On the road again, he can't wait to get on the road again

When he was Mayor of Prince Rupert, Herb Pond spent his fair share of time in office travelling the province, country, continent and at times the world, selling the merits of Prince Rupert, showing the flag and building up relationships. At times it seemed that he was a guy with a suitcase ready to go at the first invitation, prepared to be an ambassador for the city and by extension the region. It's a past history that may soon come in handy as he seeks to capture the North Coast for the Liberals, wrestling it from the current NDP incumbent MLA Gary Coons.

Many of those trips were to increase communication with the Provincial government, addressing issues such as the local fishery, social housing, port development and of course the always on the front burner item of the Tsimshian connector project. They were trips which for the most part have provided mixed results at times for the city, but certainly didn't hurt when it came time to focus on a new stage of his political career.

Now as he seeks to get to work after his recent acclaimed nomination as the BC Liberal candidate for the North coast, Mr. Pond will be digging out the suitcases for some quick trips around the various communities of the riding, seeking to develop or rekindle his contacts and remind would be voters that Mr. Coons will have competition once again in his quest to return to Victoria in May.

Tuesday's Daily News featured a front page, headline story which outlined the upcoming and much anticipated campaign between the two, a political battle which will take the two candidates to many of the towns and villages that make up the North coast riding.


SHOWDOWN BETWEEN POND AND COONS IS CONFIRMED
Local Liberal Party picks former mayor as the candidate in May's provincial election
By George T. Baker
The Daily News
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Pages one and two

Herb Pond is officially the BC liberals' man on the North Coast Pond was acclaimed to the post in a private meeting with local party members last week.

He said he was excited about what lays in front of him during the next five months heading to the provincial elections but was reticent at this point to speak directly about what the BC liberals have planned for May.

"I'm going to be meeting with a lot of people and I want to get out across the riding and listen to people and hear what their concerns are and get to know the various corners of the riding," said Pond.

Pond, who had a tumultuous end to his time as mayor, is confident that travelling out of Prince Rupert will help build momentum, and he said he was looking forward in to the election.

"Whenever you are in this game you need to work on allowing people a chance to get to know you and that is clearly what I intend to be doing over the next number of months," said Pond, who will take on incumbent MLA Gary Coons. Pond said he would leave the community to decide how people felt about him within Rupert. He said being Mayor of Prince Rupert was the highlight of his professional life and that representing Rupertites was a job he was proud to do.

Representing the region will have a similar narrative because the riding's biggest city is Prince Rupert and the issues faced in Prince Rupert are similar to issues faced in the other comers of the province.

Employment and future job prospects remain the biggest issue facing the North Coast at the moment. It is a common thread across the country and B.C. but the region has faced steady growth in unemployment during the last 20 years - to 12.9 per cent, double both the provincial and national average.

Neither the BC liberals nor the BC NDP have come up with a distinct answer during that time to help raise job totals in .Prince Rupert.

"We continue to be an area that needs economic development and jobs, " said Pond.

Pond said the development of Phase 1 of the container port was a huge step in the right direction in getting the town moving forward.

The BC liberals have come in line for criticism in both Delta and Prince Rupert for making the DeltaPort project a priority, rather than focusing on Prince Rupert's Phase 2 expansion of
its port.

Pond steered clear of attaching any policy-indicating statements but said that he would be thumping the expansion drum if he were elected.

"I don't know where they're at but certainly the message I want to take to them is that the development of the container port is not only good for the North Coast but good for the province," said Pond.

Private members bill seeks a change of direction at BC Ferries

North Coast MLA Gary Coons, who is also the NDP Ferries critic has introduced a private members bill that would see a number of key changes to the way that BC Ferries does business up and down the coast of British Columbia.

Coons introduced his bill on Wednesday, called the Fair Ferries Act of 2008, which would see BC Ferries become more accountable, reliable and safe there to provide a service for the people of British Columbia aware of the importance that the corporation has to isolated and ferry dependent communities.

Part of Coons' bill would roll back those controversial raises that the Board of B. C. Ferries are set to receive, providing for a more fair and reasonable form of reimbursement for their efforts and tied in with Legislature approval for any future changes to the pay scale.

It's an ambitious bit of would be legislation no doubt researched during Coons' most recent tour of the coastal communities that use the ferry service as their lifeline. For those cheering him on however, it's a bill that most likely will never see the light of day. Private members bills rarely if ever, find favour with a sitting majority government and we would hazard a guess that this one in particular won't be getting passed around the Liberal cabinet table for a lengthy review and push into law.

Instead, it perhaps will provide a portion of the NDP election campaign platform for May of 2009, a blue print if you will of what BC Ferries might look like under an NDP government, if the voters were to decide that two terms of the Gordon Campbell Liberals were more than enough.

.

In the press release that came out following the introduction of the bill, the MLA suggested that his bill "makes it easy" for the Liberal government to do something about skyrocketing ferry fares and outrageous corporate rewards, "All the Campbell government has to do is support the bill"

It's doubtful that the Premier and his party will be inclined to take the advice.

It's highly unlikely that any changes will come to the corporate structure at BC Ferries in the next year, or that many of the NDP suggestions will become part of the policy manual in the current atmosphere in Victoria.

But with a year to go towards election day, it will serve as definitive policy choice for the voters to consider when they go to the polls in May of 2009. If the public is truly concerned about the state of the ferries and the attitude in Victoria towards the service, then in 365 days Mr. Coons private members bill may actually find that its up for debate, with the deciding vote made by the electorate.

The Daily News provided some background on the Coons' initiative in Wednesday's paper.

Coons is looking to make B.C. Ferries more 'fair'
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Page one

North Coast MLA and NDP Ferry Critic Gary Coons was planning to introduce a Private Members Bill today that he believes will increase the accountability of BC Ferries Services Inc. to both the government and the public.

"It gives me great pleasure today to be introducing a piece of legislation, the Fair Ferries Act 2008," said Coons.

"This Act amends the Coastal Ferry Act to provide ferry-dependent communities with some hope in their struggle for a safe, reliable, accountable and affordable ferry system."

The Act would require that the public interest be taken into account when rates charged on designated routes are set, taking into consideration ridership, public good, and available access by ferry-dependent communities.

It also rolls back the salaries of directors to what he says is a more fair and reasonable compensation, and requires legislative approval of subsequent salary increases. Coons explained that the Act would also bring BC Ferry Services Inc. under the authority of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Ombudsman Act, and require it to report annually to the minister responsible.

"With this act, B.C. recognizes that ferries should not only serve the public interest, but should be accountable to both the government and the public," said Coons. "As ferry fares head skyward with triple-digit increases and ferry-traffic declines run counter to projections, lost revenues that must be made up mean even greater fare increases in the long run. I believe The Fair Ferries Act will help mitigate the serious situation facing users of 22 ferries routes to coastal communities in B.C."

Under the Fair Ferries Act 2008, the salary of directors would be set at $30,000 per year, and the salary of the chair set at $105,000 per year, with any changes to those numbers needing the approval of the Legislative Assembly.