Mayor calls for infrastructure help for Northwest

We’re backtracking a bit here at the Podunk today, a story that caught our eye back on Tuesday, but couldn’t get addressed until today. It’s been a rather hectic week shall we say.

At any rate, the Mayor keeping an eye on the hopeful boom to come, has called out for more assistance from the province for the challenges facing Prince Rupert as a port in Northwestern B. C.

To that end the Mayor and a delegation of local officials took off for Victoria to tell their tales of future growth and need for not only Prince Rupert but the entire Northwest.

From hydro power requirements to a double tracking of fibre optic lines into the city, the Mayor and his delegation of Jim Rushton and Gord Howie, tugged on the ears of various provincial bureaucrats to get their message across.

The road trip to Victoria didn’t net the three any firm commitments, but they say they were well heard. Some critics of city spending might wonder if perhaps a number of position papers sent by mail might have had as much impact, without the need to tap into the travel budget for the trip.

Considering the frequently mentioned fragile state of civic finances, there isn’t always the need for a face to face meeting. We do have an MLA who no doubt if asked and provided with the documentation, would be more than willing to bring up such things in Victoria for us, while working at the Legislature.

It will be interesting to see what becomes of their visit in the grand scheme of things, the talking points of the three were provided in the form of a front page story in Tuesday’s Daily News.

HELP CITY WITH PORT INFRASTRUCTURE: POND
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Page one

Establishing secure back-up services for internet and electric power in order to operate a new world port was the focus of a recent meeting between the City of Prince Rupert and senior bureaucrats in Victoria.

Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond, Jim Rushton of Prince Rupert/Port Edward Economic Development and Gord Howie, Rupert’s city administrator, recently returned from a meeting in Victoria where they talked with senior level administrators from the provincial Ministries of Transportation, Economic Development and Community Services about the challenges facing Prince Rupert as a port in Northwestern B. C.

“Even though we have heard it said by bureaucrats that we are no longer a pioneering province, I would argue there are still aspects of this,” said Pond.

For example, a business would never have to question whether they would have enough power to operate in Richmond, but the amount of power that can be delivered to Prince Rupert to meet the needs of future industries is an issue.

In addition, there is no back-up for the internet and if something happens along the line between Prince Rupert and Prince George there could be a loss in service.

“In northern communities, there isn’t necessarily a commercial reason to provide those services,” said Pond. “With no commercial reason to dual track the fibre optic line to Prince George we can lose internet for 12 to15 hours.

“In the world of ports, we are told two hours can be fatal.”

Last December, winds whipping up to 90 kilometres an hour damaged Telus’ Internet infrastructure in the community for two days.

And a month before that, several accidents near Kitwanga left most of the region, some 50,000 customers without service.

Pond said the meeting with provincial officials included looking at a list of these types of gaps – gaps the municipality isn’t equipped to deal with.

“The local taxpayer in Prince Rupert is not up to developing the northern half of the economy unassisted.”

While they haven’t gotten any concrete answers from government about their concerns, Pond said he felt they were well heard.

This meeting came about after the city met with Premier Gordon Campbell at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention last October in Victoria.