Richmond Sorting Centre Undermines Northern Growth

Thursday, July 14, 2005 03:59 AM

If it isn't bad enough that the Provincial Government is not jumping up and down at the prospect of seeing an International Distribution Center to handle much of the lumber being produced by Canfor built in Richmond; they are subsidizing the bloody thing.

Under the proposal by Canfor, much of the lumber being produced from Houston’s giant mill, Vanderhoof and Prince George would be sent to Richmond and then sorted and sold to the various off shore countries such as Japan and possibly China .

Now where in the bloody world did the Provincial Government get off on this one?

In the first instance, there is a big hurrah that the money from the sale of BC Rail in part, will go to areas such as Prince Rupert to build, you guessed it, a new super port that will allow lumber produced in the north to be sent out of that port with the result that a days sailing would be saved.

Canfor says this is part of the long range plans. Now we all know that each time a new super mill is built (which is very much in the cards with Canfor for Vanderhoof and Quesnel) you do so with less than half of the employees that it takes to run an average mill of today. So what’s the benefit to our society? It’s our wood, or at least we thought so.

So let’s see, we operate fewer mega mills, and ship all that lumber through a sorting yard In Richmond, which employs people from the lower mainland. The site is proposed to be the largest covered lumber re- load facility in the lower mainland and we all can be proud of the fact that it is us in the central and northern part of the province who will pay.

The province is giving Canfor a 15 million dollar "investment" through Forestry Inovation Investment Ltd. for this facility.

In stead of beating our chests and saying we have saved the Barkerville post office, how about the two Cabinet Ministers from this region along with the Mayor (who surely must have the ear of the government for his help in the sale of BC Rail) get off their collective duffs and do something to prevent yet more forestry jobs being exported south by a company that is steadily gaining more and more control over our livelyhood.

The City Council was quick to jump all over the Hockey Enforcers night , lets see if they can muster the basic fortitude to do something that will not only result in saving the Port of Prince Rupert, but save and create hundreds of jobs in the very region from which the resource is extracted.

It high time our leaders stood up to what is becoming an increasing control of not only our forestry resource, but our standard of living as well.

That, is one man's opinion.
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Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2005 03:59 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: gypsy on July 14 2005 8:11 AM

Well, well, well, and now we must figure this one out????Not too hard!!! The Gov't knows we have Par bell at the helm here in the north. He will solve the economy for this region!!! After all, he believes all that space created by the removal of beetle killed wood can be turn into range land for cattle, and we immediately have ranches galore in operation. And no place to peddle the bull. Along with those gas and oil wells, plus all the new mines which will be opening and operational, we will have the most vibrant economy in British Columbia. That "sorting" yard in Richmond will be small potatoes compared to what Pat Bell's ideas will provide for us northerners. And we should worry about poor old Prince Rupert, which has been in desperate straits for many years??
And do we have the majority of the votes in the North??? NO!!!! They will cater to the South, as there is the source of the power.
Canfor is far from being any good corporate citizen. They donate a few dollars here, and a few dollars there, and reap huge profits from our area, and we scrape and bow. We saw an example of that with the truckers recently. They were not going to relent-but what was the final outcome??? The pocketbook ruled the day, as Canfor knew it would. Emerson, our notable citizen a couple years back, now scoffs at our needs for assistance on the pine beetle disaster. We are nothing but a horde of squealing, squawking, little kids that must be
reprimanded, and then just ignored, and maybe we will go away. Do we stand up to be counted???Not for long!!! And when we do, we are scoffed at by others who think we are the ones who must be two bricks short of a load.
Prince George will never become a city of city's, of which we could be proud, but we are allowing the politicians we elect to "sell us short, or sell us out." THINK ABOUT IT!!!!AND KEEP ON DOING NOTHING. The only fight this city has, or will have, is going to happen Aug. 27, so get your tickets to the Enforcers show.
We are all skating on thin ice, and soon we will not even notice when we fall through the cracks.

