It would appear that the phone lines have been smoking at City Hall since the provincial housing assessments came out in the city.
In his regular column in the Northern View, Mayor Herb Pond recounts some of the many and apparently frequent glad tidings of Podunkians regarding their suddenly valuable real estate. With visions of huzzahs and statues dancing in his head, reality apparently has provided an alternative vision.
It's an interesting bit of creative writing this dear diary entry is, perhaps he could submit his article to Reader's Digest, it does have that "Life's like that" ring to it.
Assessment reactions show that life can be so interesting
Jan 17 2007
The Northern View
When I began my first term as Mayor (the best job in the world by the way) people were having a hard time even giving houses away in Prince Rupert. I don’t need to go on about it. Those of us who lived through it don’t really want to be reminded, and those that didn’t won’t fully understand. But for the sake of those who are new, let’s just say that the stack of weekly foreclosure notices at the courthouse began to rival the Great Wall of China, and it was tearing families apart.
So now it’s four short years later and I’m reading with some sense of accomplishment that real estate value increases are double digit – for the second year in a row!
“Terrific,” I think to myself,
“I’ll just park myself by the phone and wait for all the many calls of thank-you and congratulation.”
You know the kind I mean - “Thank you Mr. Mayor,” or “Tell that Council of yours that you’re all doing a great job,” or my personal favourite, “Let’s erect a small statue of you beside Charles Hays.”
Just before picking up the first ringing phone, I practice my response.
“Of course,” I’ll reply humbly, “it is a team effort. We couldn’t have done it without the Port, NCDC… I’d like to thank my mother.”
“Is that the Mayor?”
“Yes, I’m proud to say that it is.”
“What kind of #@%* idiot are you? Now my taxes are going to triple? If I wasn’t so @#%& mad, I’d come down there and…”
The phone rings again, and the message is roughly the same. Then again. And yet again.
Subsequently, I discover that my call volume is nothing compared to the front desk at City Hall. For several days now we have been assuring people that we always lower the mill rate as property values rise, but if your assessment climbed a great deal more than the average, you may wish to appeal.
And that is just the way it works. It costs the same amount to keep ice in the arena and water in the swimming pool, no matter what your house is worth. Costs may go up a little each year with inflation, but not much. So, whether the market is rising or falling, we’ll each need to kick in roughly what we did last year to keep things going – regardless of what value BC Assessment assigns to our houses.
Later in the day, Sandy and I are at home decompressing and she asks about my day.
I smile and say, “Let’s just say that life can be so interesting.”
Prince Rupert Mayor
Herb Pond
Showing posts with label Prince Rupert Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prince Rupert Politics. Show all posts
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Friday, November 10, 2006
When you fail to plan, you plan to fail
The consultants have been hired and the Quality of Life Survey is under way. The City is hoping to find out what we think, having put 90,000 dollars aside to embark on an update of its Official Community Plan.
Mayor Herb Pond urged participation in the survey by the city’s residents, as he feels that the city is at a “pivotal point in its evolution”, with the expected economic opportunities on the horizon. And because of that feedback from the community is something the city would like to have regarding the city’s future direction.
With that in mind, the first phase of updating the Official Community Plan is to develop a Quality of Life component, which is where the survey process comes into play.
Over the month of November there will be a community wide random telephone survey conducted, looking for feedback on what citizens want to see to make the city a better place to live.
After the survey period is complete there will be a series of community meetings held in January and December to discuss what kind of community we wish to have on the North Coast.
The Daily News provided some background on the plans in its Wednesday paper.
LONG AWAITED UPDATE OF CITY’S PLAN BEGINS
Official Community Plan a blueprint for growth
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Page five
A $90,000 review of the city’s Official Community Plan is underway this November, starting with a Quality of Life Survey.
Gord Howie, city administrator, said the city has hired Jennifer Wilson Consulting Ltd. and UMA Consulting Ltd. to help with the process.
“Jennifer’s part is to do most of the community survey work and then overseeing the actual Official Community Plan with UMA providing engineering and planning advice,” said Howie.
He added that Corinna Morhart a student in the social work program at the University of Northern British Columbia will be helping with the consulting work for the Quality of Life survey.
Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said the city is at a pivotal point in its evolution – with opportunities linked to the expansion of the port, increased tourism and economic development projects they hope will translate into community growth.
To shape that growth in the way that supports the unique aspects of the port city, he explained the city is developing a Quality of Life component to its community plan which the city hopes will ensure the city is a great place to live and work.
There are two ways people can participate in the Quality of Life survey. The first is a random, community-wide telephone survey that will be conducted in November. Because the survey is random, everyone has an equal chance of being involved. This means the plan will not be based on the loudest or most vocal people, but rather a representative sample of the entire community.
“If you are contacted, please take the time to respond,” said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond. “If you do, you have a 1 in 300 chance to win a Motorola “Razor” Cell phone that has been donated by CityWest.”
Then starting in December and into January, there will be a series of community meetings held to discuss the kind of community people would like to see.
Key aspects that will be discussed include those relating to community spirit, social interaction arts, culture, recreation, economic development, education, housing, the environment, safety and transportation.
Interested residents are asked to contact Corinna Morhart at 627-5433 or qualityoflife@citytel.net to register for the meetings because space is limited.
The information gathered from the survey and meetings will provide a baseline to understand what is important to community members and what are the priority focus areas.
This will then be combined with technical expertise from UMA Consulting to create a comprehensive community plan, including land use plan.
A Quality of Life report card will also be developed to track the city’s progress throughout the years and ensure it stays on course.
The last update to the Official Community Plan was done more than 20 years ago, in 1985, and revamping the OCP was identified as a high priority by community members during the public forum tin the last municipal election.
While the city has budgeted for the cost of the plan, it is also pursuing grant funding to help with the cost of the work.
Mayor Herb Pond urged participation in the survey by the city’s residents, as he feels that the city is at a “pivotal point in its evolution”, with the expected economic opportunities on the horizon. And because of that feedback from the community is something the city would like to have regarding the city’s future direction.
With that in mind, the first phase of updating the Official Community Plan is to develop a Quality of Life component, which is where the survey process comes into play.
Over the month of November there will be a community wide random telephone survey conducted, looking for feedback on what citizens want to see to make the city a better place to live.
After the survey period is complete there will be a series of community meetings held in January and December to discuss what kind of community we wish to have on the North Coast.
The Daily News provided some background on the plans in its Wednesday paper.
LONG AWAITED UPDATE OF CITY’S PLAN BEGINS
Official Community Plan a blueprint for growth
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Page five
A $90,000 review of the city’s Official Community Plan is underway this November, starting with a Quality of Life Survey.
Gord Howie, city administrator, said the city has hired Jennifer Wilson Consulting Ltd. and UMA Consulting Ltd. to help with the process.
“Jennifer’s part is to do most of the community survey work and then overseeing the actual Official Community Plan with UMA providing engineering and planning advice,” said Howie.
He added that Corinna Morhart a student in the social work program at the University of Northern British Columbia will be helping with the consulting work for the Quality of Life survey.
Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said the city is at a pivotal point in its evolution – with opportunities linked to the expansion of the port, increased tourism and economic development projects they hope will translate into community growth.
To shape that growth in the way that supports the unique aspects of the port city, he explained the city is developing a Quality of Life component to its community plan which the city hopes will ensure the city is a great place to live and work.
There are two ways people can participate in the Quality of Life survey. The first is a random, community-wide telephone survey that will be conducted in November. Because the survey is random, everyone has an equal chance of being involved. This means the plan will not be based on the loudest or most vocal people, but rather a representative sample of the entire community.
“If you are contacted, please take the time to respond,” said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond. “If you do, you have a 1 in 300 chance to win a Motorola “Razor” Cell phone that has been donated by CityWest.”
Then starting in December and into January, there will be a series of community meetings held to discuss the kind of community people would like to see.
Key aspects that will be discussed include those relating to community spirit, social interaction arts, culture, recreation, economic development, education, housing, the environment, safety and transportation.
Interested residents are asked to contact Corinna Morhart at 627-5433 or qualityoflife@citytel.net to register for the meetings because space is limited.
The information gathered from the survey and meetings will provide a baseline to understand what is important to community members and what are the priority focus areas.
This will then be combined with technical expertise from UMA Consulting to create a comprehensive community plan, including land use plan.
A Quality of Life report card will also be developed to track the city’s progress throughout the years and ensure it stays on course.
The last update to the Official Community Plan was done more than 20 years ago, in 1985, and revamping the OCP was identified as a high priority by community members during the public forum tin the last municipal election.
While the city has budgeted for the cost of the plan, it is also pursuing grant funding to help with the cost of the work.
Friday, November 03, 2006
In their sight and gentle on their minds!
Hmm, they had a Gordon Campbell there to wrap up the week long event, we wonder if they played any Glen Campbell music during the breaks?
The Mayor has returned from the UBCM in Victoria happy with the profile that he was able to create for Prince Rupert issues at the week long convention, The gathering of the provinces' political class, was said to be greatly interested in the developments of the North, all tied into the Pacific Gateway initiative and the Fairview container port project.
During his time at UBCM, the mayor “talked Rupert” explaining where the city is heading and what help it needs to handle its current troubles. He stressed the importance that he put on the current EI and welfare problems facing local residents and touched on some of the other issues that he spoke out on while in Victoria.
The Daily News caught up with the mayor upon his return, providing a Mayor’s review of what it is that a Mayor must do, while on the road at UBCM. All part of a page one story on the convention in Wednesday’s paper.
POND ENSURES UBCM ‘TALKS RUPERT’
By Patrick Witwicki
The Daily News
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Pages one and three
Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond returned in an upbeat mood Tuesday from a busy week in Victoria at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) gathering.
And for good reason, as Prince Rupert was on everyone’s mind, including premier Gordon Campbell, said Pond.
“(The Premier) made a big deal about the Pacific Gateway,” he said. “And he also mentioned Terrace and Rupert by name, and talked about working pro-actively with us.”
“There’s a lot of excitement about the North. We just need to make sure we have help in the interim.”
The help that Coastal Communities are seeking deals specifically with the welfare and EI issue, which has come to the forefront in light of the dismal 2006 fish season. Pond was one of many who received the opportunity to sit down and share concerns with Claude Richmond, the provincial minister responsible for welfare.
“We talked with Claude about the need for financial assistance for our workers,” said Pond.
But councilors from all over the Northwest received the opportunity to speak with various cabinet ministers about issues that affect the North Coast directly.
“We talked about the need for assistance with growth, the transition of the Northwest with the container port, and we talked with the Minister of Finance and Forestry about issues surrounding our forests,” said Pond.
Pond was also satisfied with several topics that came out of Campbell’s speech on Friday, including the public-private partnership (P3’s) issue that has some people in B. C. worried, including North Coast MLA, Gary Coons.
“I’m not concerned about the P3s,” said Pond. “We would ‘ve always run any major project through it anyway, if a P3 was more cost-effective. If P3 is not the right solution, we’ll find another way to do it.”
Pond pointed out a recent example where the P3 system didn’t work for Northern Health.
“Sometimes, it’s tougher in the North to do that,” he said. “Northern health tried that recently regarding Acropolis Manor, but couldn’t find anybody.”
Another aspect of Campbell’s speech, the Spirit Square Program, will also be examined by council, said Pond. The program will provide up to $20 million to help communities create or improve outdoor public meeting spaces.
The initiative is timed to lead up to B. C.’s 150th anniversary in 2008.
“We will be formulating our plan how we tap into that,” he said.
