The RCMP is searching for an overdue fisherman who disappeared around the area of the sandbar between Rupert and Terrace.
The Daily News had the details of the search in its Tuesday edition.
RUPERT MAN MISSING ON SKEENA
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Page One
A Prince Rupert man has gone missing from the shores of the Skeena River.
Gerald (Gerry) O’Brien, 61, was last seen on the Skeena River sandbar halfway between Prince Rupert and Terrace.
“He’s a person who was fishing off the shore, a sports fisherman,” said Coast Guard Officer Mike Stacey, maritime search and rescue coordinator.
“We have some Coast Guard surface vessels and some Transport Canada aircraft assisting the RCMP.
“They’re searching the Skeena River basically, between the mouth of the river and the location where the person was last seen.”
The missing man was last known to be in the area on Monday afternoon about 40 miles up the Skeena, he said.
He was expected home at 8 p. m. that same day.
O’Brien is described as Caucasian, 178 centimetres (around six feet tall), 73 kilograms (160 pounds), with brown/grey hair and hazel eyes.
He is blind in one eye and wears glasses.
He has malformed fingers and a scar on his inner right leg.
When last seen, he was wearing green waders and a beige jacket.
Anyone with information is asked to call Prince Rupert RCMP – Rural section immediately at (250) 627-3131.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
The summer of the head butt!
ZIDANE a new way to solve problems..
make it like zidane
Well I'm sure I'll eventually tire of this, but for now
Zidane's head butt is the un-disputed ruler of the internet!
Stuart River returns rated as alarming
Always one of the controversial runs of the salmon season, the Stuart River run is apparently not a very promising thing this year. The run is five days late and with that in mind the Pacific Salmon Commission has raised a bit of an alarm.
Because of the situation there will be no fishing allowed along the entire river system for the early Stuart Sockeye run.
Below is the story from the opinion 250 website.
Early Stuart Return Alarming
By Opinion 250 News
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 10:33 AM
There will be no fishing allowed for early Stuart Sockeye along the entire section of the river system this year.
The Pacific Salmon Commission says the early Stuarts, which have reached low levels over recent years, are five days late in returning to the river system.
About 85,000 fish are expected to make the trek to the spawning grounds on the Stuart River in our region, a major drop from years gone by.
Because of the situation there will be no fishing allowed along the entire river system for the early Stuart Sockeye run.
Below is the story from the opinion 250 website.
Early Stuart Return Alarming
By Opinion 250 News
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 10:33 AM
There will be no fishing allowed for early Stuart Sockeye along the entire section of the river system this year.
The Pacific Salmon Commission says the early Stuarts, which have reached low levels over recent years, are five days late in returning to the river system.
About 85,000 fish are expected to make the trek to the spawning grounds on the Stuart River in our region, a major drop from years gone by.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Keep watching that horizon!
The Premier made many stops during his weekend visit to Prince Rupert; one of interest to Rupertites would be his attendance at the local gathering of regional Liberals. It was at that affair he waxed enthusiastically about the prospects for Prince Rupert and declared that the rough piece of road we have been on is over!
Somehow you sense that if a video of his speech were to be created it would have to feature Barry Manilow’s Made it through the Rain as the theme music.
The Premier advised podunkians to keep their eye on the horizon as there are many things just over the other side that are heading our way and the tough times that we have dealt with in the last couple of years are about to change.
So dig out your old Manilow CD and set the mood as you read along to the Daily News’ recitation of the visit of Gordon Campbell!
PREMIER SAYS PORT KEY TO NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Page One
It’s been a challenge to get the rest of the country to recognize the importance of the northwest corridor to Canada’s future, said Premier Gordon Campbell.
But the recent listing by the National Post of two B. C. towns – Prince Rupert and Prince George – as the country’s two top future boom towns shows that things are changing, said the Premier during his recent visit.
“In no time in the last 60 years has there been so much on the plate, just on the horizon, for northern B. C.” said Campbell.
“We are a Pacific country, the fact we are the door to the Pacific, to that opportunity, is enormous for us.”
