Dive, Dive, Dive!

Local politicians dove for cover Thursday over the latest container port issue, pointing all fingers of responsibility towards the federal government. Complete with the obligatory furrowed brow picture on the front page, the Mayor of Prince Rupert, Mayor of Port Edward and MLA for the North Coast quickly bounced the hot potato over to the feds. A Question such as; why they didn’t begin to put pressure much earlier on the Federal government, if they were aware of the problems with the First Nations, went unasked as everybody headed for the lifeboats.

While it’s all well and good to say they still want the project to go ahead and hope things get sorted out, one would have thought perhaps our local politicos might have been a little more open and expressive about the issue that was percolating and exploded into page one headlines on Wednesday. We don’t remember the Mayor suggesting that the port project might have a few problems ahead when the city election campaign was on, our councilors never made much noise about the hold up by the feds. Instead of taking the lead, being a little more pro-active and maybe forcing the issue early on, it seems like everyone was content to let somebody else handle the problem and well we’ve seen how well that turned out now haven’t we.

But if the locals were quick to try and deflect responsibility, at least they didn’t turn the controversy into a campaign issue. Both Nathan Cullen and Mike Scott took time out from campaigning to take shots at each other over the controversy, rather than offering up any concrete suggestions as to how to get the problem solved rapidly. The Liberal candidate Gordon Stamp-Vincent could not be located in time to offer up a comment for the Daily News’ deadline so we’ll have to go uninformed as to what he might have added to the debate on the container port snafu.

One hopes that we can expect a bit more leadership from our elected officials on all levels over this; there is far too much riding on the situation for the finger pointing game to continue on much longer.

Once again, as a public service we podunkicize the Daily News story for those living away from Podunk, or those not willing to spend the required 60 cents or walk to the library.


FEDS URGED TO SORT OUT PORT PROBLEMS
Leanne Ritchie
Daily News
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Story appeared on pages 1 and 3

North Coast municipal. Provincial and Federal politicians want to see an immediate resolution to any challenges facing the container port development in Prince Rupert resulting from problems with First Nations consultation.

Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said he will be working with Port Edward Mayor Dave MacDonald and North Coast MLA Gary Coons to ensure pressure is brought on those government departments that need to take action to resolve the situation.

“It certainly appears that staff at the Department of Transport and Environment Canada aren’t taking the project as seriously as they need to be,” said Pond. “We will be calling on all people who supported the project to get together with First Nations and resolve this immediately.”

It’s been apparent there have been problems with consultation and accommodation between the federal government and Metlakatla and Lax Kw’alaams since it was revealed in October of last year that they had yet to begin talks, despite requests from the bands for meetings with Transport Canada going back to March 2005.

Yesterday, it was revealed the bands have filed an application in federal court against Transport Canada and the Attorney General for failing to consult and they confirmed they will seek an injunction to stop the project if Environment Canada grants the port a permit to proceed with construction. According to documents obtained by The Daily News, up until Mid Septemeber, Transport Canada had not even responded to the requests by the two nations to consult but rather had placed he obligation on the port authority.

This is despite the fact the Supreme Court of Canada clearly placed the duty to consult on government, rather than industry in the Haida vs. Weyerhaeuser ruling last year.

In a letter to the bands written in September 2005, Transportation Minister Jean Lapierre admitted there had been “miscommunication from all parties regarding consultation for this project” and said that contact would be made by Transport Canada officials in the near future. Transport Canada then made contact at the beginning of October 2005.

This is despite the fact, funding for the project by the federal government was announced four months earlier in April 2005 and consultation between First Nations and the port reportedly began 16 months ago, in September 2004.

“It’s very upsetting for everyone in the area because this is what we’ve been counting on to get the area going again.” said Dave MacDonald, Port Edward Mayor.

“We’re are hoping that all sides can get together and solve this and at the same time, we’d like to see the work go ahead while they continue these talks.”

North Coast MLA Gary Coons echoed sentiments made yesterday by Chief Councillor for Lax Kw’alaams Gary Reece – that both sides want to go ahead with this.

“Let’s sit down and tall. We can’t be on the political roller coaster for the community and the region,” said Coons.

Pond added that there’s was tremendous support for the project across Western Canada all the way to Sault Ste. Marie and he expects such support will again come through to help move the project ahead.

Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen said he will be taking a break from the campaign to visit Las Kw’alaams at the end of the week along with North Coast MLA Gary Coons.

“There’s always a solution,” he said. “I’m not going to allow the federal government to jeopardize the project,”

He said the Liberals haven’t paid enough attention to the Northwest – they’ve messed up Ridley Terminals and Indian, and Northern Affairs Canada has yet to understand the impact of recent cases such as Haida vs. Weyerhaeuser.

“And the Conservatives are outright antagonistic against First Nations. They remind me of Gordon Campbell in his first year of office,” said Cullen.

He added he’s been successful in helping bring together a number of Northwest nations and companies including the Talhtan with mining projects and the Wet’suwet’en in Smithers around issues concerning the ski hill development.

Meanwhile, Conservative candidate Mike Scott said if elected he will have the issue on the table to be dealt with at the federal level within 24 hours, something NDP candidate Nathan Cullen “won’t be able to do anything about as an opposition MP.”

“Obviously, a lot of people in this community and this region have a vested interest in seeing the container port constructed,” he said.

While he wouldn’t criticize the process because he hasn’t been party to the negotiations, he said he has received a commitment from the Conservatives this morning, that if they form government, construction will go ahead in time.

“What we need to do is move forward and make sure we don’t jeopardize any commercial contracts that have been put in place.” He said.

He added Nathan Cullen should stop trying to take credit for the container port.

“If he really wants to represent people he should stand up and say the port will be built regardless.” A Conservative government will proceed with construction.”

Federal Liberal candidate Gordon Stamp-Vincent could not be reached for comments by press time.