Pond was also once again named a “Director-a-large” for the UBCM executive, which will go a long way in ensuring that Prince Rupert remains on everyone’s mind.
“It’s a good opportunity for our community,” he said.
Finally, Pond also attended a premier’s dinner that included various dignitaries. CN had a table at the event, and Pond accepted an invitation to sit at their table.
“I made sure everybody in the room knew Rupert was there,” he said.
The Mayor has returned from the UBCM in Victoria happy with the profile that he was able to create for Prince Rupert issues at the week long convention, The gathering of the provinces' political class, was said to be greatly interested in the developments of the North, all tied into the Pacific Gateway initiative and the Fairview container port project.
During his time at UBCM, the mayor “talked Rupert” explaining where the city is heading and what help it needs to handle its current troubles. He stressed the importance that he put on the current EI and welfare problems facing local residents and touched on some of the other issues that he spoke out on while in Victoria.
The Daily News caught up with the mayor upon his return, providing a Mayor’s review of what it is that a Mayor must do, while on the road at UBCM. All part of a page one story on the convention in Wednesday’s paper.
POND ENSURES UBCM ‘TALKS RUPERT’
By Patrick Witwicki
The Daily News
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Pages one and three
Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond returned in an upbeat mood Tuesday from a busy week in Victoria at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) gathering.
And for good reason, as Prince Rupert was on everyone’s mind, including premier Gordon Campbell, said Pond.
“(The Premier) made a big deal about the Pacific Gateway,” he said. “And he also mentioned Terrace and Rupert by name, and talked about working pro-actively with us.”
“There’s a lot of excitement about the North. We just need to make sure we have help in the interim.”
The help that Coastal Communities are seeking deals specifically with the welfare and EI issue, which has come to the forefront in light of the dismal 2006 fish season. Pond was one of many who received the opportunity to sit down and share concerns with Claude Richmond, the provincial minister responsible for welfare.
“We talked with Claude about the need for financial assistance for our workers,” said Pond.
But councilors from all over the Northwest received the opportunity to speak with various cabinet ministers about issues that affect the North Coast directly.
“We talked about the need for assistance with growth, the transition of the Northwest with the container port, and we talked with the Minister of Finance and Forestry about issues surrounding our forests,” said Pond.
Pond was also satisfied with several topics that came out of Campbell’s speech on Friday, including the public-private partnership (P3’s) issue that has some people in B. C. worried, including North Coast MLA, Gary Coons.
“I’m not concerned about the P3s,” said Pond. “We would ‘ve always run any major project through it anyway, if a P3 was more cost-effective. If P3 is not the right solution, we’ll find another way to do it.”
Pond pointed out a recent example where the P3 system didn’t work for Northern Health.
“Sometimes, it’s tougher in the North to do that,” he said. “Northern health tried that recently regarding Acropolis Manor, but couldn’t find anybody.”
Another aspect of Campbell’s speech, the Spirit Square Program, will also be examined by council, said Pond. The program will provide up to $20 million to help communities create or improve outdoor public meeting spaces.
The initiative is timed to lead up to B. C.’s 150th anniversary in 2008.
“We will be formulating our plan how we tap into that,” he said.
Pond was also once again named a “Director-a-large” for the UBCM executive, which will go a long way in ensuring that Prince Rupert remains on everyone’s mind.
“It’s a good opportunity for our community,” he said.
Finally, Pond also attended a premier’s dinner that included various dignitaries. CN had a table at the event, and Pond accepted an invitation to sit at their table.
“I made sure everybody in the room knew Rupert was there,” he said.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
The Rumour de-mongers
Monday’s council meeting featured a session of lets stop a rumour, as the ever popular Prince Rumour mill churns out some new material for the population of late.
The most impressive one, and the one that seems to have attracted the attention of council revolves around CN and employment prospects for the city. According to councilor Sheila Gordon-Payne, the rumour flying around the city had it that CN had come to town and offered up a bounty of jobs and that council had turned them down. She wanted to go on the record that this was totally untrue and that no CN delegation had arrived to discuss employment prospects, and thus, Council had not turned down any possible employment options for the city’s job seekers.
As part of the discussion on rumours the always controversial status of the pulp mill came up for discussion and a suggestion was made for a return of the Herb Pond mailings, those fancy flyers that the city used to put out with the latest development from the desk of the mayor.
Since the mayor has recently taken to sending his thoughts to the weekly paper Northern View, it’s doubtful that we’ll see the mass mailings any time soon. After all if the city can get the job done for free, why spend all that money on flyers and printing costs!
Of course there are those out there that suggest a few less of the in camera sessions Council frequently has, might go a long ways in cutting down on the wild speculation and the frantic pace of that rumour mill of all things Prince Rupert. As always whenever you close a door, for whatever the reason, somebody, somewhere is going to talk!
The Daily News had all the details of the busy work of council on Monday, including the recollections of those that attended the UBCM last week in Victoria.
HIGH LEVEL MEETINGS OFFER HOPE
Provincial minister talks of short-term solution
By Patrick Witwicki
The Daily News
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Page One
The Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) meeting held in Victoria last week was dominated by discussion surrounding welfare, E. I. and poverty in general.
Coun. Joy Thorkelson, who sat as deputy mayor at Prince Rupert’s council meeting last night, updated council on specific discussions held at the UBCM on the subject that is currently affecting North Coast fishermen and shoreworkers.
“We were able to get in and see (Minister) Claude Richmond,” she said. “We told him people are desperately trying to find work in our community. And while there are potential jobs in the future… people can’t fill their stomachs on future jobs.”
Thorkelson said Richmond listened and sounded genuine in attempting to find a solution.
“He was quite sympathetic, which I found surprising,” she said. “He said he would try to see if there is anything he can do for us short-term.”
“He seemed to think we can get action sooner than later”
Coun. Tony Briglio suggested that council come up with its own deadline for addressing the problem, as opposed to waiting for answers and solutions from the provincial government down the road.
“We should probably have a deadline date,” he said. “Words don’t feed the stomach.”
***
Council then went on to address a problem that only seems to affect Prince “Rumour”.
Coun. Sheila Gordon-Payne expressed her frustration at the negative rumours that always seem to be commonplace in and around Prince Rupert, including the latest regarding CN.
“I had a call from someone regarding a visit with CN,” she said. “They had heard that CN had come to town, and offered jobs, and council had turned it down, which is totally untrue.
“CN has not come forward to council about this at all, and if fact our mayor is a speaker at a CN dinner down in Vancouver (right now).”
Coun. Joy Thorkelson added: “We should have a spot on the agenda for rumour-killing,”
Gordon-Payne went on to explain that she believed the negative rumours have the potential to negatively impact the community.
“I think that’s what hurts our community. If ( people) aren’t sure, contact a councilor and find out if it’s true, before it’s blown out of proportion.”
Coun. Tony Briglio then continued on that theme, wondering out loud about the latest developments with Skeena Cellulose.
“The Skeena mill rumours… maybe we need the PPWC (union) to come and meet with us about what might be happening with the mill,” he said. “Certainly, everybody wonders about Skeena.”
Briglio suggested that council go back to what was done in the past, and send out a letter from the mayor to keep the community up-to-date on what is happening in Rupert.
“I would encourage the mayor to do that to maybe alleviate some of the rumour mill,” he said.
The most impressive one, and the one that seems to have attracted the attention of council revolves around CN and employment prospects for the city. According to councilor Sheila Gordon-Payne, the rumour flying around the city had it that CN had come to town and offered up a bounty of jobs and that council had turned them down. She wanted to go on the record that this was totally untrue and that no CN delegation had arrived to discuss employment prospects, and thus, Council had not turned down any possible employment options for the city’s job seekers.
As part of the discussion on rumours the always controversial status of the pulp mill came up for discussion and a suggestion was made for a return of the Herb Pond mailings, those fancy flyers that the city used to put out with the latest development from the desk of the mayor.
Since the mayor has recently taken to sending his thoughts to the weekly paper Northern View, it’s doubtful that we’ll see the mass mailings any time soon. After all if the city can get the job done for free, why spend all that money on flyers and printing costs!
Of course there are those out there that suggest a few less of the in camera sessions Council frequently has, might go a long ways in cutting down on the wild speculation and the frantic pace of that rumour mill of all things Prince Rupert. As always whenever you close a door, for whatever the reason, somebody, somewhere is going to talk!
The Daily News had all the details of the busy work of council on Monday, including the recollections of those that attended the UBCM last week in Victoria.
HIGH LEVEL MEETINGS OFFER HOPE
Provincial minister talks of short-term solution
By Patrick Witwicki
The Daily News
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Page One
The Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) meeting held in Victoria last week was dominated by discussion surrounding welfare, E. I. and poverty in general.
Coun. Joy Thorkelson, who sat as deputy mayor at Prince Rupert’s council meeting last night, updated council on specific discussions held at the UBCM on the subject that is currently affecting North Coast fishermen and shoreworkers.
“We were able to get in and see (Minister) Claude Richmond,” she said. “We told him people are desperately trying to find work in our community. And while there are potential jobs in the future… people can’t fill their stomachs on future jobs.”
Thorkelson said Richmond listened and sounded genuine in attempting to find a solution.
“He was quite sympathetic, which I found surprising,” she said. “He said he would try to see if there is anything he can do for us short-term.”
“He seemed to think we can get action sooner than later”
Coun. Tony Briglio suggested that council come up with its own deadline for addressing the problem, as opposed to waiting for answers and solutions from the provincial government down the road.
“We should probably have a deadline date,” he said. “Words don’t feed the stomach.”
***
Council then went on to address a problem that only seems to affect Prince “Rumour”.
Coun. Sheila Gordon-Payne expressed her frustration at the negative rumours that always seem to be commonplace in and around Prince Rupert, including the latest regarding CN.
“I had a call from someone regarding a visit with CN,” she said. “They had heard that CN had come to town, and offered jobs, and council had turned it down, which is totally untrue.
“CN has not come forward to council about this at all, and if fact our mayor is a speaker at a CN dinner down in Vancouver (right now).”
Coun. Joy Thorkelson added: “We should have a spot on the agenda for rumour-killing,”
Gordon-Payne went on to explain that she believed the negative rumours have the potential to negatively impact the community.
“I think that’s what hurts our community. If ( people) aren’t sure, contact a councilor and find out if it’s true, before it’s blown out of proportion.”
Coun. Tony Briglio then continued on that theme, wondering out loud about the latest developments with Skeena Cellulose.
“The Skeena mill rumours… maybe we need the PPWC (union) to come and meet with us about what might be happening with the mill,” he said. “Certainly, everybody wonders about Skeena.”
Briglio suggested that council go back to what was done in the past, and send out a letter from the mayor to keep the community up-to-date on what is happening in Rupert.
“I would encourage the mayor to do that to maybe alleviate some of the rumour mill,” he said.
Welfare concerns get a forum at City Council
The anticipated crisis this winter over Employment Insurance shortfalls for local residents and beckoning welfare line ups was the topic of the public session of City Council on Monday night.
With the Social Services Committee of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union (UFAWU) doing the prep work, the council members in attendance were provided with a grim report on what to expect for the fall and winter months, especially for those members of their union that have seen a very poor fishing season leave them in dire straits.
The Daily news provided a front page report on the issue in its Tuesday edition. Another forum locally that provided some background on the issue is the princerupert.com portal, which had details not only on the crisis presented to council that night, but information about the council meeting itself.