Campbell was here with six Liberal Ministers, northern MLA’s and Liberal supporters to attend a northwest regional Liberal convention over the weekend.
Visiting with Campbell were Colin Hansen, Minister of Economic Development, Shirley Bond, Deputy Premier and Minister of Education, Pat Bell, Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Bill Bennett, Minister of State for Child Care, and John Rustad, MLA for Prince George-Omenica.
Campbell said the northern economies from Prince Rupert to Prince George and into Edmonton will benefit with the development on the container terminal.
“The challenge is not whether the port will expand but how quickly we can get it to expand to meet the need of our customers,” he said. “Those customers are not just in Asia coming into the North American market place but in North America going into the Asian market place.”
He said the development of the port impacts other projects proposed for northern B. C. such as the two oil pipeline projects proposed for Kitimat.
“When we think for example about the Enbridge pipeline development that’s taking place in Western Canada, a lot of that pipe is coming from Asia. It gets to the sites of those pipeline developments much quicker through the port of Prince Rupert as soon as we can get it up and running,” he said.
“Also when you think about the mineral opportunities here, they will need markets in China, Korea, Japan and India. This is the closest port by a long shot to those markets.”
Construction of the Fairview Container Terminal in Prince Rupert is underway with $130 million from both the federal and provincial government and private partners such as Maher Terminals and CN Rail.
While Campbell said there have been no specific discussions between the feds and the province for funding Phase II of the terminal, he believes investment will continue to flow into the area.
“I think we have taken a huge step forward with the Port of Prince Rupert and we are going to see those steps continue. I believe we are going to see them accelerate,” he said.
“Working in partnership with the Government of Canada, I think you are going to see substantial investment, not just in this port, but in other ports as well.”
Campbell added he enjoys visiting Prince Rupert, because people keep a positive attitude, even through the tough times.
“Sometimes when you go through a rough piece of road, you wonder is it ever going to be over? But it is over,” he said.
“People here are positive, they are constructive. As has always been the case for me, they come and say. This is what we are trying to do, how can you help.”
Somehow you sense that if a video of his speech were to be created it would have to feature Barry Manilow’s Made it through the Rain as the theme music.
The Premier advised podunkians to keep their eye on the horizon as there are many things just over the other side that are heading our way and the tough times that we have dealt with in the last couple of years are about to change.
So dig out your old Manilow CD and set the mood as you read along to the Daily News’ recitation of the visit of Gordon Campbell!
PREMIER SAYS PORT KEY TO NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Page One
It’s been a challenge to get the rest of the country to recognize the importance of the northwest corridor to Canada’s future, said Premier Gordon Campbell.
But the recent listing by the National Post of two B. C. towns – Prince Rupert and Prince George – as the country’s two top future boom towns shows that things are changing, said the Premier during his recent visit.
“In no time in the last 60 years has there been so much on the plate, just on the horizon, for northern B. C.” said Campbell.
“We are a Pacific country, the fact we are the door to the Pacific, to that opportunity, is enormous for us.”
Campbell was here with six Liberal Ministers, northern MLA’s and Liberal supporters to attend a northwest regional Liberal convention over the weekend.
Visiting with Campbell were Colin Hansen, Minister of Economic Development, Shirley Bond, Deputy Premier and Minister of Education, Pat Bell, Minister of Agriculture and Lands, Bill Bennett, Minister of State for Child Care, and John Rustad, MLA for Prince George-Omenica.
Campbell said the northern economies from Prince Rupert to Prince George and into Edmonton will benefit with the development on the container terminal.
“The challenge is not whether the port will expand but how quickly we can get it to expand to meet the need of our customers,” he said. “Those customers are not just in Asia coming into the North American market place but in North America going into the Asian market place.”
He said the development of the port impacts other projects proposed for northern B. C. such as the two oil pipeline projects proposed for Kitimat.
“When we think for example about the Enbridge pipeline development that’s taking place in Western Canada, a lot of that pipe is coming from Asia. It gets to the sites of those pipeline developments much quicker through the port of Prince Rupert as soon as we can get it up and running,” he said.
