The Columbia Basin Trust’s chief executive officer says he’s confident Canada is ready for any renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty.
But Johnny Strilaeff says he’s of two minds about how any possible talks on the power treaty with the United States might go.
“When the treaty was first signed, it was about power generation and flood control,” he told a meeting of the Nakusp Rotary Club last week. “Now there are other community values. I would characterize that there is a willingness on both sides to enter into a discussion for modernizing the treaty.”
But Strilaeff points out that while American officials said in December of last year they wanted to start renegotiating the treaty, that country actually hasn’t formally triggered its intention to terminate the agreement. Either Canada or the U.S. can give a 10-year notice they want the treaty terminated.
And while Canada has acted on U.S. signals and engaged a negotiator to lead the table-to-table negotiations, he noted the American side doesn’t seem as prepared.
“On the United States side, it goes to their State Deparment and they have had incredible turnover there,” he noted. “There is some uncertainty as to who would be involved and what their mandate would be. So how and when, or IF, the official negotiations would start, is still very uncertain.
“What Canada had to do, the province needed to do and the region needed to do is prepare for that. And I feel really confident we have prepared for just that.”
But while Strilaeff the Trust CEO is confident Canada is ready for whatever may come from negotiations, Strilaeff the resident of the region is a little leery of the Trump administration’s tactics when it comes to negotiating foreign treaties.
“We can say all we want, they may choose to push other matters and they may make it very, very difficult if they elect to go down that path,” he told the club members. “That’s something residents need to keep an eye on.”
He points to the way the Trump administration has tried to bring in extraneous issues into negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement, and softwood lumber.
“I am a bit of cynic. I am very concerned that I can see other matters leak in, either explicitly or in the way it is showing itself right now implicitly in other negotiations the U.S. is having under this administration with other countries.”
“As a resident of this region, I have those concerns, to be blunt.”
But either way, Strilaeff was quick to emphasize that the CBT itself has no role to play in any actual negotiations.
“We are not going to be at the negotiating table. Where there’s a role for the Trust is to work with the federal and provincial governments to ensure residents have all the information they need, so they can provide input to any potential renegotiation process. And that’s what we’ve done in the past.”
The Trusts’s CEO was in Nakusp for a meeting of the Trust’s board of directors. As a fund that pumps tens of millions of dollars into the region’s economy, local business leaders were interested in quizzing Strilaeff on how it sets its guidelines for what projects it will or won’t support, and how it balances the needs of larger centres like Nelson or Cranbrook with more rural communities.
“I don’t think we have the right balance yet, I would stand up in any room and say that,” he told the group. “More work needs to be done with communities Nakusp’s size.”
When it comes to supporting economic development initiatives in both large and small communities “we haven’t found our way”, he says. “We are exploring.”
“I think it is different in every community, at a high level we want to use dollars less on supporting economic development practitioners and more in investing in business, or in assets, or in actual business opportunities. That is the direction we have.”
The CBT’s recent advertising campaign seeking ideas from the region’s entrepreneurs is a sign of that new direction, he said.
And Strilaeff told the meeting that the board has been struggling with those questions in a shifting economy. He noted that the Trust did extensive consulations for a five-year plan with communities in 2014. Since then, priorities have changed.
“In every single community we went to in 2014, economic development was the number one priority, by far.” he said. “I think if we went around to many of those communities today, that would be the case in many communities, but not in all. I know for certain other priorities have come up. Affordable housing is a major one, in some. Probably most communities, in varying degrees and needs of different demographics.
“So we have these priority areas to 2020, but we recognize we need to have responsive funding available for new priorities that come up. We have to acknowledge the world isn’t so static over five years anymore.”
The Trust will deliver about $48 million in benefits to the region this year and next, he says. While he didn’t reveal any projects at the meeting, he hinted an affordable housing project in the village will be getting support soon.
The CBT board held its board meeting and an open public session on Friday.
