Robin a hoot
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Keith’s
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To The
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Wednesday,
May 26, 2010
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Ships in the night
Tory position on tankers looks confused
Gordon Hoekstra Citizen staff
The federal Conservative government’s position on a tanker exclusion zone off of British Columbia’s coast, which has implications for Enbridge’s proposed $4.5 billion pipeline, appeared in question earlier this month.
During question period in the House of Commons, in response to questions from the NDP over the Gulf of Mexico offshore drilling disaster, Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis said no oil tankers are allowed in the Inside Passage. Paradis stated: “That is the way it is, and it will not change.”
Tankers carrying oil from the proposed Enbridge pipeline terminal in Kitimat would travel the waters of the Inside Passage.
Paradis’ comments appeared to contradict the Conservative government’s earlier position: There is no blanket moratorium on tanker traffic on B.C.’s inside coastal waters.
Instead, the Conservative government has said there is only a voluntary exclusion zone for Alaskan tankers that deals with north-south traffic. It would mean there is nothing stopping tankers from entering B.C. ports. The Natural Resources Ministry reiterated that position Tuesday.
Natural Resources Ministry spokesperson Micheline Joanisse, in an e-mail, said the tanker exclusion applied only to loaded crude oil tankers transiting from Alaska to Washington State.
Under this long-standing agreement, U.S. tanker ships are not allowed within 25-70 miles off the B.C. coast. More than 1,000 tankers annually abide by the tanker exclusion zone, noted Joanisse.
However, Skeena-Bulkley Valley NDP MP Nathan Cullen says Paradis’ comments have muddied the waters. At the worst, it has sent a bad signal to investors, observed Cullen, whose riding stretches from Prince Rupert to Fort St. James in northern B.C. The NDP, through a private member’s bill introduced by fisheries and oceans critic Fin Donnelly, want to see an oil tanker moratorium on the entire B.C. coast enshrined in law.
Enbridge’s proposed 1,170-kilometre pipeline would carry crude oil from Edmonton to Kitimat, with condensate, a kerosene-like oil thinner, returning on a twin pipeline. Calgary-based Enbridge has touted the benefits of the project, which it says includes thousands of temporary jobs, but has had push back from some First Nations and environmental groups.
Enbridge has put off filing its project application with federal regulators several times since 2009.
p^citizen
george it's what matters to you
Mike Harcourt speaks about Prince George's downtown and the improvements he has seen since he was last here 20 months ago.
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
Mike likes!
Ex-B.C. premier says downtown process leading to results
Frank Peebles Citizen staff
Mike Harcourt’s trained eye likes what it sees in Prince George.
The former B.C. premier and one time mayor of Vancouver has spent his years of retirement from politics involved in many initiatives focused on First Nations and municipal development, including chairing the Prime Minister’s (started by Paul Martin, continued by Stephen Harper) Advisory Committee for Cities and Communities. About 20 months ago he was in Prince George as the keynote speaker at the Let’s Get Started Rally crying for downtown revitalization in this city.
“Good progress,” he declared, after arriving on Tuesday and spending some time with the Downtown Business Improvement Association prior to today’s main event at the Ramada Hotel’s conference centre. “What stands out to me is a process is leading to a product. The practice of studies gathering dust seems to be finished. It is not a process leading to more process cycle that was happening in Prince George’s past.
“You are bringing downtown back to life.”
He singled out the Mayor’s Task Force actions as one sign of real change, the number of homeless people cut in half since his last visit thanks to provincial housing initiatives, and millions of dollars in private and public investment in downtown businesses.
He said that investment cast into doubt a recent report commissioned by city council that attempted to dissuade officials from exploring long-term tax abatements and also declared downtown Prince George investment as financially unwise.
On the tax shelter issue, Harcourt was curt. “It isn’t a tax abatement, the wrong word is being used.
“It is creating incentives for catalyst projects, and the taxpayer can, and very probably will, see a net profit if you do that. You are seeing property values actually decreasing over time, due to depreciation, and that means less taxation on that value. If you go ahead with some of these incentives, you get a higher assessed value on that piece of property, plus it creates upward momentum on values and improvements all around it. But it is just one tool to use, there are many arrows in the quiver that the
citizens of Prince George can use to develop the downtown.”
He suggested that Vancouver’s use of the Property Endowment Fund model of paying for capital projects be looked at. He also urged further attention on housing the chronically homeless in places that support those who live with mental health and addictions impacts.
“It is having a real impact in Vancouver,” he said, coincidentally on the same day that the provincial government, City of Vancouver and the Streetohome Foundation announced a multi-million-dollar partnership to build more than
1,000 new supportive-housing units in Vancouver. “The rough sleeping on the street is already down 90 per cent in just the past year and a half, crime is down dramatically. People are noticing a difference. Here in Prince George, in front of the Ramada where we will be (today) it used to feel like running the gauntlet and now it is a whole new feel - very positive.”
Harcourt will speak on the topic of Sustainable Urban Renewal starting at 9 a.m. this morning.
A series of workshops and open discussions will follow throughout the day.
movies
Micmacs filled with rascals /18
money
Oil provinces in for squeeze /14
politics
Charges dropped /7
U.K.
Queen opens coalition Parliament /13
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Bridge ...............18
Comics ...............19
Crossword ............19
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