“Also when you think about the mineral opportunities here, they will need markets in China, Korea, Japan and India. This is the closest port by a long shot to those markets.”
Construction of the Fairview Container Terminal in Prince Rupert is underway with $130 million from both the federal and provincial government and private partners such as Maher Terminals and CN Rail.
While Campbell said there have been no specific discussions between the feds and the province for funding Phase II of the terminal, he believes investment will continue to flow into the area.
“I think we have taken a huge step forward with the Port of Prince Rupert and we are going to see those steps continue. I believe we are going to see them accelerate,” he said.
“Working in partnership with the Government of Canada, I think you are going to see substantial investment, not just in this port, but in other ports as well.”
Campbell added he enjoys visiting Prince Rupert, because people keep a positive attitude, even through the tough times.
“Sometimes when you go through a rough piece of road, you wonder is it ever going to be over? But it is over,” he said.
“People here are positive, they are constructive. As has always been the case for me, they come and say. This is what we are trying to do, how can you help.”
Shine on you crazy diamond
One of the rock world’s most enigmatic and influential pioneers has passed away at the age of sixty. Syd Barrett one of the founders of Pink Floyd had a very brief tenure with Floyd, having left the band after but one album departing while he battled mental illness.
David Gilmour joined the band in 1968 just as Barrett was making his departure; Barrett would release two solo albums upon his leaving but would not be involved with Pink Floyd again, as they rose to the top of music world in the boom years of the seventies.
In fact, Barrett effectively became a recluse in rural England, perhaps oblivious to the stature that his former band mates would reach. That band he helped to form of course went on to become one of the major forces of the music world, hitting its peak with a string of amazing albums in the seventies and eighties, the finely crafted sounds of Dark side of the Moon still a staple on FM radio to this day.
Barrett’s influence on the band was such that when they produced their retrospective album Echoes in 2001, one fifth of that albums songs were penned by Barrett, this despite the fact that he had left the band more than thirty years earlier.
His impact on music went beyond his then art band of the sixties though; David Bowie counted Barrett as one of the main influences in his career. Bowie reacted to the news of Barrett’s passing with sadness as did members of Pink Floyd, who offered up their own tribute to his legacy.
1975’s Floyd album Wish you were here, was seen by many as a tribute to Barrett’s early founding of the band and the groundwork laid for their eventual success. One track in particular is Floyd’s tribute to their former comrade, Shine on you crazy diamond; describes his genius and subsequent extinguishment of that bright flame that launched one of rock music’s iconic pillars.
David Gilmour joined the band in 1968 just as Barrett was making his departure; Barrett would release two solo albums upon his leaving but would not be involved with Pink Floyd again, as they rose to the top of music world in the boom years of the seventies.
In fact, Barrett effectively became a recluse in rural England, perhaps oblivious to the stature that his former band mates would reach. That band he helped to form of course went on to become one of the major forces of the music world, hitting its peak with a string of amazing albums in the seventies and eighties, the finely crafted sounds of Dark side of the Moon still a staple on FM radio to this day.
Barrett’s influence on the band was such that when they produced their retrospective album Echoes in 2001, one fifth of that albums songs were penned by Barrett, this despite the fact that he had left the band more than thirty years earlier.
His impact on music went beyond his then art band of the sixties though; David Bowie counted Barrett as one of the main influences in his career. Bowie reacted to the news of Barrett’s passing with sadness as did members of Pink Floyd, who offered up their own tribute to his legacy.
1975’s Floyd album Wish you were here, was seen by many as a tribute to Barrett’s early founding of the band and the groundwork laid for their eventual success. One track in particular is Floyd’s tribute to their former comrade, Shine on you crazy diamond; describes his genius and subsequent extinguishment of that bright flame that launched one of rock music’s iconic pillars.
48 hours, 23 engagements
The Globe and Mail's Christie Blatchford is on assignment with the Canadian Army in Afghanistan, her column from Tuesday's globe provides an important window for Canadians as to just what their sons and daughters are facing in their daily duties in that far off and unknown part of the globe.
Her story follows the path of Charlie and Bravo companies of the 1st Battalion, PPCLI as they fought a pitched battle for fourty eight hours against Taliban and other forces in Panjwei, one of the small villages that dot rural Afghanistan.