COUNCIL THROWS SUPPORT BEHIND CALLS FOR EI REFORM
City urges province, feds for action and calls on other city councils for support
By Patrick Witwicki
The Daily News
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
The welfare line-ups this winter could reach epic proportions on the North Coast after fishermen and shoreworkers alike suffered through one of the worst fishing seasons in recent memory. And with the number of hours worked needing to be 560 to qualify for EI, members of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union (UFAWU-CAW) could be forced to request welfare during the off-season.
And with both welfare and Employment Insurance in need of an overhaul, two members of the union’s Social Services Committee called for and got support from Prince Rupert council Monday night.
Cecilia Vickers was the main speaker addressing council, and she lobbied the city to write to both the provincial and federal governments regarding the issue.
“The Stats Canada definition of the poverty line in a rural area is $11,000 for a single person per year,” she said. “Welfare pays $6,100 for a full year, so a single person on welfare only makes 56 per cent of the poverty line.
“A family of four gets $400 per month for food, clothing and other expenses. Welfare rates have not increased for 12 years, in fact, they have decreased.
“How can people live on that? They can’t.”
Some of the rules regarding welfare also make it difficult for residents, she said.
Locally, Ocean Fish workers haven’t worked since August 7, and most Canadian Fish workers haven’t worked since mid-August. Because there is a mandatory three week job search, none of those employees have received a single cheque because of these rules, said Vickers.
“No one wants to be on welfare,” she said. “And if people are desperate enough to apply, they usually need the money right away, not in three weeks.”
The other problem is that some of the workers won’t even qualify for welfare, because they have not had two consecutive years of earning $7,000 each year.
“As you know, we usually have one good year followed by a poorer year, so it is hard for lower seniority people to earn $7,000 each year for two years in a row,” said Vickers.
Finally, with the disastrous fishing season that just took place, even senior shoreworkes and fishermen may have to apply for welfare, which could affect their Canadian pension down the road, said Vickers.
“For each month you collect an early pension – that is, if you collect your CPP before you turn 65 – each month you are early, there is a 0.5 per cent penalty. For example, if you start to collect your pension at 64, you are penalized six per cent.”
If you start to collect your pension at 60, you are penalized 30 per cent. Forever. Once you have started your Canada Pension, you cannot cancel,” said Vickers.
“So if you are 60 or older, you pay a huge penalty for drawing welfare.”
Vickers also told council how difficult it is to find enough work to stop collecting welfare. Any money earned while on welfare is “clawed back” at 100 per cent, meaning a single parent on welfare could be worse off after working part-time, once costs like a babysitter or transportation are included.
Plus, with minimum wage currently at $8 an hour, only workers finding full time positions would benefit, said Vickers.
“Even at $10 an hour or $1,400 per month net, it is hard to make ends meet if you are supporting more than yourself,” she said.
Vickers outlined the changes that her union believes are necessary in reforming the system, and requested the council write the provincial government with the following requests:
* Increase income assistance rates by 50 per cent and index them to the cost of living.
* Allow people on welfare to earn up to $500 per month before it is “clawed back.”
* Get rid of the three week job search waiting period and the two-year consecutive earnings period.
*Raise minimum wage to $10 per hour.
*Prevent the forced early access to CPP.
Coun. Tony Briglio suggested council write a letter to government and attach the UFAWU-CAW report.
“Normally, we’re in need of more thought and study at future meetings,” he said.
“But there is a desperate need of welfare and E. I. in the province.”
Council will also send the correspondence to other councils in B. C, seeking support.
With the Social Services Committee of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union (UFAWU) doing the prep work, the council members in attendance were provided with a grim report on what to expect for the fall and winter months, especially for those members of their union that have seen a very poor fishing season leave them in dire straits.
The Daily news provided a front page report on the issue in its Tuesday edition. Another forum locally that provided some background on the issue is the princerupert.com portal, which had details not only on the crisis presented to council that night, but information about the council meeting itself.
COUNCIL THROWS SUPPORT BEHIND CALLS FOR EI REFORM
City urges province, feds for action and calls on other city councils for support
By Patrick Witwicki
The Daily News
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
The welfare line-ups this winter could reach epic proportions on the North Coast after fishermen and shoreworkers alike suffered through one of the worst fishing seasons in recent memory. And with the number of hours worked needing to be 560 to qualify for EI, members of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union (UFAWU-CAW) could be forced to request welfare during the off-season.
And with both welfare and Employment Insurance in need of an overhaul, two members of the union’s Social Services Committee called for and got support from Prince Rupert council Monday night.
Cecilia Vickers was the main speaker addressing council, and she lobbied the city to write to both the provincial and federal governments regarding the issue.
“The Stats Canada definition of the poverty line in a rural area is $11,000 for a single person per year,” she said. “Welfare pays $6,100 for a full year, so a single person on welfare only makes 56 per cent of the poverty line.
“A family of four gets $400 per month for food, clothing and other expenses. Welfare rates have not increased for 12 years, in fact, they have decreased.
“How can people live on that? They can’t.”
Some of the rules regarding welfare also make it difficult for residents, she said.
Locally, Ocean Fish workers haven’t worked since August 7, and most Canadian Fish workers haven’t worked since mid-August. Because there is a mandatory three week job search, none of those employees have received a single cheque because of these rules, said Vickers.
“No one wants to be on welfare,” she said. “And if people are desperate enough to apply, they usually need the money right away, not in three weeks.”
The other problem is that some of the workers won’t even qualify for welfare, because they have not had two consecutive years of earning $7,000 each year.
“As you know, we usually have one good year followed by a poorer year, so it is hard for lower seniority people to earn $7,000 each year for two years in a row,” said Vickers.
Finally, with the disastrous fishing season that just took place, even senior shoreworkes and fishermen may have to apply for welfare, which could affect their Canadian pension down the road, said Vickers.
“For each month you collect an early pension – that is, if you collect your CPP before you turn 65 – each month you are early, there is a 0.5 per cent penalty. For example, if you start to collect your pension at 64, you are penalized six per cent.”
If you start to collect your pension at 60, you are penalized 30 per cent. Forever. Once you have started your Canada Pension, you cannot cancel,” said Vickers.
“So if you are 60 or older, you pay a huge penalty for drawing welfare.”
Vickers also told council how difficult it is to find enough work to stop collecting welfare. Any money earned while on welfare is “clawed back” at 100 per cent, meaning a single parent on welfare could be worse off after working part-time, once costs like a babysitter or transportation are included.
Plus, with minimum wage currently at $8 an hour, only workers finding full time positions would benefit, said Vickers.
“Even at $10 an hour or $1,400 per month net, it is hard to make ends meet if you are supporting more than yourself,” she said.
Vickers outlined the changes that her union believes are necessary in reforming the system, and requested the council write the provincial government with the following requests:
* Increase income assistance rates by 50 per cent and index them to the cost of living.
* Allow people on welfare to earn up to $500 per month before it is “clawed back.”
* Get rid of the three week job search waiting period and the two-year consecutive earnings period.
*Raise minimum wage to $10 per hour.
*Prevent the forced early access to CPP.
Coun. Tony Briglio suggested council write a letter to government and attach the UFAWU-CAW report.
“Normally, we’re in need of more thought and study at future meetings,” he said.
“But there is a desperate need of welfare and E. I. in the province.”
Council will also send the correspondence to other councils in B. C, seeking support.
Attendance optional?
Back in the day, Prince Rupert City Council used to meet every week, a tiring and sometime repetitive process that seemed a tad excessive for a town of less than 18,000 people at the time.
Eventually that onerous burden of office was reduced to the bi-monthly process that we have today. Every two weeks (or so it seems) our elected municipal officials would be expected to gather in council chambers to provide public access to the wheels of municipal governance.
Of late though the public meetings grow shorter and the in camera ones grow longer, while it seems that the empty desks rival the occupied ones on a more and more regular basis. A case in point was the most recent council meeting which had its details covered quite fully but the princerupert.com website.
The Monday meeting apparently went on as scheduled despite the fact only four councilors were available for the session. Two of the other members of council, including the Mayor were unavailable due to the fact that they were out of town. This coming a week after much of council had spent close to a week in Victoria at the UBCM meetings.
Now one can understand the need to keep to a more or less regular schedule, and there are times when someone just can’t make a meeting. But if close to half the people tapped to form municipal guidelines can’t make the meeting, how good a representation is the average citizen really getting at Council. And is there perhaps a need to find a more councilor/mayoral friendly schedule to strive for full attendance if possible.
The Monday meeting also once again disappeared into the much debated closed session, which seems to be the norm most meetings now, again though one wonders if over half the council is unavailable if the closed session, how binding any decisions that they make might be? Is there recourse for the absent members to bring those items up for debate again, and if so does it not pose a bit of a redundancy on the whole flow of government?
The princerupert.com site does a fair amount of background work on the happenings at city hall, though at times the website is a bit hard to navigate. Once you figure out its peculiar directions there is some decent information (and of course opinion) available...
One item posted recently suggests that the Atlin Terminal parking lot lands may have been sold, which would be of interest to the local population considering the history of development in that part of the city.
The Daily News used to run a scoreboard of sorts on council meetings, a listing of who attended (or didn’t), and how they voted on key issues of the meeting. Perhaps its time for something similar to be provided once again, including a running total on how many of our councillors can make it regularly and who misses the sessions the most. Also handy might be a comparison of the amount of time in open session and that dedicated to the in camera period, as well as what issues each councillor felt were important in each session.
It might go a long way in helping the locals determine how open our local government really is and whether we have the full attention of our elected officials when it counts the most.
Eventually that onerous burden of office was reduced to the bi-monthly process that we have today. Every two weeks (or so it seems) our elected municipal officials would be expected to gather in council chambers to provide public access to the wheels of municipal governance.
Of late though the public meetings grow shorter and the in camera ones grow longer, while it seems that the empty desks rival the occupied ones on a more and more regular basis. A case in point was the most recent council meeting which had its details covered quite fully but the princerupert.com website.
The Monday meeting apparently went on as scheduled despite the fact only four councilors were available for the session. Two of the other members of council, including the Mayor were unavailable due to the fact that they were out of town. This coming a week after much of council had spent close to a week in Victoria at the UBCM meetings.
Now one can understand the need to keep to a more or less regular schedule, and there are times when someone just can’t make a meeting. But if close to half the people tapped to form municipal guidelines can’t make the meeting, how good a representation is the average citizen really getting at Council. And is there perhaps a need to find a more councilor/mayoral friendly schedule to strive for full attendance if possible.
The Monday meeting also once again disappeared into the much debated closed session, which seems to be the norm most meetings now, again though one wonders if over half the council is unavailable if the closed session, how binding any decisions that they make might be? Is there recourse for the absent members to bring those items up for debate again, and if so does it not pose a bit of a redundancy on the whole flow of government?
The princerupert.com site does a fair amount of background work on the happenings at city hall, though at times the website is a bit hard to navigate. Once you figure out its peculiar directions there is some decent information (and of course opinion) available...
One item posted recently suggests that the Atlin Terminal parking lot lands may have been sold, which would be of interest to the local population considering the history of development in that part of the city.
The Daily News used to run a scoreboard of sorts on council meetings, a listing of who attended (or didn’t), and how they voted on key issues of the meeting. Perhaps its time for something similar to be provided once again, including a running total on how many of our councillors can make it regularly and who misses the sessions the most. Also handy might be a comparison of the amount of time in open session and that dedicated to the in camera period, as well as what issues each councillor felt were important in each session.
It might go a long way in helping the locals determine how open our local government really is and whether we have the full attention of our elected officials when it counts the most.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Mayor Herb Pond takes his message to the pages of The Northern View
The Mayor has found the Northern View's editorial pages as a convenient way to put forward his thoughts and ideas on growth and development in Prince Rupert.
