Ridley Island has made the national scene, the ongoing controversy over the sale of Ridley Terminals to an Ontario based mining company, has appeared on the national radar in the final weeks of the federal election campaign.
The Globe and Mail weighed into the issue today with a story on how the potential sale is making for some rather strange bedfellows in the political classes, as the federal parties go looking for votes in these final weeks.
With Ridley Terminals apparently almost betrothed to Fortune Minerals of London, Ontario the coal terminal has suddenly become the darling of a number of people, some looking to make some money, others looking to win some votes.
The Globe points out that the sale which was on the fast track to completion until the election was called, has caused a bit of a rift between Western and Eastern cabinet ministers, Transport Minister Jean Lapierre adamant that the sale should go through, BC Cabinet Minister David Emerson suggesting that the sale to Fortune is not in the best interests of the West Coast and that the BC Liberal caucus is against the plan.
This puts Emerson (and by association his fellow travelers in the federal party) in the same camp as BC Conservative MP John Cummins, who was leading the charge against the sale to Fortune months ago. Even more interesting is the declaration by former Conservative MP John Reynolds, that the facility should now remain in public hands. Yes, that's right, a Conservative insider suggesting that the government owning something may not necessarily be a bad thing.
In this case though, one suspects that the federal guardianship would only be a temporary thing, as there are a number of BC based mineral companies that wish to band together to operate the operation.
Fortune for their part find the sudden interest in the Ridley Island facility to be bemusing and put it all down to the sudden rise of the price of coal. Company officials say that when they began their bid to become the preferred bidder for the purchase of Ridley, the price of coal was so low that many investors though they were folly for taking on the project. Though to be truthful, the original terms of the purchase make for a pretty good deal for Fortune, a 20 million dollar purchase price, with only 3 million up front and the rest paid out over 40 years.
With coal prices having more than doubled since those early negotiating days, the BC based mineral companies are fearing that the Ontario group will have a death grip on a vital shipping terminal, hindering their recovery.
The whole transaction is on hold until after the election is finished and the vote tallies taken. It will be interesting to see how things all settle down when the electoral music stops after January 23rd and what the next move will be in the Ridley Island saga.
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