It's a story that truly describes the scene in a very graphic way, it was this battle that cost Cpl. Anthony Boneca his life, has resulted in numerous casualties and raised Canada's military death total in Afghanistan to 17.
Blatchford's various accounts for the Globe of her travels with the PPCLI should be required reading for all Canadians, to better understand the Canadian presence in Afghanistan.
You read them and want to say a little silent prayer for all those in harms way.
Three days of fierce, bloody war
I'd been following Cpl. Mooney around like a bad smell. But in the battle that killed Cpl. Boneca, I lost sight of him.
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
E-mail Christie Blatchford
Read Bio
Latest Columns
Her story follows the path of Charlie and Bravo companies of the 1st Battalion, PPCLI as they fought a pitched battle for fourty eight hours against Taliban and other forces in Panjwei, one of the small villages that dot rural Afghanistan.
It's a story that truly describes the scene in a very graphic way, it was this battle that cost Cpl. Anthony Boneca his life, has resulted in numerous casualties and raised Canada's military death total in Afghanistan to 17.
Blatchford's various accounts for the Globe of her travels with the PPCLI should be required reading for all Canadians, to better understand the Canadian presence in Afghanistan.
You read them and want to say a little silent prayer for all those in harms way.
Three days of fierce, bloody war
I'd been following Cpl. Mooney around like a bad smell. But in the battle that killed Cpl. Boneca, I lost sight of him.
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
E-mail Christie Blatchford
Read Bio
Latest Columns
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — Corporal Keith Mooney sat hunched in his wheelchair on the tarmac at Kandahar Air Field yesterday, his blond head bent, his sweet face contorted as he tried not to cry.
The body of the young man he knew only a little and then only to tease -- I forget what he said it was about but it would have been in the way soldiers relentlessly rag on one another, gentle, funny and profane all at once -- was being carried up the ramp into the belly of a green-grey Hercules aircraft to head home to Canada.
Just hours after Cpl. Tony Boneca was killed Sunday morning while clearing a mud compound in Panjwei district west of Kandahar City, Cpl. Mooney himself was hit and wounded, perhaps by enemy fire, although he remains unconvinced of that, perhaps by the secondary explosion of a Taliban weapons cache that blew up when a bomb was dropped in a mud-walled maze of grape fields where for three long days ending yesterday Canadians fought in the sort of sustained and vicious battle Cpl. Mooney calls "a shitshow."
It was a classic example of war in its most modern and ancient form, the running counterinsurgency -- multifronted, with more than a dozen mini front lines popping up in the alternately lush-then-desert rural moonscape of this part of southern Afghanistan; soldiers deking in and out of grapevines and from behind low mud walls as they sought to engage what Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Hope, the Canadian commanding officer, estimates were a minimum of 40 Taliban fighters, and probably between 60 and 70, who were on home turf they knew intimately; the high-tech weaponry that was later called in by the Canadian and coalition forces of limited use, and such a dearth of safe places that even medics were occasionally forced to use their weapons.
For instance, two insurgents -- for the sake of convenience, everyone here calls them Taliban, but while the six arrested included two men believed to be actual Taliban junior commanders, no one is entirely sure how many of the fighters were simply poor, uneducated Afghan boys who saw no other option, or narcotics thugs drawn here to protect the lucrative poppy
fields of the region, or hardened foreign fighters -- from their hidey-hole atop the roof of a mud grape-drying compound held a section of the Canadians at bay with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades for the better part of Saturday and Sunday.
After one of them shot Cpl. Boneca as he headed up the stairs, the building was utterly pounded with Harrier-fired missiles, bombs and the big guns of the 1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, the rooftop repeatedly strafed by a U.S. Apache helicopter. Yet one man survived this onslaught with only modest injuries, Lt.-Col. Hope confirmed yesterday, by availing himself of a tunnel system built by the Taliban. He was arrested.
