ECONOMIC issues dominated among the three people running for the Skeena riding in the provincial election at an April 18 all candidates meeting held at the REM Lee Theatre.
From the opening statements to closing remarks, BC Liberal Ellis Ross, BC NDP candidate Bruce Bidgood and Merv Ritchie from the Land Air Water Party spoke of the potential for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, the need for jobs in general and the need to balance development against environmental protection.
LNG
Although neither of the two planned LNG plants at Kitimat called Kitimat LNG and LNG Canada have reached the final investment decision stage, each candidate framed statements around the potential.
Ross, who spent five years as the chief councillor of the Haisla Nation and eight years before that as a Haisla Nation councillor, said LNG would provide jobs for locals.
“At the end of the day we’re all the same,” said Ross.
“All we want is a job to raise our families and for our children to raise their families too,” he said.
Ross spoke of his own family members now living away, saying it was impossible to convince them to return because there is no work in the area.
Getting to ‘yes’, Ross continued, required collaboration with governments, industry and community, something he said the Haisla have worked hard at fostering.
“I do believe LNG still offers the best opportunity for people who don’t have a job,” he said.
Bidgood countered accusations the NDP weren’t in favour of LNG or other large projects, calling those suggestions “misinformation.”
What an NDP government would insist on is best practices by industry, monetary and other benefits to communities, full consultation with First Nations and LNG plants operating within an overall environmental framework, he said.
“We’ll explore all possibilities for LNG,” he said.
Ritchie referred to the name of his party, calling for clean land, clean air and clean water.
“We need an economy but we need the environment to survive,” he said in reference to balancing development with the environment.
WITHOUT LNG
Should there never be an LNG industry in the riding, candidates provided their ideas for alternative development.
Ritchie said the region’s rich indigenous heritage provides the base for a tourism industry.
He referred to a workshop held in Terrace some years ago which called for the need for a new look at the city and region when it come to economic development.
“What we’ve got here is the indigenous culture,” said Ritchie. “Use indigenous people.”
Ross said the Haisla are now concentrating on using the port facilities at Kitimat for import and export.
Terrace is a goods and services sector but is now looking at manufacturing Ross continued in referring to the development of the city’s Skeena Industrial Development Park.
“It’s up to you to find your vision. Bring it to me and I’ll take it to Victoria.”
Bidgood criticized the current BC Liberal government, saying it was putting all of its eggs in one basket regarding LNG.
“The Liberals have focused exclusively on that as their Plan A. There has been no Plan B.”
An NDP government would revive an earlier federal government program to retrofit buildings making them more energy efficient, said Bidgood.
“That would provide 69,000 construction jobs,” he said.
REVENUE SHARING
Convincing the provincial government to return more of what it collects in resource taxation received an airing, mainly from Bidgood who, as chair of the Kitimat-Stikine regional district through his time as a City of Terrace council member, was in on the ground floor of the creation of the Northwest British Columbia Resource Benefits Alliance.
Its 21 local government members stretch from the coast east toward Vanderhoof.
The alliance says that because large scale industrial development takes place outside of local government boundaries but their social, economic and other impacts affect communities, the province should provide more money to deal with those impacts.
It advocates for a model similar to that of northeastern B.C. where local governments receive a portion of provincial resource taxation revenues, mostly from the oil and gas sector.
The alliance states, in background material just released, that while Premier Christy Clark promised to negotiate revenue sharing, those talks have yet to start.
“We have gone through multiple cycles of boom and bust and we have not gotten our fair share. We need to change that now. The only way that we will be able to have a lasting legacy from developments like LNG will be if have our own money and we are partners in that investment,” he said.
Ross, in referring to the impacts of a potential LNG industry, acknowledged the challenge communities will face in having infrastructure in place.
“Terrace and Kitimat will take the brunt of that,” he said.
As far as a regional resource revenue agreement, Ross said he wants to focus on the Skeena riding.
“You need a champion no matter what party you come from,” he said.
Ross also said the situation was different in the Skeena riding when compared to the northeast.
In that region, major industries are located outside of local government boundaries, he said.
But in this riding Kitimat will get its share of taxation revenue because developments such as LNG will occur within its boundaries, Ross added.
“That’s why I think Terrace, more so than anything else, you need a voice, you need in Victoria to say yes, we need those revenue dollars,” he said.