Appearing in the weekly paper's Opinion page, the Mayor provided his ineterpretation on a wide array of local items. His commentary ranged from looking at the negative side of growth, most recently highlighted by the loss of trees as developments come on stream, to a commetary on how smaller communities are losing services that they have come to expect. A situation that has partialy been caused due to a change of allocation of resources, part of a major shift in policy that has been implemented many times without a debate.
Which is an interesting way of looking at outside issues, considering some of our more famous municipal issues of late seem to have not been given a prominent public hearing locally as well.
He talks of our future and the need to be a hub, a need that will require growth. His Honours thoughts are provided below and can be found on the Northern View website here.
Addressing development and growth in Prince Rupert
By Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond
The Northern View
Page Six
Oct 25 2006
It's extremely interesting to read local articles and listen to conversations about the negative side of growth, especially when so many of us are still reeling from the harsh impacts of shrinkage. To be sure, the issues identified are real and must be prepared for and managed. By let's not lose sight of the fact that we do need growth.
Take for example the very real concerns expressed about the loss of trees at the old legion site, or for that matter, the loss of the legion building itself. Or a few years earlier it was the loss of the Purple Otter building and some trees in Mariner's Park, to make way for the cruise ship dock. All very legitimate expressions of angst about potential loss.
But it also occurs to me that it's been so long since we've seen major development in Prince Rupert that we've almost forgotten what it looks like. We haven't seen much of the typical destruction and demolition - and it's almost always ugly - that precedes construction. Growth definitely has a down side.
At the same time, we also need to realize that staying the same (or even going back to the way we were) is not an option, not when everything else is changing so rapidly.
The fact is that smaller communities are losing services rapidly. Our current population, or even our record population, won't any longer support the kind of shopping, healthcare, recreational and educational opportunities that we've come to expect - not even when everyone is fully employed.
There has been a very quiet and subtle change in this country as to how resources are allocated - it's a major policy shift that was never debated, it just occurred - and that's density-driven decision making. With the majority of Canadians now living in large urban centers, activity levels are now the accepted prime indicator of whether a service is justified and that means smaller centers are losing out.
There is no longer a sense that every community needs or deserves a hospital with a complete suite of services or a fully staffed school or an airport. Rather, government resources are now allocated based on headcounts, retailers rely on volume, and airports depend on large passenger through put. In this new world, customers, clients, patients and students are expected to travel from small centers to hubs.
So to build the kind of community that we want - one with good air service, good healthcare and education, good retail and recreation choices - we need to be the hub, and for that we need growth.
Rather than resisting growth, we are better to drive it by defining clearly what we hope to gain and what we don't want to lose, and then aggressively pursue both
Appearing in the weekly paper's Opinion page, the Mayor provided his ineterpretation on a wide array of local items. His commentary ranged from looking at the negative side of growth, most recently highlighted by the loss of trees as developments come on stream, to a commetary on how smaller communities are losing services that they have come to expect. A situation that has partialy been caused due to a change of allocation of resources, part of a major shift in policy that has been implemented many times without a debate.
Which is an interesting way of looking at outside issues, considering some of our more famous municipal issues of late seem to have not been given a prominent public hearing locally as well.
He talks of our future and the need to be a hub, a need that will require growth. His Honours thoughts are provided below and can be found on the Northern View website here.
Addressing development and growth in Prince Rupert
By Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond
The Northern View
Page Six
Oct 25 2006
It's extremely interesting to read local articles and listen to conversations about the negative side of growth, especially when so many of us are still reeling from the harsh impacts of shrinkage. To be sure, the issues identified are real and must be prepared for and managed. By let's not lose sight of the fact that we do need growth.
Take for example the very real concerns expressed about the loss of trees at the old legion site, or for that matter, the loss of the legion building itself. Or a few years earlier it was the loss of the Purple Otter building and some trees in Mariner's Park, to make way for the cruise ship dock. All very legitimate expressions of angst about potential loss.
But it also occurs to me that it's been so long since we've seen major development in Prince Rupert that we've almost forgotten what it looks like. We haven't seen much of the typical destruction and demolition - and it's almost always ugly - that precedes construction. Growth definitely has a down side.
At the same time, we also need to realize that staying the same (or even going back to the way we were) is not an option, not when everything else is changing so rapidly.
The fact is that smaller communities are losing services rapidly. Our current population, or even our record population, won't any longer support the kind of shopping, healthcare, recreational and educational opportunities that we've come to expect - not even when everyone is fully employed.
There has been a very quiet and subtle change in this country as to how resources are allocated - it's a major policy shift that was never debated, it just occurred - and that's density-driven decision making. With the majority of Canadians now living in large urban centers, activity levels are now the accepted prime indicator of whether a service is justified and that means smaller centers are losing out.
There is no longer a sense that every community needs or deserves a hospital with a complete suite of services or a fully staffed school or an airport. Rather, government resources are now allocated based on headcounts, retailers rely on volume, and airports depend on large passenger through put. In this new world, customers, clients, patients and students are expected to travel from small centers to hubs.
So to build the kind of community that we want - one with good air service, good healthcare and education, good retail and recreation choices - we need to be the hub, and for that we need growth.
Rather than resisting growth, we are better to drive it by defining clearly what we hope to gain and what we don't want to lose, and then aggressively pursue both
We’ll get by with a little help from our 'friends'
The Mayor and his crew are down in Victoria at the UBCM meetings and they are spending their time in the big city priming the province for the great things to come in the Northwest. However, for those great things to come on stream the city says they will need some help and that has been the recurring theme of their discussion while they work the rooms.
The mayor is apparently in a full court PR press as he tells all who will listen that the city is going places and that we are destined to be the next ‘great port city’.
The UBCM is almost like a giant lobbying convention in some ways, each participant trying to sell the other on the need to sample their plans, each municipality trying to paint itself as the up and coming locale in the province.
Normally it’s the province’s municipalities seeking out the federal representatives or provincial cabinet members and looking for support for a project or two. The week long meetings offer up other things like workshops and one on one sessions, but make no doubt about it, it’s all about positioning your plans as the must support ones. It's the one on one sessions and the sidebar conversations that are the currency of the convention.
And while it doesn't appear anywhere in the ambitious agenda of these meetings, in the end it’s about money, it’s always about money. Like a cross between an Amway convention and a revival meeting, it's all about how you get your message across.
The Daily provided coverage of the Mayor’s selling job on the front page of the Wednesday edition of the paper.
‘HELP UP REACH POTENTIAL,’ Pond
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Pages One and Two
In order for Prince Rupert to achieve its full potential as one of B. C’s great port cities, we are going to need some help from the province, said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond.
That is the message Pond and members of council are bringing to the provincial and federal representatives during the union of British Columbia Municipalities Convention in Victoria this week.
“The convention is markedly different than three years ago. Three years ago, there was a possibility of a container port. We were still trying to be very positive in the message we were bringing but it certainly wasn’t the positive message we have today,” said Pond.
“Now, when we walk through the door and talk to a minister, they don’t have to be convinced that Prince Rupert is going some place.
“They get it, they understand we will become one of B. C.’s next great port cities, so there’s a greater engagement in the discussion. But for us to be that great port city we are going to need some assistance. You can’t leave it all up to the local taxpayers.”
The convention, which takes place all week, will include opportunities for council members to meet one-on-one with the Minister of Forests, Minister of Health, the Premier, Solicitor General, Minister of Finance and the Minister of Environment.
“The core message is all around the Gateway initiative and the port expansion and what we need to do to become British Columbia’s next great port city,” said Pond.
In addition to all the other meetings, early in the week, the city also met with the Minister of Community Services Ida Chong.
The city has been working with her ministry in the Communities in Transition program for the past several years.
“We are still in discussions around whether there might be some way they could assist,” said Pond.
“There were no commitments but it was a good discussion.”
The program provides provincial funds to assess the city’s finances, which was done two years ago, and then the province looks at ways to assist communities suffering from extenuating circumstances – in this case the loss of millions of dollars of the Watson Island Pulp mill municipal taxes.
“We spoke about the challenge Northwest municipalities are facing, both in terms of finances and infrastructure and really just laying out some options and possibilities of ways we could see some help coming,” said Pond.
It was also an opportunity to explain the economy of the city that isn’t burning quite as much yet as people think.
“When you are away from Prince Rupert based on media coverage in some of the national press you would think that we are booming like Fort St. John. We are not their yet, so we’ve been making people understand we still need some help,” he said.
The mayor is apparently in a full court PR press as he tells all who will listen that the city is going places and that we are destined to be the next ‘great port city’.
The UBCM is almost like a giant lobbying convention in some ways, each participant trying to sell the other on the need to sample their plans, each municipality trying to paint itself as the up and coming locale in the province.
Normally it’s the province’s municipalities seeking out the federal representatives or provincial cabinet members and looking for support for a project or two. The week long meetings offer up other things like workshops and one on one sessions, but make no doubt about it, it’s all about positioning your plans as the must support ones. It's the one on one sessions and the sidebar conversations that are the currency of the convention.
And while it doesn't appear anywhere in the ambitious agenda of these meetings, in the end it’s about money, it’s always about money. Like a cross between an Amway convention and a revival meeting, it's all about how you get your message across.
The Daily provided coverage of the Mayor’s selling job on the front page of the Wednesday edition of the paper.
‘HELP UP REACH POTENTIAL,’ Pond
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Pages One and Two
In order for Prince Rupert to achieve its full potential as one of B. C’s great port cities, we are going to need some help from the province, said Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond.
That is the message Pond and members of council are bringing to the provincial and federal representatives during the union of British Columbia Municipalities Convention in Victoria this week.
“The convention is markedly different than three years ago. Three years ago, there was a possibility of a container port. We were still trying to be very positive in the message we were bringing but it certainly wasn’t the positive message we have today,” said Pond.
“Now, when we walk through the door and talk to a minister, they don’t have to be convinced that Prince Rupert is going some place.
“They get it, they understand we will become one of B. C.’s next great port cities, so there’s a greater engagement in the discussion. But for us to be that great port city we are going to need some assistance. You can’t leave it all up to the local taxpayers.”
The convention, which takes place all week, will include opportunities for council members to meet one-on-one with the Minister of Forests, Minister of Health, the Premier, Solicitor General, Minister of Finance and the Minister of Environment.
“The core message is all around the Gateway initiative and the port expansion and what we need to do to become British Columbia’s next great port city,” said Pond.
In addition to all the other meetings, early in the week, the city also met with the Minister of Community Services Ida Chong.
The city has been working with her ministry in the Communities in Transition program for the past several years.
“We are still in discussions around whether there might be some way they could assist,” said Pond.
“There were no commitments but it was a good discussion.”
The program provides provincial funds to assess the city’s finances, which was done two years ago, and then the province looks at ways to assist communities suffering from extenuating circumstances – in this case the loss of millions of dollars of the Watson Island Pulp mill municipal taxes.
“We spoke about the challenge Northwest municipalities are facing, both in terms of finances and infrastructure and really just laying out some options and possibilities of ways we could see some help coming,” said Pond.
It was also an opportunity to explain the economy of the city that isn’t burning quite as much yet as people think.
“When you are away from Prince Rupert based on media coverage in some of the national press you would think that we are booming like Fort St. John. We are not their yet, so we’ve been making people understand we still need some help,” he said.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Drawing the line; at redrawing the lines.
The feedback provided to the B. C. Electoral Commission’s meeting last week at the Crest was pretty succinct; the prospect of changing the riding dynamic on the north coast would not be greeted with many if any cheers.
