North coast issues examined on BC’s most listened to talk show.

The Northwest was high on the agenda of the Bill Good show on Friday morning, as two issues currently in the news in our part of the province were discussed at length on the popular Cutting Edge of the Leg segment.

Keith Baldrey and Vaughn Palmer joined with Good as they do every Friday, to examine the state of the Queen of the North sinking investigations.

All were confused, if not a tad angry about the situation that they say has Gary Coons, the MLA for Prince Rupert appearing to be the only person in BC not demanding that those crew members currently holding their silence on the issue be forced to speak out. They noted that he has been rather effective in his criticism of the Ferry Corporation regarding the tragedy but hasn’t proceeded with the same zeal when it comes to the unionized workers who have refused to talk thus far.

With pressure building from all corners of the debate, many it find it incomprehensible that the two members of the crew on board the ship that night with the most knowledge as to what happened, are allowed to keep their silence. They discussed how the Northwest’s MLA was caught up in a scrum in Victoria last week and could offer no answers, nor any explanations why he as ferry critic wasn’t demanding that the two speak out as well.

A telling point about the MLA’s interaction with the press was made as it was revealed that it was the first political scrum in a long time where an opposition member had to be rescued by a member of his or her staff, so as not to face the heat any longer on a controversial issue.

When that topic was exhausted, the trio turned their attention to the decision yesterday by the Supreme Court of BC to back Alcan in it’s battle with the District of Kitimat, a decision that outlines that the basis of Kitimat’s fight, the subject of power sales was never considered part of the original deal between Alcan and the government.

As the three read the judgment, in effect the court has said that Alcan had the right to do what it wishes with their surplus power and that the issue is not tied in with the state of the smelter in the city. And as if to reinforce the point, they stated that Alcan was awarded court charges, meaning that Kitimat must reimburse the aluminum company for the time and trouble of having to take the issue to court.

All seemed to agree that instead of weakening Alcan, the decision to go to court and then to lose, only strengthened the hand of the company leaving Kitimat with fewer and fewer options to turn to now.

You can examine the issues yourself by checking out the CKNW Audio Vault, select the Friday March 30 broadcast and the 10am-11am hour to get an interesting perspective on how our issues are being handled on a province wide basis!