Report from Parliament's Hill - August 27th, 2010 - Opinion 250 - News for Northern and Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada

Report from Parliament's Hill - August 27th, 2010

By Prince George - Peace River M.P. Jay Hill

Friday, August 27, 2010 03:44 AM

As usual it's been another busy, and all too short, summer. In fact I think I would be speaking for most Canadians (not all, because there are those crazy outdoor winter sports fanatics out there) when I say that if only summer lasted twice as long, Canada would be twice as good as the best country on earth!

One blessing though is that whenever winter does come this year, it will bring welcome relief from the forest fires and smoke!

And the fires this summer have demonstrated yet again how vulnerable our forests are due to the ravages of the Mountain Pine Beetle. We’ve also seen how vulnerable our agriculture industry is due to the worst drought in decades. Adding to this are the ongoing challenges arising from the global economic downturn.

All the more reason why NOW is the time for all of us to rally round the next great hope for an even brighter future for much of northern British Columbia ... I speak of the mining industry.

Statistics Canada reports that natural resources, including mining, was one of the best performing sectors nationwide with a 5.5 percent increase in employment between July 2009 and July 2010.

Regular readers of my MP Report will recall my updates throughout the past several years on the progress of Terrane Metals in getting the Mount Milligan gold and copper Mine, located west of Mackenzie (150 km northwest of Prince George), underway.

Like myself, I know that many local representatives, officials and constituents can attest to the hard work undertaken by Terrane’s Glen Wonders and Rob Pease in consulting extensively and inclusively on every aspect of the mine with municipalities, First Nations communities and federal and provincial fisheries and environment officials.

Their diligence and perseverance has paid off as Terrane announced in June that they are ready to begin the first phase of construction on Mount Milligan. Aside from the local jobs created by the 600-person construction camp, Mount Milligan will provide 400 direct permanent jobs and tremendous long-term economic benefits for our entire region!

Meanwhile, south of Prince George, 500 direct and 1,200 indirect jobs are expected annually as Taseko Mine’s Prosperity gold and copper mine continues to overcome regulatory obstacles.

Leadership in economic development and environmental stewardship is evident across the mining industry here in British Columbia.

On July 18th, I was privileged to visit the Imperial Metals Red Chris Mine site in northwest B.C. Hosted by Murray Edwards, Pierre Lebel, Brian Kynoch and Byng Giraud, myself, provincial Minister Bill Bennett and a group of local politicians and First Nation leaders were given unencumbered access to their entire operation perched atop a mountain due south of Dease Lake. And the opportunity to ask any relevant questions we chose.

We came away with a NEW appreciation for the NEW mining industry of the 21st century. An industry not only committed to providing the people of our region with good paying, long-lasting jobs, but also dedicated to protecting our environment.

If you care about the economic benefits that mining can provide, NOW is the time to voice your support!

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Posted on Friday, August 27, 2010 03:44 AM in Views by Prince George - Peace River M.P. Jay Hill

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Comments

Posted by: Denaljo on August 27 2010 6:23 AM

NEW??
What a MORON!

Posted by: SummerSoul on August 27 2010 6:41 AM

My, aren't we upbeat today? It must be nice for Jay, now that he is packed off to his precious Alberta where he will be away from his ignorant constituents in British Columbia. With his comfortable $100,000+ pension he will be able to relax while supplementing that pittance with fees as a director of some of those corporations he has aided to the detriment of mere citizens.
Who will pick up on his cheerful missives, carefully crafted by Harper's PMO? Will we get offerings from Dick Harris? May the gods help us.

I'm SummerSoul and this is just SummerSoul's opinion.

Posted by: charles on August 27 2010 9:44 AM

The private sector in Canada cannot afford the wages and benefits (pensions) that our politicians and civil servants are currently receiving. California and the rest of the United States, along with most other countries in the world are having that "discussion" right now. We in Canada will be having that same discussion very shortly.

This is only one part of the "big fight over money" which is coming as the biggest debt fueled party in the history of the world (which we have enjoyed for the last 40 years) draws to a close.

http://pensionpulse.blogspot.com/2010/08/public-pensions-and-californias-fiscal.html

Posted by: seamutt on August 27 2010 4:29 PM

So wht about the wages and benefits those in the private sector give themselves while having their collective hands out for government subsidies. Denaljo and the rest of ya why don't you run for office, you have all the answers.