The Daily News reported in its Friday edition that about 20 citizens, including a group from Kitimat attended the public session to listen and in some cases provide their suggestions as to what the Electoral Commission might wish to do as far as riding re-distribution goes.
The decline in population, which is the genesis of the debate, was presented as a temporary thing and many in the audience suggested that they had a bit more faith in the re-population of the riding than the number crunchers might have. And while it may seem like a bit of hometown cheerleading, they probably are not too far off on their belief that the population will rebound again in the next ten years or so. This would make any riding redistribution a costly and pointless affair, considering they would only have to do it all over again down the line. More importantly for the North Coast, the return to the present option would not be able to take place until after 2013.
The process that is underway and the changes considered were painted more of being a political issue. One which wasn’t taking into account the rather unusual aspects of the riding already in place, including the vast space it already consumes and the amount of travel a local MLA needs to conduct to meet the constituents at present. The issue served to put current MLA Gary Coons and former MLA Bill Belsey, on the same side for one of the few times in recent north coast history. That in itself might be cause for the commission to reconsider any plans to merge or redraw the local northwest ridings.
Full coverage of the session was recounted in the Daily News on Friday.
SPEAKERS UNITED IN OPPOISTION TO CHANGES IN RIDING
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, October 20, 2006
Pages One and Five
The dismal projection of a shrinking population in the provincial North Coast riding presented by the B. C. Electoral Boundaries Commission did not sit well with the public.
On Tuesday, night about 20 people gathered at the Crest to talk about proposed changes to the riding boundaries with Commissioner Stewart Ladyman.
However, they were shocked when Ladyman presented statistics provided by B. C. Stats that claim the North Coast riding will see the largest population decline of all 79 ridings in B. C. between 2005 and 2013 – down from 28,313 in 2005 to 26,041 in 2013.
“I think we are more optimistic than your projections are,” said Dave McGuigan in response to the commissioner’s presentation.
The commission is gathering public input in order to prepare a draft report on electoral ridings in the province. Each electoral boundary is supposed to have about the same number of voters, plus or minus 25 per cent, except in cases where the commission can prove there are special circumstances.
The last electoral boundaries commission gave the North Coast, Skeena and Bulkley Valley ridings special exemptions to have fewer people than normally allowed.
However, the North Coast riding’s population has decreased even further since the last commission in 1997 and based on the projection presented, will drop to 26,000 0 or half the population of the average riding (54,000 people) by 2013.
“I guess I am going to encourage you tonight to give me every reason to consider very special circumstances in the North,” said Ladyman.
While no one disagreed the region has been hard hit in the past years by a downturn in the fishing and forest industries, at least three people requested the commission requested the commission find out how B. C. Stats arrived at its population projections. And there were many concerns that if this commission was to expand the riding geographically to include more people, and if the growth many people anticipate was then to happen, the riding couldn’t be readjusted until the next electoral boundaries commission in 2013.
As it is, the commission heard, MLA’s have a heck of a time covering all the various communities currently in the North Coast riding. While the riding covers 65.970 square kilometers, it has only 300 kilometres of paved roads.
In fact, the North Coast MLA must drive for five hours through other ridings to get to Stewart at the tar tip of the North Coast riding.
”The mandate you have been given to look at this based solely on population is absolutely wrong, “said Bill Belsey, former MLA.
North Coast MLA Gary Coons was also critical.
“This isn’t about politics. There’s the optimism of the North… there’s so much potential and we are in a growth pattern,” he said.
Both the Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District and city of Prince Rupert made presentations against increasing the size of the riding. And Sandra Helin, who has roots in Port Simpson, argued the North Coast is special because it has a significantly large Fist Nations population, upwards of 40 per cent. Stretching out the riding would water down that voice even further, she said.
There are 10 different First Nations communities currently within the riding.
“If a servant of the people does not know the people he is representing, how can he be effective?” she asked.
In addition, representatives from Kitimat drove for close to three hours in order to present their opposition to having the Skeena riding expanded.
Consultations will continue until the end of November and the commission expects to have a preliminary report presented by Aug. 15, 2007.
It will then hold official public hearings and make amendments before presenting a final report by Feb. 15, 2008.
The Daily News reported in its Friday edition that about 20 citizens, including a group from Kitimat attended the public session to listen and in some cases provide their suggestions as to what the Electoral Commission might wish to do as far as riding re-distribution goes.
The decline in population, which is the genesis of the debate, was presented as a temporary thing and many in the audience suggested that they had a bit more faith in the re-population of the riding than the number crunchers might have. And while it may seem like a bit of hometown cheerleading, they probably are not too far off on their belief that the population will rebound again in the next ten years or so. This would make any riding redistribution a costly and pointless affair, considering they would only have to do it all over again down the line. More importantly for the North Coast, the return to the present option would not be able to take place until after 2013.
The process that is underway and the changes considered were painted more of being a political issue. One which wasn’t taking into account the rather unusual aspects of the riding already in place, including the vast space it already consumes and the amount of travel a local MLA needs to conduct to meet the constituents at present. The issue served to put current MLA Gary Coons and former MLA Bill Belsey, on the same side for one of the few times in recent north coast history. That in itself might be cause for the commission to reconsider any plans to merge or redraw the local northwest ridings.
Full coverage of the session was recounted in the Daily News on Friday.
SPEAKERS UNITED IN OPPOISTION TO CHANGES IN RIDING
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, October 20, 2006
Pages One and Five
The dismal projection of a shrinking population in the provincial North Coast riding presented by the B. C. Electoral Boundaries Commission did not sit well with the public.
On Tuesday, night about 20 people gathered at the Crest to talk about proposed changes to the riding boundaries with Commissioner Stewart Ladyman.
However, they were shocked when Ladyman presented statistics provided by B. C. Stats that claim the North Coast riding will see the largest population decline of all 79 ridings in B. C. between 2005 and 2013 – down from 28,313 in 2005 to 26,041 in 2013.
“I think we are more optimistic than your projections are,” said Dave McGuigan in response to the commissioner’s presentation.
The commission is gathering public input in order to prepare a draft report on electoral ridings in the province. Each electoral boundary is supposed to have about the same number of voters, plus or minus 25 per cent, except in cases where the commission can prove there are special circumstances.
The last electoral boundaries commission gave the North Coast, Skeena and Bulkley Valley ridings special exemptions to have fewer people than normally allowed.
However, the North Coast riding’s population has decreased even further since the last commission in 1997 and based on the projection presented, will drop to 26,000 0 or half the population of the average riding (54,000 people) by 2013.
“I guess I am going to encourage you tonight to give me every reason to consider very special circumstances in the North,” said Ladyman.
While no one disagreed the region has been hard hit in the past years by a downturn in the fishing and forest industries, at least three people requested the commission requested the commission find out how B. C. Stats arrived at its population projections. And there were many concerns that if this commission was to expand the riding geographically to include more people, and if the growth many people anticipate was then to happen, the riding couldn’t be readjusted until the next electoral boundaries commission in 2013.
As it is, the commission heard, MLA’s have a heck of a time covering all the various communities currently in the North Coast riding. While the riding covers 65.970 square kilometers, it has only 300 kilometres of paved roads.
In fact, the North Coast MLA must drive for five hours through other ridings to get to Stewart at the tar tip of the North Coast riding.
”The mandate you have been given to look at this based solely on population is absolutely wrong, “said Bill Belsey, former MLA.
North Coast MLA Gary Coons was also critical.
“This isn’t about politics. There’s the optimism of the North… there’s so much potential and we are in a growth pattern,” he said.
Both the Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District and city of Prince Rupert made presentations against increasing the size of the riding. And Sandra Helin, who has roots in Port Simpson, argued the North Coast is special because it has a significantly large Fist Nations population, upwards of 40 per cent. Stretching out the riding would water down that voice even further, she said.
There are 10 different First Nations communities currently within the riding.
“If a servant of the people does not know the people he is representing, how can he be effective?” she asked.
In addition, representatives from Kitimat drove for close to three hours in order to present their opposition to having the Skeena riding expanded.
Consultations will continue until the end of November and the commission expects to have a preliminary report presented by Aug. 15, 2007.
It will then hold official public hearings and make amendments before presenting a final report by Feb. 15, 2008.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
He was born a ramblin’ man
Ah, you can almost hear the Allman Brothers in the background, warming up with the snippets of some road music.
The ramblin’ man of Prince Rupert returned to town last week, just in time for a photo shoot with the Daily News. In successive days of our daily paper, we’ve been treated to pictures of Mayor Herb Pond at the Fire Hall on the shiny fire truck, at the new Charles Hays track, at the new Charles Hays track and there again at the new Charles Hays track.
The pictures came just after he had completed a trip down to Vancouver to take part in the Premier’s Provincial Congress on Health and then to sit in on the Pacific Gateway funding announcement, where he got to rub elbows with the Prime Minister and other luminaries. He also had the opportunity to attend a formal dinner with Cabinet Ministers, MP’s and MLA’s where he heard many good things about Prince Rupert.
It was all part of the job of “waving the flag for Prince Rupert” as he put it, in an interview with the Northern View. The Mayor stressed how important it is that the city be represented at these events to make sure we’re on the radar.
So to make sure that those blips continue to scope, He’ll be back on the road again shortly, this time taking some city councilors and city officials with him to head off to the annual UBCM bunfest this year in Victoria from October 23-27. A five day gathering of networking and hand shaking that will be used to keep Prince Rupert on the minds of Provincial officials.
Last years UBCM took the Rupert contingent to Vancouver, the year before that it was down to the Okanagan for the hard work of lobbying for the Northwest, all while dealing with the distractions of the surroundings. They were evacuations of the city that left more than a few observers at the time questioning why such a large number of councillors and city staff had to make the trek annually.
For each gathering the work load was described as sufficient to require all hands on deck, so we imagine that next weeks trip to Victoria will likewise require a few hotel rooms. Though for a city that is pinching pennies these days, we’re hoping that its economy class surroundings for the gang while in the capital.
So if Gregg and the boys are ready a little music please, the bus is loaded and it’s time for a city council road trip, with the music to make the miles melt away…
“Lord, I was born a ramblin' man Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the best I can And when it's time for leavin' I hope you'll understand ...”
Mayor, council set for UBCM meeting
By Shaun Thomas
The Northern View
Oct 18 2006
Mayor Herb Pond was in Vancouver last week participating in a number of meetings and events with provincial and federal representatives covering issues such as health and the development occurring in the Northwest.
Pond said he was invited to the meeting of the Premier's Provincial Congress on Health, attended the Pacific Gateway funding announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and was able to talk with the Prime Minister, and also attended a formal dinner with a number of MLA's, MPs and cabinet ministers, and was pleased with what he heard.
"This has been a very concentrated time of waving the flag for Prince Rupert at the right time in the right settings. What was of note to me was that Prime Minister Harper spoke specifically of Prince Rupert and the Premier spoke specifically of Prince Rupert in almost every speech he made," said Pond from Vancouver.
"It has been a very busy couple of days-I think it is important the city always makes sure to have representation at these functions to ensure that we are always on the radar."
And while Pond will be back in town this week, he and a number of councillors and city officials will be preparing for the annual Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) meeting taking place in Victoria from October 23 to 27.
"We have a list of items that we will certainly talk about at the meeting, like where Prince Rupert sits in the Pacific Gateway Strategy, and we will be talking to key Ministers like Transportation and Finance about how to make sure we have the resources in place to meet the demands that are coming. Even though it is a federal issue we will be talking about concerns around EI and what we can do with the province to work together to influence the Federal Government to create a fairer system, and we will talk to key ministries about some key infrastructure developments," he said, noting that council will be meeting this week to finalize their priorities for the trip.