Although waged in the tight quarters of the villages of Pashmul -- these small villages are in their way every bit as indistinct and alike as North American suburbs, and many have no names -- the battle was both so diffuse and shifting that while a CTV crew, reporter Steve Chao and cameraman Tom Michalak, and I were probably never more than 50 metres apart, we never once saw one another, and indeed, emerged with entirely different snapshots of the same fighting.
I was embedded with Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry; Mr. Chao and Mr. Michalak with Bravo Company.
We might as well have been at different wars, though each of ours had elements in common -- highly disciplined Canadian soldiers and undisciplined Afghan National Army forces working together (a fabulous piece of tape shot by Combat Camera photographer Master Corporal Ronald Duchesne shows one cowering ANA soldier blindly firing into the air over a mud wall, while beside him Canadian troops stand calmly waiting for a decent shot, and I saw one "N.D.," or Negligent Discharge, by an ANA soldier) and an incredible amount of gunfire and smoke.
In the first 12 hours of battle, Lt.-Col. Hope said, the Canadians had 17 separate and distinct engagements with the enemy; in the remaining two days, a total of six.
Bravo Company alone had in swift succession its 13th, 14th and 15th all-out fights with the enemy over the weekend, but as Officer Commanding Major Nick Grimshaw said yesterday at Zharei, where the Canadians have established a forward operating base in the region, "It should be known that of those 15 firefights, we haven't started a single one. We were not on the offensive. We were reacting. If the enemy wants a fight, we give them a fight."
For all that Major Grimshaw, 35, is proud of how his soldiers have stepped up as the intensity level occasionally ratchets "up to 11," he is most impressed by those occasions when the soldiers, "in full battle rattle" as they call their body armour and kit, can switch gears on a dime to speak to villagers on medical outreach visits and the like. "We're not afraid to talk to people," he said yesterday. "Very genuinely, that's the Canadian approach. We honestly believe we're here to help."
As for Cpl. Mooney, before he was hit in the upper legs and evacuated to the small but sophisticated base hospital at Kandahar Air Field, he was ruminating on the randomness of battle.
"Bullets," he said, "have no prejudice."
In one of Charlie Company's major battles, on June 12, two of his fellows were wounded, and as he checked one to find the wound, he emerged covered with blood. "I thought I was hit," he told me as we made our way to Pashmul on Friday night. When he realized he wasn't, he was as furious as if he had been. When a brother goes down, he said, "Everything else, whether you knew the guy, or if you didn't like this guy -- it all goes out the window. It's all about winning the fucking firefight and killing the enemy. I was so proud to be with my fucking company that day."
Cpl. Mooney's turn came Sunday afternoon. I had been following him around like a bad smell -- his calm and his bulk made me feel safe and his rich Newfoundland accent falls lovely on the ears -- for two days, but during one running skirmish, briefly lost sight of him. Next thing I knew, he was hit.
He felt, he said yesterday, as though someone had whacked him hard across the knees, and looked down in surprise to see blood pouring out the top of his legs. "I started shaking," he said, "and I was so cold." He was evacuated out of the immediate danger zone, assessed by medics, who now, knowing Cpl. Mooney will recover, fondly remember him as their most cheerful patient -- once he was repeatedly reassured that his private parts were all in place and intact.
As the signaler for Major Bill Fletcher, the Officer Commanding of Charlie Company, Cpl. Mooney, a 29-year-old from St. Mary's Bay, Nfld., went virtually everywhere the OC did: He had the radio and it was his job to keep the OC in constant touch with the other companies and with Lt.-Col. Hope.
In theory, and in some armies, that would mean Cpl. Mooney would be in a nice safe spot at the rear. But the company commanders -- Major Fletcher, Major Grimshaw of Bravo Company and Major Kirk Gallinger of Alpha Company -- are all fierce young officers who lead from the front lines.
The other soldier who goes everywhere Major Fletcher does is his Sergeant-Major, Shawn Stevens, a long, lean man of 46. Of the OC, he said, with faux weariness, "Just once I want a short, fat OC who doesn't run fast, so I can start acting my age."
