to  qualify  for funding “so that they may fulfill their obligations as NAS airports without financial hardship that may cause the loss of the airports themselves” reads the resolution..

PG Chamber CEO Christie Rae says the resolutions are “Essentially the  BC Chamber’s marching orders” so  will be actively worked on.  Rae  says  the PG Chamber  is planning to take this  resolution one step further, hoping it will also be adopted  by the Canadian Chamber as  an issue that needs  to be dealt with. “There are  already major conversations happening with the Federal Government about this issue ”  says Rae “The Chamber network is  a large voice  right across Canada, so   having these conversations happening , coming from different angles,  is a very positive  thing.”

The late submission  resolution  called for  policy change to  ensure  there is sufficient time for  pipeline projects to  successfully meet  their conditions.   That policy  used  the Enbridge Northern Gateway  project as an example of a project which  has  hundreds of  conditions to meet by the end of this year,   but  progress on meeting those conditions has been slowed by numerous court cases.  Rae says while there was debate on  the resolution being more generic,  but  in the end, the  resolution  continued with a focus on Northern Gateway and passed unanimously.