The ramblin’ man of Prince Rupert returned to town last week, just in time for a photo shoot with the Daily News. In successive days of our daily paper, we’ve been treated to pictures of Mayor Herb Pond at the Fire Hall on the shiny fire truck, at the new Charles Hays track, at the new Charles Hays track and there again at the new Charles Hays track.
The pictures came just after he had completed a trip down to Vancouver to take part in the Premier’s Provincial Congress on Health and then to sit in on the Pacific Gateway funding announcement, where he got to rub elbows with the Prime Minister and other luminaries. He also had the opportunity to attend a formal dinner with Cabinet Ministers, MP’s and MLA’s where he heard many good things about Prince Rupert.
It was all part of the job of “waving the flag for Prince Rupert” as he put it, in an interview with the Northern View. The Mayor stressed how important it is that the city be represented at these events to make sure we’re on the radar.
So to make sure that those blips continue to scope, He’ll be back on the road again shortly, this time taking some city councilors and city officials with him to head off to the annual UBCM bunfest this year in Victoria from October 23-27. A five day gathering of networking and hand shaking that will be used to keep Prince Rupert on the minds of Provincial officials.
Last years UBCM took the Rupert contingent to Vancouver, the year before that it was down to the Okanagan for the hard work of lobbying for the Northwest, all while dealing with the distractions of the surroundings. They were evacuations of the city that left more than a few observers at the time questioning why such a large number of councillors and city staff had to make the trek annually.
For each gathering the work load was described as sufficient to require all hands on deck, so we imagine that next weeks trip to Victoria will likewise require a few hotel rooms. Though for a city that is pinching pennies these days, we’re hoping that its economy class surroundings for the gang while in the capital.
So if Gregg and the boys are ready a little music please, the bus is loaded and it’s time for a city council road trip, with the music to make the miles melt away…
“Lord, I was born a ramblin' man Tryin' to make a livin' and doin' the best I can And when it's time for leavin' I hope you'll understand ...”
Mayor, council set for UBCM meeting
By Shaun Thomas
The Northern View
Oct 18 2006
Mayor Herb Pond was in Vancouver last week participating in a number of meetings and events with provincial and federal representatives covering issues such as health and the development occurring in the Northwest.
Pond said he was invited to the meeting of the Premier's Provincial Congress on Health, attended the Pacific Gateway funding announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and was able to talk with the Prime Minister, and also attended a formal dinner with a number of MLA's, MPs and cabinet ministers, and was pleased with what he heard.
"This has been a very concentrated time of waving the flag for Prince Rupert at the right time in the right settings. What was of note to me was that Prime Minister Harper spoke specifically of Prince Rupert and the Premier spoke specifically of Prince Rupert in almost every speech he made," said Pond from Vancouver.
"It has been a very busy couple of days-I think it is important the city always makes sure to have representation at these functions to ensure that we are always on the radar."
And while Pond will be back in town this week, he and a number of councillors and city officials will be preparing for the annual Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) meeting taking place in Victoria from October 23 to 27.
"We have a list of items that we will certainly talk about at the meeting, like where Prince Rupert sits in the Pacific Gateway Strategy, and we will be talking to key Ministers like Transportation and Finance about how to make sure we have the resources in place to meet the demands that are coming. Even though it is a federal issue we will be talking about concerns around EI and what we can do with the province to work together to influence the Federal Government to create a fairer system, and we will talk to key ministries about some key infrastructure developments," he said, noting that council will be meeting this week to finalize their priorities for the trip.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Staking out a claim to the Northwest ridings
It’s a huge challenge facing the B. C. Electoral Boundaries Commission as they set about trying to re-configure the ridings of the Northwest to better reflect provincial guidelines for population/representation.
The task at hand is to examine how best to provide representation to the residents of the Northwest taking into account the geography of the region and how that impacts on the ability of an MLA to not only represent but gain access to his or her constituents.
The fear of the North coast is the possibility of a merger or redistribution with the Skeena riding, which could steer the riding’s issues closer to the interests of those inland and not necessarily reflecting those that might be important here.
It’s one of those decisions that could change an entire dynamic of a region, so expect there to be quite a bit of interest in the issue. With a population that has stagnated and in fact declined over the last ten years the status quo may be a hard sell, but with everyone and their dog projecting a surge in population for the North Coast as major projects come on line, one wonders if it’s wise to change the boundaries until a clearer picture of the future is in place.
It’s those factors and many others that will be put forward as the commission travels around the northwest. The Daily News examined the issue prior to their scheduled hearings in Prince Rupert on Tuesday night.
SPARSE RIDING PRESENTS CHALLENGE FOR TEAM
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Monday, October 16, 2006
Pages One and Three
The B. C. Electoral Commission faces a “huge challenge” in balancing the need for fair representation with the small population of the province’s three Northwest ridings.
“Each MLA should represent about the same number of residents based on the provincial population divided by the number of electoral districts,” said Commissioner Stewart Ladyman. “The three districts we are speaking about all fall well below the provincial average which is currently about 54,000 people.
”While our geography makes B. C. the beautiful province it is, it’s also challenging to create equitable representation for all citizens.”
The situation becomes even more difficult on the North Coast. While the Bulkley Valley-Stikine has a population of between 30,000 and 32,000 and projections show modest growth to 2013, and Skeena is forecast to remain constant at around 31,000, the North Coast is projected to drop to 26,000 people by 2013 from a high of 32,000 in 1996. However, the possible amalgamation of the three ridings into two or some other change is not necessarily written in stone.
“In the last commission they had six electoral districts that qualified as very special circumstance,” said Ladyman. “We know that the Commission will no doubt have to consider (that).”
The Commission which has a public meeting in Rupert on Tuesday, Oct. 17 from 6:30-9:30 p. m. at the Crest, will also look at economic developments like the container port and other major Northwest projects that should bring more people to the area.
“We can take in some of those economic indicators which may increase the population, but it’s a very dicey thing” he said, noting that legally the Commission is bound largely by the 2006 Census numbers which will be released next spring. “We have to have some huge proof that those numbers will generate.
“We have somewhere around 26,000 in North Coast, just to get up to the 54,000… (it) would have to double in size. Are (people) predicting you’ll have that flow of people moving into your area between 2009 and 2013? We’ll listen to them.
The group also wants to hear from residents about what they feel the impacts will be if there are changes to the electoral boundaries.
“Our purpose… is to hear from the people of the area about the changes that are taking place in the population numbers as well as other factors such as history and access concerns that should be factored into the commission’s thinking,” he said.
“We believe the process we’ve designed for these public consultations will serve our goals of transparency, independence and accessibility.”
That being said, Ladyman notes 51 per cent of the population lives in the Greater Vancouver Regional District.
Most people in Southern B. C., say you’re not going to be adding seats in the North because that’s not where the population is,” he said, noting that the commission has the authority to expand the legislature from 79 to a maximum of 85 MLA’s. “Then, people in consultation are telling us that basically every time you add some in the Lower Mainland, you’re actually diluting the representation from rural British Columbia.
“It’s an interesting dichotomy we have to wrestle with.”
At last week’s council meeting, the city also agreed to send a delegation to the upcoming public meeting of the commission. The city is hoping Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District and Port Edward will join in to provide a united front in opposition to any plans that would see fewer elected representatives in the North.
The task at hand is to examine how best to provide representation to the residents of the Northwest taking into account the geography of the region and how that impacts on the ability of an MLA to not only represent but gain access to his or her constituents.
The fear of the North coast is the possibility of a merger or redistribution with the Skeena riding, which could steer the riding’s issues closer to the interests of those inland and not necessarily reflecting those that might be important here.
It’s one of those decisions that could change an entire dynamic of a region, so expect there to be quite a bit of interest in the issue. With a population that has stagnated and in fact declined over the last ten years the status quo may be a hard sell, but with everyone and their dog projecting a surge in population for the North Coast as major projects come on line, one wonders if it’s wise to change the boundaries until a clearer picture of the future is in place.
It’s those factors and many others that will be put forward as the commission travels around the northwest. The Daily News examined the issue prior to their scheduled hearings in Prince Rupert on Tuesday night.
SPARSE RIDING PRESENTS CHALLENGE FOR TEAM
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Monday, October 16, 2006
Pages One and Three
The B. C. Electoral Commission faces a “huge challenge” in balancing the need for fair representation with the small population of the province’s three Northwest ridings.
“Each MLA should represent about the same number of residents based on the provincial population divided by the number of electoral districts,” said Commissioner Stewart Ladyman. “The three districts we are speaking about all fall well below the provincial average which is currently about 54,000 people.
”While our geography makes B. C. the beautiful province it is, it’s also challenging to create equitable representation for all citizens.”
The situation becomes even more difficult on the North Coast. While the Bulkley Valley-Stikine has a population of between 30,000 and 32,000 and projections show modest growth to 2013, and Skeena is forecast to remain constant at around 31,000, the North Coast is projected to drop to 26,000 people by 2013 from a high of 32,000 in 1996. However, the possible amalgamation of the three ridings into two or some other change is not necessarily written in stone.
“In the last commission they had six electoral districts that qualified as very special circumstance,” said Ladyman. “We know that the Commission will no doubt have to consider (that).”
The Commission which has a public meeting in Rupert on Tuesday, Oct. 17 from 6:30-9:30 p. m. at the Crest, will also look at economic developments like the container port and other major Northwest projects that should bring more people to the area.
“We can take in some of those economic indicators which may increase the population, but it’s a very dicey thing” he said, noting that legally the Commission is bound largely by the 2006 Census numbers which will be released next spring. “We have to have some huge proof that those numbers will generate.
“We have somewhere around 26,000 in North Coast, just to get up to the 54,000… (it) would have to double in size. Are (people) predicting you’ll have that flow of people moving into your area between 2009 and 2013? We’ll listen to them.
The group also wants to hear from residents about what they feel the impacts will be if there are changes to the electoral boundaries.
“Our purpose… is to hear from the people of the area about the changes that are taking place in the population numbers as well as other factors such as history and access concerns that should be factored into the commission’s thinking,” he said.
“We believe the process we’ve designed for these public consultations will serve our goals of transparency, independence and accessibility.”
That being said, Ladyman notes 51 per cent of the population lives in the Greater Vancouver Regional District.
Most people in Southern B. C., say you’re not going to be adding seats in the North because that’s not where the population is,” he said, noting that the commission has the authority to expand the legislature from 79 to a maximum of 85 MLA’s. “Then, people in consultation are telling us that basically every time you add some in the Lower Mainland, you’re actually diluting the representation from rural British Columbia.
“It’s an interesting dichotomy we have to wrestle with.”
At last week’s council meeting, the city also agreed to send a delegation to the upcoming public meeting of the commission. The city is hoping Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District and Port Edward will join in to provide a united front in opposition to any plans that would see fewer elected representatives in the North.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Excessive unemployment brings some closer to EI qualification
It sounds like an oxymoron, but in this case a worsening unemployment situation is actually a good thing for others.
An increase in the local unemployment rate is actually working to benefit some of those that were coming up short on EI qualification. The local unemployment rate, estimated to be officially at around ten percent, is providing local fishery shore workers with a slight reduction in the hours needed to qualify for unemployment insurance. The numbers of those that will qualify is small, roughly 20 or so, leaving a larger number still short on qualifying hours and looking at having to turn to social assistance to get by over the winter.