As Cpl. Mooney told his wife, Shannon, before heading to Afghanistan, "Don't think I have a safe fucking job. Don't be shocked if something happens. . . . You can't think nothing's going to happen. You better expect the worst, and anything good that happens, it's a bonus. It can't be a shock.
"You want combat experience, this is where you come. You come here."
When I saw him yesterday on the tarmac, I wanted to tousle his hair and thank him for looking after me better than he did himself. But then the command was barked, and 1,000 soldiers stiffened their backs: "Task Force Afghanistan, to your fallen comrade, salute!"
It must be much too hot under that midnight sun!
I've never thought of Alaska as a particularly violent place, at least compared to many of the big urban centres of the USA with their rampant crime waves and urban distress.
The impression I had was that Alaska was kind of one of the saner part of the 50 states of the union, well them and Hawaii (where the term laid back just doesn't do justice I hear) I guess.
But after reading this little blurb about a pick up football game gone rather ballistic, I guess I'll have to reassess my perception of the Last Frontier.
A cautionary note for the Prince Rupert Flag football association, I'd hold off on any invitations for any friendship tournament visits, at least until the Alaskans make parole and surrender their weapons!
The impression I had was that Alaska was kind of one of the saner part of the 50 states of the union, well them and Hawaii (where the term laid back just doesn't do justice I hear) I guess.
But after reading this little blurb about a pick up football game gone rather ballistic, I guess I'll have to reassess my perception of the Last Frontier.
A cautionary note for the Prince Rupert Flag football association, I'd hold off on any invitations for any friendship tournament visits, at least until the Alaskans make parole and surrender their weapons!
Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy!
How do you try to bring back some of that 70% drop in visitors to the Northwest due to the sinking of the Queen of the North? If you’re part of tourismprincerupert, the key to salvaging the season may be to reel in some fishermen!
The local tourist office is offering up a number of prizes in a month long fishing derby designed to bring visitors down Highway 16 and into Prince Rupert. They are using some of the $450,000 provided by the provincial government after the ferry sinking, that money designed to try and find ways to bring tourists to the area despite the cutbacks in ferry service due to the sinking.
With tourist numbers down quite a bit this year, it’s hoped that the lure of coho salmon and a large bounty on the biggest one to be found, will help to put some cash into the pockets of local charter operators, hotel owners and restaurateurs to name a few.
The Daily News had the full story in its Monday edition!
WESTERN CANADA INVITED TO FISH FOR $160,000
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Monday, July 10, 2006
Pages One and Three
Northern Tourism organizations have hung-up the Gone Fishin’ sign, but that’s not indication they’re giving up on this year’s visitor season.
Instead, they’ve launched Western Canada’s largest non-invitational salmon derby to be held in the waters around Prince Rupert over a six-week period. Prizes are worth over $160,000.
“On my recent visit to Prince Rupert, I was impressed with the world class scenery and variety of attractions available for visitors to the area,” said Olga Ilich, Tourism, Sport and the Arts Minister.
“I hope the people of from B. C. and beyond will come to Prince Rupert – not only for this significant fishing derby, but also to stay and experience some of the 160 other community events and festivals taking place across Northern B. C. this summer.”
The derby gets underway three weeks from today on August 1, and runs through September 15.
A top prize of $100,000 will be awarded for the biggest coho, with $40,000 for second and a number of other weekly prizes.
“This has been expressly tailored not just for bringing the regular clientele but for bringing families as well,” said Bruce Wishart, Tourism Prince Rupert executive director.
“You’ll see a large prize there for the largest coho by a female angler, a couple of prizes for under 18’s – if we can convince people in –Northeastern B. C. and Northern Alberta to bring their families with them we’ve won something over the long term.”
The initiative is a result of a number of stakeholder sessions held after the sinking of the Queen of the North in hopes of creating a plan to recapture some of the huge losses businesses throughout the region are experiencing.
“When the ferry sank within a few days we determined we had to replace that independent traveler going on the ferry,” said Wishart.
The capacity wasn’t there to bring that many people by airline and rail was a bit of a hard sell.
“The one visitor that we have that doesn’t rely on any other form of transportation, that drives the highway 16 corridor and drives back is the sporting fisherman.”
