When it Comes to Prince Rupert, Province Dropped the Ball

Thursday, July 21, 2005 04:02 AM

Prince Rupert Port

There is little being said about the announcement by Canfor that it will build a major undercover sorting yard in Richmond. That is, unless you look at the comments by Gerry Offet , President of Prince George Initiatives who says the move will not hurt the expansion of the Prince Rupert facility.

Now let’s get some things straight. Canfor produces about half of the lumber of the entire central and northern region of the province. If we don’t export some of that lumber through the facilities in Prince Rupert then, pray tell ,what we can export?  Grain, we already do, minerals, we simply don’t produce enough to be able build a business.

So what drives our economy?  Forestry does and unless we can call upon forestry companies to be the first ones out of the box in getting Prince Rupert into the next level, it just won't happen.

So why did the Provincial Government get into bed with Canfor for the Richmond facility?  Oh , there may be an argument that ships bringing cars here from Japan are easily loaded for the return voyage, but that is the lumber heading to Japan only. What about those new markets we are trying to open up, like China?  We are set to move lumber from Houston around through Prince George and then to Vancouver and eventually back up the coast by Prince Rupert’s door on the way to China.

We are being had, and no one seems ready to step up to the plate and yell and scream.

Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley went to Ottawa last fall, as he said , to assist the pitch by Prince Rupert. Perhaps while attending the Grey Cup Game he lost track of the issue and so he now should get on with the program.

Pat Bell, Shirley Bond and every single MLA AND mayor from here to the coast, should be complaining instead of taking the easy way out by saying, well, Prince Rupert will make it anyway. That’s the same excuse that has been used for the past 100 years, and the results are painfully obvious.

That, is one man's opinion.

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Posted on Thursday, July 21, 2005 04:02 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: gypsy on July 21 2005 8:37 AM

And let the lightbulb come on one more time!!!!!
WE DO NOT MATTER, and CANFOR will make that quite clear. It is the lower mainland that will rule the day, and all the days to come. Canfor wants the wood, and they now have absolute control, so why waste time with Prince George and Prince Rupert????
I think back a few short years when so many were praising Emerson, and what a great citizen and caring business person, ready and willing to asist this community. Practically drooling over the saint. Now the "writing is on the wall", and who is singing praises about this wonderful, caring, corporate giant and this turn of events???
The decimation of the Princes's seems almost inevitable. Bell, Bond, Rustad, Kinsley, etc will offer up some token speeches to try and pacify the public concerned.
"Evil flourishes when good men do nothing." Canfor's actions are becoming evil. Where are the "good men?" Do something!!!

Posted by: Chadermando on July 21 2005 12:01 PM

Gypsy the system is not designed for good men. That is why the Electoral Reform that BC voters overwhelmingly supported by the largest majority ever in provincial history on any issue put to a vote is being rejected and forgotten about.

The system is designed for party control because parties are controlled by big business and big unions. There is no room for mere citizens and or small municipalities in our political system.

Ben makes some excellent points, and Krisp on the other hand is out to lunch. The issue is not about shipping grain it is about making a container port viable. A viable container port requires a return product to make it viable. the provincial government is subsidizing Canfor to the tune of $15 million of our tax dollars to not make a container port in Prince Rupert viable.

If the provincial government has a plan then we should see it unlike the BC Rail deal where we were supposed to just 'trust' them.

Time Will Tell

PS from Huston it will be about a 1700 km trip to get the wood to port in Vancouver after the Whistler road is built on BC Rail tracks. This means they will have to go all the way to the Alberta boarder before going south to Vancouver as will all product in the interior. Houston is only a couple of hundred KM from PR. Even Williams lake will be closer by rail to PR then Vancouver once the BC rail line is ripped up, making this a truely Northern issue of ensuring that PR Port will be viable when we will need it most.