With a not so gentle nudge, Conservatives fast track support for struggling towns

The Conservative Governments 1 billion dollar community development fund is now going to come without strings attached, as the Government has put some speed into the process of helping out struggling resource communities across the nation.

Originally the money was tied into the Government receiving approval in Parliament for its upcoming budget, but after some vibrant feedback from Parliamentarians the money will now be allowed to stand alone and be distributed to those communities in the most need.

Skeena-Bulkley Valley is set to receive 35 million dollars for communities hard hit by resource sector difficulties.

The Daily News featured the latest developments as well as the reaction from the local MP Nathan Cullen and provincial MLA Gary Coons.

TORIES' ECONOMIC 'DOWN-PAYMENT' WELCOMED BY MP
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, February 07, 2008

Pages One and Two

After coming under heavy criticism, the Harper government has fast-tracked some immediate help for struggling one-industry towns.

The Tories adopted a motion on Tuesday to establish a $1-billion community development fund. The government previously said the fund would only go forward if the opposition passed the federal budget.

"This was the money government initially wrapped into the budget. We have come out very strongly and have been hammering on these guys since we got back into parliament to separate it, allow it to stand on its on and get the money moving quickly, as opposed to taking months and months," said Nathan Cullen, Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP.

When it was first announced, provincial premiers not only called the fun insufficient in size but blasted its delivery method as a heavy-handed political tactic and opposition parties called it blackmail.

The Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding stands to see about $35 million from the fund go to struggling communities, said Cullen.

“The place can move and parliament can actually function well if people get their heads screwed on straight and remember what is important.” He said.

The help offered to resource communities could be “quite significant”.

“We are still digging into the details of this but the potential is to help workers get retraining and help communities find other economic development opportunities and get other businesses started up and create some jobs,” said Cullen.

“From my perspective, it’s a downpayment. It’s not enough to turn over our economy.”
However, it is a start.

“We have communities who have lost their mills or their mills are quite threatened, who are attempting to set up some manufacturing for the container port to start shipping and transporting. This is the perfect opportunity to access money for that,” he said.

Meanwhile, North Coast MLA Gary Coons said the funds need to be distributed according to a well thought out and fair plan.

“The coastal forestry industry has taken a real nose-dive. It’s left a lot of people out of work,” said Coons. “There are lots of communities on the North Coast that could use a share of this money.”

Coons said the coastal forestry industry has been struggling since the Liberals made “misguided” changes to the Forestry Act in their first term. For many mills, the surge in the Canadian dollar was the last nail in the coffin.

“The government reaction to the crisis in the forestry industry has been completely inadequate,” said Coons. “We don’t need another round-table; we need a government that realizes jobs are more important than pleasing friends and insiders by releasing forest lands for development. We need a government that cares about resource-dependent communities and will act on their behalf.”