With existing capacity present aboard vessels operating on the North Coast during the coho run, the two needs were married and the massive event was born.
“We conservatively estimated that we have 80 full-time charter operators and that they can take four people in a boat. That puts over 15,000 people out on the water (between August 1 and September 15),” he said.
That’s not taking into account the sports fisherman in Prince Rupert and across Northern British Columbia that have their own boats and gear.
“We said that we wouldn’t be surprised to see 30,000 people and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised to see more.”
Contest rules and regulations for the event can be found at http://www.tourismprincerupert.com/ beginning July 15.
The Northern Fund Management Committee was created as a result of $450,000 provided to the Northern Tourism Region by the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts. Las week, it was announced the funds would be used to create the ‘Northern Summer Signature Series’ (a marketing campaign for the North’s arts and cultural festivals, The Queen Charlotte’s Campaign ( a direct marketing initiative to combat the perception that the QCI’s are inaccessible since the ferry sinking) and the hiring of two Regional Visitor Centre Counsellors in Prince George.
The local tourist office is offering up a number of prizes in a month long fishing derby designed to bring visitors down Highway 16 and into Prince Rupert. They are using some of the $450,000 provided by the provincial government after the ferry sinking, that money designed to try and find ways to bring tourists to the area despite the cutbacks in ferry service due to the sinking.
With tourist numbers down quite a bit this year, it’s hoped that the lure of coho salmon and a large bounty on the biggest one to be found, will help to put some cash into the pockets of local charter operators, hotel owners and restaurateurs to name a few.
The Daily News had the full story in its Monday edition!
WESTERN CANADA INVITED TO FISH FOR $160,000
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Monday, July 10, 2006
Pages One and Three
Northern Tourism organizations have hung-up the Gone Fishin’ sign, but that’s not indication they’re giving up on this year’s visitor season.
Instead, they’ve launched Western Canada’s largest non-invitational salmon derby to be held in the waters around Prince Rupert over a six-week period. Prizes are worth over $160,000.
“On my recent visit to Prince Rupert, I was impressed with the world class scenery and variety of attractions available for visitors to the area,” said Olga Ilich, Tourism, Sport and the Arts Minister.
“I hope the people of from B. C. and beyond will come to Prince Rupert – not only for this significant fishing derby, but also to stay and experience some of the 160 other community events and festivals taking place across Northern B. C. this summer.”
The derby gets underway three weeks from today on August 1, and runs through September 15.
A top prize of $100,000 will be awarded for the biggest coho, with $40,000 for second and a number of other weekly prizes.
“This has been expressly tailored not just for bringing the regular clientele but for bringing families as well,” said Bruce Wishart, Tourism Prince Rupert executive director.
“You’ll see a large prize there for the largest coho by a female angler, a couple of prizes for under 18’s – if we can convince people in –Northeastern B. C. and Northern Alberta to bring their families with them we’ve won something over the long term.”
The initiative is a result of a number of stakeholder sessions held after the sinking of the Queen of the North in hopes of creating a plan to recapture some of the huge losses businesses throughout the region are experiencing.
“When the ferry sank within a few days we determined we had to replace that independent traveler going on the ferry,” said Wishart.
The capacity wasn’t there to bring that many people by airline and rail was a bit of a hard sell.
“The one visitor that we have that doesn’t rely on any other form of transportation, that drives the highway 16 corridor and drives back is the sporting fisherman.”
With existing capacity present aboard vessels operating on the North Coast during the coho run, the two needs were married and the massive event was born.
“We conservatively estimated that we have 80 full-time charter operators and that they can take four people in a boat. That puts over 15,000 people out on the water (between August 1 and September 15),” he said.
That’s not taking into account the sports fisherman in Prince Rupert and across Northern British Columbia that have their own boats and gear.
“We said that we wouldn’t be surprised to see 30,000 people and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised to see more.”
Contest rules and regulations for the event can be found at http://www.tourismprincerupert.com/ beginning July 15.