The issue serves to highlight the two problems locally regarding unemployment, and an official rate that may not give a true picture of the jobless situation in the area as well as the requirement to match insurable hours here with those in the more economically boisterous areas of the Northern region. The latter being a requirement that has been the subject of much debate over the last number of months.
While local government officials continue to lobby for changes to the EI system, the need to create full time and long lasting jobs around the area couldn't be more pressing. A constructive plan to increase the desirability of the region to major employers, might do much more in the long run than all the lobbying, trips afar and letters written over EI combined.
While the economic picture is expected to improve over the next few years, it seems to be something driven by other forces, the Port, an LNG firm or a Wind farm consortium.
The city needs to be seen making some progress on its own to show that they are providing the necessary incentives to bring business back to the area. Should that take place the resulting increase in jobs, would do quite a bit to reduce the burden on those that scramble from year to year to try and qualify for EI.
The Daily News had the story in their Wednesday edition on the EI situation and what local residents are hoping to do about it.
EI WOES EASE SLIGHTLY BUT FIGHT FOR FAIRNESS GOES ON
Changes mean some will now get EI but most are still out in the cold
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Wednesday, October 11. 2006
Pages One and Three
Shorworkers trying to collect unemployment insurance will need a few less hours than originally expected to qualify, however the change is expected to help less than 20 people. Due to an increase in the unemployment rate for the region – which includes the oil rich Peace and booming Prince George – the number of required hours have dropped to 560 from 595.
“Our unemployment rate was between 8.1 and 9 per cent and that translated to 595 hours,” said Joy Thorkelson, United fishermen’s and Allied Workers Union (UFAWU-CAW) northern representative. “That unemployment rate has gone up to from 9.1 to 10 per cent, and that’s why the hours dropped.”
While it’s difficult to say for sure, it is likely that Prince Rupert’s excessive unemployment has driven the rate up at least some, she said. The change is expected to bring the total number of shoreworkers who have met their necessary hours in order to claim EI to around 80 in an industry that employs nearly 1,300 people. Of those, around 500 would normally collect EI at 420 hours – the level formerly required by the government.
“The summer’s been terrible for everyone, you’re going to be looking a low numbers for everyone,” said Thorkelson, noting that many would struggle even at the old levels.
On the provincial front, the EI case was brought to the Minister of Finance while she was in town last week.
The issue is also expected to be brought up at the upcoming Union of B. C. Municipalities (UBCM) conference later this month.
While on the federal level there is currently ongoing discussions in the House of Commons on Bill C-269, a private member’s bill brought by the Bloc Quebecois and supported by the NDP that calls for the adoption of 28 recommendations submitted by an EI committee under the Liberals from 2005. Among the recommendations are a flat 360 hours for all industries across the country to receive EI benefits
“My understanding is that the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois are going to make that a priority,” said Thorkelson. “We’re hoping that it will be debated and passed before Christmas – that’s probably the best we can hope for.”
Coun. Kathy Bedard had traveled to Ottawa to meet with Minister of Service Canada Diane Finley but was “frustrated at every turn.”
I ended up meeting with an assistant deputy minister of another portion of Service Canada,” said Bedard.
“I used the analogy of if 800 people had been affected by an earthquake our country would jump in and help them right away, but (in this case) 800 people in our community are going to be on welfare or if they can’t get welfare I don’t know where they’re going to go.”
While in the nation’s capital Bedard also asked for faster job creation projects in the community and requested that the government look at a different way of calculating insurable hours that doesn’t include the Peace River and larger urban centres with higher employment.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, the city agreed to sent the minister a “strong letter” again calling for the hours to be reduced at least to the former standard of 420.
In the meantime, the fish union with be focusing on finding as many job creation projects as it can to get some money in people’s pockets and ensuring local services are aware and prepared to respond to the crisis as many shoreworkers struggle to make ends meet.
An increase in the local unemployment rate is actually working to benefit some of those that were coming up short on EI qualification. The local unemployment rate, estimated to be officially at around ten percent, is providing local fishery shore workers with a slight reduction in the hours needed to qualify for unemployment insurance. The numbers of those that will qualify is small, roughly 20 or so, leaving a larger number still short on qualifying hours and looking at having to turn to social assistance to get by over the winter.
The issue serves to highlight the two problems locally regarding unemployment, and an official rate that may not give a true picture of the jobless situation in the area as well as the requirement to match insurable hours here with those in the more economically boisterous areas of the Northern region. The latter being a requirement that has been the subject of much debate over the last number of months.
While local government officials continue to lobby for changes to the EI system, the need to create full time and long lasting jobs around the area couldn't be more pressing. A constructive plan to increase the desirability of the region to major employers, might do much more in the long run than all the lobbying, trips afar and letters written over EI combined.
While the economic picture is expected to improve over the next few years, it seems to be something driven by other forces, the Port, an LNG firm or a Wind farm consortium.
The city needs to be seen making some progress on its own to show that they are providing the necessary incentives to bring business back to the area. Should that take place the resulting increase in jobs, would do quite a bit to reduce the burden on those that scramble from year to year to try and qualify for EI.
The Daily News had the story in their Wednesday edition on the EI situation and what local residents are hoping to do about it.
EI WOES EASE SLIGHTLY BUT FIGHT FOR FAIRNESS GOES ON
Changes mean some will now get EI but most are still out in the cold
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Wednesday, October 11. 2006
Pages One and Three
Shorworkers trying to collect unemployment insurance will need a few less hours than originally expected to qualify, however the change is expected to help less than 20 people. Due to an increase in the unemployment rate for the region – which includes the oil rich Peace and booming Prince George – the number of required hours have dropped to 560 from 595.
“Our unemployment rate was between 8.1 and 9 per cent and that translated to 595 hours,” said Joy Thorkelson, United fishermen’s and Allied Workers Union (UFAWU-CAW) northern representative. “That unemployment rate has gone up to from 9.1 to 10 per cent, and that’s why the hours dropped.”
While it’s difficult to say for sure, it is likely that Prince Rupert’s excessive unemployment has driven the rate up at least some, she said. The change is expected to bring the total number of shoreworkers who have met their necessary hours in order to claim EI to around 80 in an industry that employs nearly 1,300 people. Of those, around 500 would normally collect EI at 420 hours – the level formerly required by the government.
“The summer’s been terrible for everyone, you’re going to be looking a low numbers for everyone,” said Thorkelson, noting that many would struggle even at the old levels.
On the provincial front, the EI case was brought to the Minister of Finance while she was in town last week.
The issue is also expected to be brought up at the upcoming Union of B. C. Municipalities (UBCM) conference later this month.
While on the federal level there is currently ongoing discussions in the House of Commons on Bill C-269, a private member’s bill brought by the Bloc Quebecois and supported by the NDP that calls for the adoption of 28 recommendations submitted by an EI committee under the Liberals from 2005. Among the recommendations are a flat 360 hours for all industries across the country to receive EI benefits
“My understanding is that the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois are going to make that a priority,” said Thorkelson. “We’re hoping that it will be debated and passed before Christmas – that’s probably the best we can hope for.”
Coun. Kathy Bedard had traveled to Ottawa to meet with Minister of Service Canada Diane Finley but was “frustrated at every turn.”
I ended up meeting with an assistant deputy minister of another portion of Service Canada,” said Bedard.
“I used the analogy of if 800 people had been affected by an earthquake our country would jump in and help them right away, but (in this case) 800 people in our community are going to be on welfare or if they can’t get welfare I don’t know where they’re going to go.”
While in the nation’s capital Bedard also asked for faster job creation projects in the community and requested that the government look at a different way of calculating insurable hours that doesn’t include the Peace River and larger urban centres with higher employment.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, the city agreed to sent the minister a “strong letter” again calling for the hours to be reduced at least to the former standard of 420.
In the meantime, the fish union with be focusing on finding as many job creation projects as it can to get some money in people’s pockets and ensuring local services are aware and prepared to respond to the crisis as many shoreworkers struggle to make ends meet.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter
Perhaps with a little Sarah Vaughan on a CD playing in the background, Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond responded to the ongoing debate surrounding Prince Rupert’s Fire Department and the city’s plans for it.
The Mayor wrote a letter to the editor in Friday’s edition of the Daily News, taking to the task the union representative (and if we read between the lines perhaps the paper as well).
Referring to the union rep as ”Surrey’s Mr. West”, the Mayor reflected on the comments of that out of town union rep in a recent front page story in the Daily News, and examined the “tone and tenor” of the comments in the story, which has seemingly sent the Mayor to the writing table.
Suggesting that the city is still involved in a dialogue with its local firefighters, he provided his own take on some of the issues raised in that article. The mayor stated that the city would work on these issues away from the media, instead it seems by moving his thoughts through the self penned channel of the editorial pages, found four pages from the headlines.
It calls to mind similar interventions into the editorial pages by former long time Mayor Peter Lester, the late mayor frequently would fire off his own colourful pieces of prose for the letters page, tackling some of the thorny issues of the day (and a few other items that found his fancy).
Perhaps in addition to a chain of office, he left his style guidebook in the upper right hand drawer of the Mayors desk, for future holders of the office to make their submissions.
The Mayor’s thoughts can be found below, direct from their home on page four of the Friday edition of the Daily News.
OUR CITY IS VERY WELL PROTECTED
To The Editor,
Prince Rupert residents need to know that, in spite of the headlines, the city’s management team is working co-operatively, respectfully and out of the media, with local firefighters to deliver superior fire-protection at a price taxpayers can sustain.
The tone and tenor of the comments by Surrey’s Mr. West (Firefighters turn up the heat on city over volunteers, Daily News, Oct 4) betray the respect of the local dialogue, and his characterization of what’s happening in Maple Ridge, Langley and Surrey is misleading.
Yes, those communities are moving to more full-time firefighters, but they have also been bursting at the seams for years. Interestingly, Mr. West doesn’t mention that until very recently Maple Ridge (four times our size) had only six full-time firefighters supported by 80 on-calls; or that Langley (six times our size), had just 11 full-timers with 160 on call; or that his own department Surrey (Canada’s largest municipality), is nearly 50% on-call firefighters.
Prince Rupert has a great group of firefighters – 20 well-equipped, highly trained full-time professionals who constantly demonstrate dedication to their craft. And like almost every other community in the province, we are augmenting our core with motivated well-trained on-call firefighters.
We’ve got excellent fire protection – better than any community our size.
We’re going to keep it that way.
Respectfully submitted,
Mayor Herb Pond
The Mayor wrote a letter to the editor in Friday’s edition of the Daily News, taking to the task the union representative (and if we read between the lines perhaps the paper as well).
Referring to the union rep as ”Surrey’s Mr. West”, the Mayor reflected on the comments of that out of town union rep in a recent front page story in the Daily News, and examined the “tone and tenor” of the comments in the story, which has seemingly sent the Mayor to the writing table.
Suggesting that the city is still involved in a dialogue with its local firefighters, he provided his own take on some of the issues raised in that article. The mayor stated that the city would work on these issues away from the media, instead it seems by moving his thoughts through the self penned channel of the editorial pages, found four pages from the headlines.
It calls to mind similar interventions into the editorial pages by former long time Mayor Peter Lester, the late mayor frequently would fire off his own colourful pieces of prose for the letters page, tackling some of the thorny issues of the day (and a few other items that found his fancy).
Perhaps in addition to a chain of office, he left his style guidebook in the upper right hand drawer of the Mayors desk, for future holders of the office to make their submissions.
The Mayor’s thoughts can be found below, direct from their home on page four of the Friday edition of the Daily News.
