And so it begins....notice the part that says the provincial government sided with Alcan in court?
Thank's Gordo,your true colors are showing!
Be afraid...be very afraid!

Alcan generates about 900 megawatts of power but can only export a maximum of 300 mw's because of limited capacity of Hydro's existing line. Where it will get interesting if a second line from Kitimat is built to Hydro's substation in Terrace, or the existing line is upgraded, then Alcan could export all its power. If either of those changes are made then I would say the smelters future would be in doubt.

Now that they can do as these choose with the Nechako why not give them the Fraser also? I guess i was under the wrong impression by figuring that the natural resources, such as water, belonged to the Province of BC and it's people. These people should not be given the time of day as they have a track record of all talk and no action.

A sad day for B.C. This government or any other government is totally outsmarted when dealing with this, the most manipulative company in the world. These guys are slick and very few governments in the world win against them. I wouldn't bet on a new smelter after this judgement. All they want to do is sell power. Aluminium can be made for a fraction of the cost in other countries. Thanks to our polititions we have been sold out. A very sad day indeed.

(reposted comment of mine...)
Yes I agree. As a former resident, the Campbell govt has sold not only Kitimat out but the entire province. Taxpayers no longer own our natural resources nor have we since this govt took office.

However, now that what's done is done, I want to see leadership on mitigating the consequences of this "sell out".

It is time to move on. So leaders, how do you propose to move forward? How are you going to economically diversify the community of Kitimat? What steps are you taking to ensure the continued economic viability of the north?

The BC government is happy to take our money...what are you going to do now that the forest industry is failing? What are you going to do when Alcan decides to pull out? Hmm....more taxes? The money is running out guys! No jobs...no taxpayers!

I find the first comment somewhat disturbing in what it is trying to assert.

There are three ways to look at this:

1) The present Liberal government exerted pressure on the impartial courts (I hope not!) and influenced the outcome which is resented by Kitimat and others and cheered by some.

2) Had a different government been in power now and exerted different pressure on the impartial courts (I would have hoped not!) the different outcome would have been acceptable to Kitimat and others and resented by others.

3)The courts are actually impartial (- this being Canada, a country which abides by laws and binding contracts and is proud of that fact -) and arrived at the verdict without prejudice and without giving in to any outside pressure whatsoever.

If one doesn't look at this matter as outlined in 3) one condemns Canada's court system without explicitly saying so.

diplomat...the 1950s agreement was between the prov govt (ie//people) and Alcan. The thorn is the current govt chose to align itself with a private corp. rather than the people its supposed to be representing.
The courts aren't the issue. The courts, as you have implied, have merely interpreted the law as legislated by....the government!

When our provincial government sides with a private company over the people of a community and province,then obviously their interests are not with the people.
This didn't just start,it has been in the works for quite a while, and the Campbell government has taken flack for their stand on it before.
Obviously they cannot be trusted.
Kitimat has every reason to be upset and worried.
If it is handled wrong,it could very well be the end of that community.
At the very least, it will be the end of any votes for the B.C.Liberals from that part of the province!
And the problem is not with the courts,it is with the government and who they are actually representing.

The courts are indeed the issue, because the appeal court made its final ruling. Read the headline which says: "Alcan (Rio Tinto ) Free To Sell Power Court Of Appeal Rules."

It wasn't THIS government which legislated the law that was being interpreted. Precedence apparently played a big part in the decisions as well, namely EVERY successive B.C. government buying as much power from Alcan as it could get its hands on, including the 10 years of the NDP.

Reading the above posts (without taking sides as to who won) I come to the conclusion that it is being suggested that the courts didn't apply justice impartially and without rejecting any outside pressure and interference.

Sad day for Canada if it were true.

Doesn't matter which way you want to spin it, Gordo and his goons did not represent the people of this province, but rather a big company. Even if they didn't write the agreement in the 50's they still supported Alcan over the people. Should be good for a nice contribution to the election warchest

The courts are political and biased, always have been.

Sorry diplomat,most times I respect your logic, but this time I think you are way off base.
If Campbell had not sided with Alcan,do you really think the verdict would have been the same?
Do we really think the government had no influence at all?
We will never know for sure now, but somehow I don't think so.

Suppose there had been no Campbell, but Carol James (or any other Premier) would have manhandled the courts to make a different decision it still would have been tampering with the courts and the law that is to be impartially applied.

Following your logic that would have been alright?

Being as far off base as I am I really can't imagine anyone would be in favour of a biased application of the law as long as the outcome *justifies* it.

Who else can you think of (in B.C.) in a high position of power who in the past has unduly used his (her) power to achieve a desired outcome of a high court decision?

I don't sign on to the idea that one of the pillars (justice) of our democracy is so easily corrupted.

Nothing to be proud of, kind of shameful if indeed it were true.

Third world banana republic stuff, quite despicable, actually.

Sad day for Canada if it were true.

It's not "corruption",it is called "influence" and it goes hand in hand with politics.
And it is a very powerful thing and it happens all the time.
Unfortunately' it is not always a good thing.

The BC Supreme Court is the most corrupt court of law in all of North America. Ask any of the investors in the resource industry who have been burned for past court rulings in favour of the manager-bankster interests.

These same judges that gave away our water resource to Rio-Tinto are the same judges that devalued the 360 Networks global fibre optic network before it was even completed from $14 billion to $250 million so that the whole company could be given to JP Morgan Chase Manhattan bank for the equivalent amount of secured debt. The BC Supreme Court gave no interest to the $25 billion in market capitalization that was lost (in less then a month), or the $4 billion in unsecured bond holders (sold by JPM Morgan Chase) that helped financed the build out of the global network. All the BC Supreme Court cared about was the ongoing operations of the company even if the management team was working for the bank to sandbag the company so that they could acquire its assets for 2-cents on the dollar. The BCSC that oversees public companies in BC ignored the fact the company announced it would be cash flow positive only a week before filing for bankruptcy (all big insiders mysteriously sold during that week) and the fact the company used $250 million in cash to acquire another telecom in a similar situation, while 360 Networks was still in bankruptcy proceedings, which the BC Supreme Court then gave both companies to the bank for the amount of cash that was used in the acquisition, which could have been used to see the company through bankruptcy reorganization without liquidation. Pat Bell the politicians in charge of the BCSC at the time claimed his BC liberal government was elected to deregulate industry and not to regulate and thus supported the bankster theft of investors assets through the BC Supreme Court through documented fraudulent methods… because to stand up for investors against the banksters would be seen as discouraging investment in BC with regulation of capitalist schemes that the banks wish to play at our expense.

The BC Supreme Court ruled against investors, in favour of a fraudulent elite, in giving away BC's greatest telecom asset to a foreign controlled entity that has now privatized complete control over our communication infrastructure. This clearly involved political interference of our courts in that case and it is no surprise that this is also the case in the Rio-Tinto Alcan case involving the give away of our hydro resources.

IMO the BC Supreme Court needs to be cleaned out and investigated. I highly suspect the BC Supreme Court judges have off shore accounts where their bribes are paid, because no impartial judiciary could ever have such an awful track record of impartial justice.

And while we're at it, why not study the somewhat murky wartime history of Rio Tinto, supposedly a 'British' company with its original mining operations in Spain. The BC Liberals are sure keeping good company these days! And to think they used to criticize Social Credit for negotiating northern development with Axel Wenner-Gren!

Eagleone: "The BC Supreme Court is the most corrupt court of law in all of North America."

I noticed you did not say *the most influenced.*

If the stories related by you are true we would be in fact looking at complete corruption.