Posted by: Marketing Man on July 14 2005 9:02 AM

Ah yes, another person who must of met Pat Bell in person and witnessed his "brillance" first hand. IMO the guy is a moron. I met him at a forestry forum a couple of years ago, when he was in charge of peddling wood as the next big thing in building. I have no problems with the push to market our wood abroad and such but let me tell you the bull he spewed at us. This was about a year or so after 911 in New York.

He started talking about how the twin towers fell so easily after being hit by the planes. He went as far as to say..and I QUOTE: "Now I am not saying they should of built the twin towers out of wood, but we can see that steel isnt all it's cracked up to be..." OMG!!! Hmmmm, let me see Pat, the towers were hit by fully loaded jumbo airliners, which in turn dumped their full tanks of flaming jet fuel throughout the structures. THEN the building burned at a tempurature of over a thousand degrees for hours!!!

Comments like this and his fake politician bull make me sick. I have never respected what he has had to say or do since. Did he get my vote? HELL NO!

Posted by: Chadermando on July 14 2005 10:53 AM

If its Richmond then I guess its now clear that Canfor has no plans to use the former BC Rail line to North Vancouver.

Clearly Emerson knew this when he first sold the idea of privatizing BC Rail to the Liberal party 4+ years ago. Expect more trucks on the road between here and Vancouver in the future. Nothing like planning to put more trucks on the road in the Lower Mainland where they need them. LOL

As for Prince Rupert this IMO kills its chances of having a viable ancher to its port for return trade.

I just can't understand why the provincial government is subsidizing this company considering the trouble we already got into for this perception south of the boarder? If public dollars were involved than shouldn't this facility be open to all forest companies that require the services for their markets as well? Why the selective decision to pick Canfor as the winner here over other tax paying forest companies and competitors?

Posted by: damyzz on July 14 2005 11:53 AM

one statement should say it all"money talks,bs walks"
Canfor was one of the biggest donors to the prov.liberals

Posted by: spanky on July 14 2005 6:18 PM

How can anyone be surprised that ol gordy campbell would sell us out. he is a fool.

later

Posted by: Opatcho on July 15 2005 10:18 AM

Four hundred and sixty million in profit last year and gordy is giving them 15 million for a sorting plant and they got 39 million for a Co-Generating plant at the pulp mill. Two words difine Canfor, "Corporate Bums."

Posted by: gypsy on July 15 2005 12:32 PM

Big deal. So Canfor donated to the Liberals. Well, time to wake up and smell the coffee. Thousands and thousands donated--WITH THEIR VOTE.
Now we can all sit back and voice our opinions and complaints around the kitchen table, or over lunch in some restaurant, and that is as far as it will go. We are the most "spineless " people in the province, and you better believe Emerson knew what was coming and got his butt out while he still figured he looked like a saint. All those people who sang his praises must feel rather stupid now.
Blessed we are to have Pat Bell crowing like some old rooster, and what has he accomplished, and where is the truth, or proof in all he claims???? Miss Goody Two Shoes, Bond, doesn't have any great announcements, but then she may be too wise to spew a lot of rash promises that are garbage. This new guy, Rustad, seems pretty close mouthed, but I suppose he does not know quite how to spread it yet. Still being programmed!!!!
I pity the public in Prince Rupert if some of the predictions of a major port being established are doomed. They have had a major downturn which has lasted for years. Dashed hopes now would be like the final straw.
How can the Liberal Gov't subsidize a company that rakes in millions and millions in profit every 6 months?? Almost seems criminal.
If the public thinks this City Council is interested in jumping in with both feet to voice objections-think again. They may elect to voice a small objection just to pacify the few who complain, but don't expect anything concrete.
Oh well, Pat Bell and his plan to turn logged land into pasture land for range cattle is a sure sign he is going to expand his Wendy's and remain in the burger business, and City Hall can sell hot dogs to raise money when there are no tax payers.
The North does not look too promising-or does somebody know something I don't??? Am I too much of a cynic???

Posted by: damyzz on July 19 2005 11:07 PM

hey, gypsy,At the begining of your letter, you said "so,canfor donated to the liberals"then later on,you asked how could the liberals susidize canfor.MMMMMM.Think about this one,canfor,co-gen. plant,BC hydo pays large portion,crown corp.