OUR CITY IS VERY WELL PROTECTED
To The Editor,
Prince Rupert residents need to know that, in spite of the headlines, the city’s management team is working co-operatively, respectfully and out of the media, with local firefighters to deliver superior fire-protection at a price taxpayers can sustain.
The tone and tenor of the comments by Surrey’s Mr. West (Firefighters turn up the heat on city over volunteers, Daily News, Oct 4) betray the respect of the local dialogue, and his characterization of what’s happening in Maple Ridge, Langley and Surrey is misleading.
Yes, those communities are moving to more full-time firefighters, but they have also been bursting at the seams for years. Interestingly, Mr. West doesn’t mention that until very recently Maple Ridge (four times our size) had only six full-time firefighters supported by 80 on-calls; or that Langley (six times our size), had just 11 full-timers with 160 on call; or that his own department Surrey (Canada’s largest municipality), is nearly 50% on-call firefighters.
Prince Rupert has a great group of firefighters – 20 well-equipped, highly trained full-time professionals who constantly demonstrate dedication to their craft. And like almost every other community in the province, we are augmenting our core with motivated well-trained on-call firefighters.
We’ve got excellent fire protection – better than any community our size.
We’re going to keep it that way.
Respectfully submitted,
Mayor Herb Pond
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Holding the fire line over volunteers
The debate over the prospect of adding volunteers to the professional force serving Prince Rupert has heated up once again, in fact may be on the verge of overheating. In a front page story in Wednesday’s Daily News, Lorne West of the firefighters union seems to drop the gloves over the issue of the call for an auxiliary fire fighter pool from the City of Prince Rupert.
Following in the footsteps of his initial remarks on the issue in September, West heats up the rhetoric on the issue once again, by suggesting that there will be no savings to the tax payer by bringing on the volunteers. He dismisses the effectiveness and reliability of a volunteer pool and says that the city’s plans are going against the grain from the rest of the province where auxiliary and volunteer forces are being replaced by a professional force.
Perhaps the most incendiary of the comments in the Daily News piece were the ones questioning why the city is planning on the auxiliaries in the first place, suggesting that council is “just shifting it’s priorities around … so they can fund maybe a pet project somewhere or who knows what, but they're doing it at the expense of the safety of the community.”
Those comments will certainly get the mayor’s back up, last week he expressed dismay at the suggestion that the city wasn’t concerned about the safety of the fire fighter or that of the public. With the union dropping the gauntlet on that issue once again, it should make for a lively period of debate over an issue that the mayor had declared last week that, the rule would not be revisited by council.
One thing is certain, this issue is not going to go away any time soon, and the prospect of a volunteer base for the department is still very much in the air. Co-operation is a key ingredient for any new policy and at the moment, if the union rep is speaking for the membership it would seem that there is not a lot of confidence in that plan.
The issue will be on the front burner in Prince Rupert until city council explains the rationale used behind the volunteer plan, explains just how much they expect to save, what they plan to do with that money that is saved and how the plan impacts on the professional force and indeed on whether there is any possible danger to the public.
Last weeks information provided to the Daily News hasn't brought this fire under control, in fact it seems to have helped it to flare up a bit.
Mr. West has now provided some more talking points on the issue, it will be interesting to see if the Mayor and Council respond to them, or hold their ground and move forward with a plan that may not necessarily have the full backing of the fire fighters or the people they serve.
A public hearing on the issue would go a long way as to providing a blue print as to what the public might desire. It would provide a less heated time frame for both sides to provide their side of the story and then allow the public to decide what they feel is in their best interest. Sometimes a city council could use a little guidance; perhaps this is one of those times.
FIREFIGHTERS TURN UP HEAT ON CITY OVER VOLUNTEERS
Union claims there will be an inferior service and no saving to taxpayer
By James Vasallo
The Daily News
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Pages One and Three
A decision to hire auxiliary firefighters has nothing to do with being “cost effective” or protecting the pockets of taxpayers as the city claims, says the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF).
“It’s almost morally corrupt to say ‘we’re going to reduce the burden of taxation to some degree by reducing the fire service’ because they’re not doing that,” said Lorne West, IAFF Western Canada vice-president.
“The only argument people have ever used to move from career to volunteer has been economic, but we have this movement in Prince Rupert and no one in the community is saving on their tax dollars.
“They’re not reducing neighbourhood taxes, they’re just shifting priorities around… so they can fund maybe a pet project somewhere or who knows what, but they’re doing it at the expense and safety of the community.”
Even if there were tax savings, West said most people would willingly pay the small amount necessary to have the security of the quickest response possible.
“(The city’s) suggesting that at about the price of a Big Mac per person we’re going to reduce the size of the fire department and we’re going to rely on volunteers,” he said. “They’re not reliable, they’re not consistent no matter how well we train them, we don’t know how long it will take them to arrive or how many will arrive because they have lives to lead as well.”
According to the IAFF, Rupert’s decision bucks the trend by most of the province’s fire departments who work to move from volunteer and paid-on-calls to full-time professional firefighters.
“The township of Langley and the City of Maple Ridge have both adopted master plans to transition from an all volunteer fire department to a career first response department,” said West, a 34 year veteran of Surrey Fire Department, which has also shifted from volunteers to career staff. “The rationale they’ve used is that the average response time to the scene of a fire for volunteers was 12 minutes and up.”
The fire propagation curve shows that the fire will move beyond the room of origin and spreads to other parts of the house within about 10 minutes,” said West.
“After a fire has exploded beyond the room of origin, those are more dangerous fights, they require more manpower and they face greater risks – that’s the argument for moving volunteer to career.”
While volunteers or paid-on calls can be helpful in certain situations, they’re not a proper substitute for a shift of four fire fighters who can respond from the hall, make entry into a house without waiting and quickly attack a fire - even if the city can recruit them.
“Most communities have trouble recruiting volunteers and I have heard that’s the case in Prince Rupert,” said West.
“What happens is then the community will take anyone that comes along. They don’t meet the physical standards required for the arduous task of fighting a fire, they don’t meet the academic standards for the significant knowledge required and they don’t have the time available to learn the technical skills needed.”
“Your volunteers, with the odd exception, aren’t capable of responding to the needs of the community.”
According to the IAFF, the city used to fund the fire department to the tune of 12 per cent of its annual budget, however that number is now below eight per cent.
“It’s a foolhardy decision made without any sound economic reason or basis. There’s no empirical evidence to back up what they’re doing, no measurable evidence suggests there’ll be a better service or they’ll be saving anybody in the community any money,” said West.
“The city of Prince Rupert is not about economic bottom line … and they’re certainly not making risk management decisions with sound economic reasoning.”
Following in the footsteps of his initial remarks on the issue in September, West heats up the rhetoric on the issue once again, by suggesting that there will be no savings to the tax payer by bringing on the volunteers. He dismisses the effectiveness and reliability of a volunteer pool and says that the city’s plans are going against the grain from the rest of the province where auxiliary and volunteer forces are being replaced by a professional force.
Perhaps the most incendiary of the comments in the Daily News piece were the ones questioning why the city is planning on the auxiliaries in the first place, suggesting that council is “just shifting it’s priorities around … so they can fund maybe a pet project somewhere or who knows what, but they're doing it at the expense of the safety of the community.”
Those comments will certainly get the mayor’s back up, last week he expressed dismay at the suggestion that the city wasn’t concerned about the safety of the fire fighter or that of the public. With the union dropping the gauntlet on that issue once again, it should make for a lively period of debate over an issue that the mayor had declared last week that, the rule would not be revisited by council.
One thing is certain, this issue is not going to go away any time soon, and the prospect of a volunteer base for the department is still very much in the air. Co-operation is a key ingredient for any new policy and at the moment, if the union rep is speaking for the membership it would seem that there is not a lot of confidence in that plan.
The issue will be on the front burner in Prince Rupert until city council explains the rationale used behind the volunteer plan, explains just how much they expect to save, what they plan to do with that money that is saved and how the plan impacts on the professional force and indeed on whether there is any possible danger to the public.
Last weeks information provided to the Daily News hasn't brought this fire under control, in fact it seems to have helped it to flare up a bit.
Mr. West has now provided some more talking points on the issue, it will be interesting to see if the Mayor and Council respond to them, or hold their ground and move forward with a plan that may not necessarily have the full backing of the fire fighters or the people they serve.
A public hearing on the issue would go a long way as to providing a blue print as to what the public might desire. It would provide a less heated time frame for both sides to provide their side of the story and then allow the public to decide what they feel is in their best interest. Sometimes a city council could use a little guidance; perhaps this is one of those times.
FIREFIGHTERS TURN UP HEAT ON CITY OVER VOLUNTEERS
Union claims there will be an inferior service and no saving to taxpayer
By James Vasallo
The Daily News
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Pages One and Three
A decision to hire auxiliary firefighters has nothing to do with being “cost effective” or protecting the pockets of taxpayers as the city claims, says the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF).
“It’s almost morally corrupt to say ‘we’re going to reduce the burden of taxation to some degree by reducing the fire service’ because they’re not doing that,” said Lorne West, IAFF Western Canada vice-president.
“The only argument people have ever used to move from career to volunteer has been economic, but we have this movement in Prince Rupert and no one in the community is saving on their tax dollars.
“They’re not reducing neighbourhood taxes, they’re just shifting priorities around… so they can fund maybe a pet project somewhere or who knows what, but they’re doing it at the expense and safety of the community.”
Even if there were tax savings, West said most people would willingly pay the small amount necessary to have the security of the quickest response possible.
“(The city’s) suggesting that at about the price of a Big Mac per person we’re going to reduce the size of the fire department and we’re going to rely on volunteers,” he said. “They’re not reliable, they’re not consistent no matter how well we train them, we don’t know how long it will take them to arrive or how many will arrive because they have lives to lead as well.”
According to the IAFF, Rupert’s decision bucks the trend by most of the province’s fire departments who work to move from volunteer and paid-on-calls to full-time professional firefighters.
“The township of Langley and the City of Maple Ridge have both adopted master plans to transition from an all volunteer fire department to a career first response department,” said West, a 34 year veteran of Surrey Fire Department, which has also shifted from volunteers to career staff. “The rationale they’ve used is that the average response time to the scene of a fire for volunteers was 12 minutes and up.”
The fire propagation curve shows that the fire will move beyond the room of origin and spreads to other parts of the house within about 10 minutes,” said West.
“After a fire has exploded beyond the room of origin, those are more dangerous fights, they require more manpower and they face greater risks – that’s the argument for moving volunteer to career.”
While volunteers or paid-on calls can be helpful in certain situations, they’re not a proper substitute for a shift of four fire fighters who can respond from the hall, make entry into a house without waiting and quickly attack a fire - even if the city can recruit them.
“Most communities have trouble recruiting volunteers and I have heard that’s the case in Prince Rupert,” said West.
“What happens is then the community will take anyone that comes along. They don’t meet the physical standards required for the arduous task of fighting a fire, they don’t meet the academic standards for the significant knowledge required and they don’t have the time available to learn the technical skills needed.”
“Your volunteers, with the odd exception, aren’t capable of responding to the needs of the community.”
According to the IAFF, the city used to fund the fire department to the tune of 12 per cent of its annual budget, however that number is now below eight per cent.
“It’s a foolhardy decision made without any sound economic reason or basis. There’s no empirical evidence to back up what they’re doing, no measurable evidence suggests there’ll be a better service or they’ll be saving anybody in the community any money,” said West.
“The city of Prince Rupert is not about economic bottom line … and they’re certainly not making risk management decisions with sound economic reasoning.”
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