Thursday, April 23, 2009

Podunk Below the Masthead Wednesday, April 22, 2009

An outspoken voice joins the Pacific Salmon Commission, the city looks to work with the Port on infrastructure and another pressing election question were among the notable items of the Wednesday edition of the Daily News.

THORKELSON HAS SOME NEW FISH TO FRY-- Joy Thorkelson will bring her years of experience in the fishing industry back to the Pacific Salmon commission, as she joins the Northern panel of the commission.

The task for the Northern panel will be to assess the strength of the individual salmon runs, set catch levels for fishermen on both sides of the border and resolve disputes arising from fishery issues. All a process that Thorkelson who is also a city councillor in Prince Rupert is more than familiar with. She last served on the panel over ten years ago and was known for her strong advocacy on behalf of the Canadian side of the debate.

With the fishery continuing to suffer its decline and the situation on the north coast much worse than ten years ago, it would seem that she will once again be called upon to present the Canadian side of the argument. With a belief that the treaty is not working she will no doubt be rattling a few cages when those sessions resume again.

Elsewhere in the paper, the City and the Port may soon be working in concert to develop infrastructure projects related to phase two of the Port expansion. One key development would be the city forgetting about the plans of a Wantage Road bypass to the container port and instead should team up with the port to seek out access on the foreshore between the Container Terminal and Ridley Island. That and a more aggressive approach to seeking government monies such as those that have been poured into the Delta port project some 2.35 billion thus far.

The Port and the city seem to be on the same page when it comes to a more dedicated approach to highlighting the Prince Rupert option to various levels of government, especially in light of the ongoing backlash to the Delta port project in the lower mainland.

The latest offering in the Daily News' "pressing question" was featured in the Wednesday paper, asking candidates if the "Provincial government should appeal the Supreme Court decision to enforce mairculture as a federal jurisdiction". We'll highlight the candidates answers in a separate posting.

The Sports page featured high school golf as the main story of the day, a review of the rain soaked recent play day between high schools.

Total pages in the Wednesday paper (16)

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