Posted by: Chester on August 27 2010 9:24 PM

Seamutt, Wages & Benefits in the Private Sector? Care to elaborate? Who are you referring to? Government subsidies? Who qualifies for those? What benefits? What wages? Do you mean what's left after everyone else gets paid?

I think there is a huge gap between the private sector you are referring to and the ones I am surrounded by.

Posted by: Eagleone on August 29 2010 3:46 AM

What about rare Earth metals... China controls the entire market now and is implementing austerity measures for the west in order to gain an economic competitive position over the west in emerging technologies for computers and the green revolution that all require extensive use of rare Earth metals in their manufacture.

The Chinese have all but declared economic war on the future of our economies. Our governments are acting blind and dumb about the whole situation and have not only all but surrendered the emerging economy to the Chinese because if this circumstance, but are willing to further increase Chinese competitiveness by building pipelines to fuel the Chinese economy at the same prices we pay in a tariff and carbon tax free open carbon fuels trade.

What has the government done to ensure we are not held hostage to the Chinese communist rare Earth metals embargo? Where is the sovereignty protecting initiative to ensure we have operational rare Earth metal mines for these critical metals... of which BC is one of the few places that has them?

My guess is we have less than two years to get this under control or we loss all manufacturing competitiveness on the emerging economy to the Chinese as they horde the required metals to make the technology work.

Posted by: gus on August 29 2010 3:42 PM

Ah yes. The folly of the notion that private industry can take care of itself is demonstrated beautifully with this one, isn't it?

Industry knows what it is doing. We do not need government to help us in the arena of international commerce. HAH!!!!

Free enterprise. Supply and demand. China appears to be showing that it means to play hard in the war of commerce and the west appears to be caught with its pants down.

Nothing rare about these metals. But China has played the game in such a way that they may be becoming rare for a half a decade or more from the sounds of this article.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/mining/7970872/Backlash-over-China-curb-on-metal-exports.html

BTW, why should Canada be concerned about rare earth metals? According to the article the metals are used in the manufacturing of such items as:
iPads,
BlackBerrys,
plasma TVs,
lasers,
wind turbines,
hybrid engines,
smart bombs,
catalytic converters,
magnets,
mobile phones,
superconductors,
navigation instruments,

SO those countries that manufacture those products should be concerned. Last I saw, we are not exactly producing great quantities, if at all, any of those products.

So, we'll just pay the couple of dollars more for products that have one more Chinese component in them. So what else is new?

Posted by: gus on August 29 2010 3:44 PM

BTW .... is anyone ready to talk to Enbridge that until this is settled in favour of Canada, the whole idea of a pipeline for oil to China is put on a back burner?

Ask our dear retiring MP that question.

Quid pro quo ......

Posted by: Eagleone on August 29 2010 10:44 PM

Gus you seem to always mix up free markets with free enterprise. They are two very different things.

I totally agree on the quid pro quo... in fact its essential to our national security for all the reasons you listed above. We shouldn't even be talking about an Enbridge pipeline at this time for this very reason.

Problem is they are all bought off on the soft life... the politicians and the over priced sell out bureaucracy that make the decisions... they all by into the 'free markets' idea that the Chinese will simply specialize in what they are good at, and we will specialize in what we are good at, and the sun will rise every day and everyone will go on in harmony.

Problem with the elite thinking is that it fails to take into account that the Chinese are using predatory capitalism to monopolize control of strategic metals with a long term plan that doesn't bode well for the world outside of China.

In a free enterprise market we would have a diverse supply from competing companies that ensure market stability through equal opportunity to the sourcing options for the manufacturing industry that will require these metals. Only in a free enterprise market can you have a true supply and demand based market... otherwise you get a communist Chinese Frankenstein that picks the winners and the losers with the lowest common denominator and ethnocentric politics winning the day.

When it comes to hostile take overs and consolidations of specialized industries with an impact on stackholders far beyond the actual enterprise in question... we should have rules that prevent that kind of consolidation... this could have easily been prevented if economic greed wasn't the end rule of the day as dictated by Wall Street bankers.

IMHO

Posted by: Eagleone on August 29 2010 10:51 PM

Mark my words, this rare metals diabolical spells a huge crushing defeat on the West in its ability to compete with the Chinese in the future. Future generations are going to be wondering why we weren't hanging people over this kind of management of our economy.

The only thing on par with it that I can even think of is the MERS scandal that the corporate media won't touch with a ten foot pole. MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration System)will be our twenty years recession, but the rare metals will be our half century handicap.

The only good thing is that future generations will know who was responsible for all of this.