The Northern Fund Management Committee was created as a result of $450,000 provided to the Northern Tourism Region by the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts. Las week, it was announced the funds would be used to create the ‘Northern Summer Signature Series’ (a marketing campaign for the North’s arts and cultural festivals, The Queen Charlotte’s Campaign ( a direct marketing initiative to combat the perception that the QCI’s are inaccessible since the ferry sinking) and the hiring of two Regional Visitor Centre Counsellors in Prince George.
Getting aHEAD of the competition
For Zinadine Zidane ifnamy will come from the internet!
Already chock a block full of a variety of video replays of the now infamous head butt, Zidane now finds himself the subject of an on line video game.
In it the player uses Zidane's head to charge as many defending Marco Materazzi's as you can.
I first discovered this courtesy of the local htmf portal, a place where Podunkians have weighed in quite a bit over both the entire tournament and those final controversial moments of Sunday's final World Cup match.
Check out the discussion on the football here, and then if you wish to go do some whacking, check out the game here!
Already chock a block full of a variety of video replays of the now infamous head butt, Zidane now finds himself the subject of an on line video game.
In it the player uses Zidane's head to charge as many defending Marco Materazzi's as you can.
I first discovered this courtesy of the local htmf portal, a place where Podunkians have weighed in quite a bit over both the entire tournament and those final controversial moments of Sunday's final World Cup match.
Check out the discussion on the football here, and then if you wish to go do some whacking, check out the game here!
A night for speeches and photos
Saturday night at the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital must have resembled a Toastmaster club public speaking contest, as Rupertites gathered to celebrate a new look for PRRH.
Politicians, hospital representatives and first nation’s leaders all provided oratorical skills in praise of the city’s refurbished hospital project and rededication of the wooden panels that greet those who arrive at the hospital.
The Hospital management and staff which has been under quite a bit of scrutiny of late over staffing issues and other health care decisions could find one night of relief from the onslaught of negative news with a bit of a positive news for a change.
With the Premier in attendance they cut the ribbon on the completed $2.4 million dollar project.
The Daily News had coverage of both events in its Monday edition,
PREMIER OPENS $2.4 MILLION HOSPITAL WING
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, July 10, 2006
Pages One and Three
It was the involvement of Prince Rupert Regional staff that will make the $2.4 million redesign of the hospital translate into better patient care, said Premier Gordon Campbell on Saturday.
Campbell, Jeff Burghardt, chair of Northern Health and Sharon Hartwell, chair of the Northwest Regional Hospital District, were among the many dignitaries who attended the ribbon cutting for the $2.4 million renovation project.
“This is a modern hospital.. there is a ceiling here, walls and a bed, but without the staff that are a part of this hospital, that provide the care and attention people need when they come to this hospital, it would just be walls and a ceiling and a empty bed,” said Campbell.
The renovation project relocated several hospital departments to the main floor. Ambulatory care and day care surgery services are now located immediately next to the hospital’s operating room. The hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) is now closer to the facility’s emergency room. The relocation provides better use of surgical time, better flow of patient activity, and improved nursing activity in day care surgery and the post-anesthetic recovery room.
Burghardt said it was truly a staff driven project.
“Staff were able to fully explain the efficiencies they could offer the public,” he said.
Melanie Basso, a nurse in emergency room and intensive care for 18 years, spoke on behalf of those who helped provide input on the project.
”It was probably about two years ago administration asked the staff to form committees… and make recommendations and they worked for many months on this. At one of our last meetings we got a letter from Jeff that said ”We got it,” she said.
While she couldn’t speak for other departments as they haven’t moved in to new space yet, she said those working in the emergency room can already see many efficiencies.
“Before this happened if you were a patient who had a heart attack and you were seriously ill, you were probably three feet from the nursing station with the curtains open, with a crying baby and people who were very ill themselves beside you, it was just not a great situation,” she said.
“Now we have an area for you if you are sick like that, we have a big nursing station and in the last couple of months we found out we are getting funding for more nurses.
“I think we are getting better care because of it.”
The government of British Columbia paid for 60 per cent of the project’s costs through capital funding to Northern Health. The North West Regional Hospital District provided the remaining 40 per cent.
Construction started in July of 2005 and took a year to complete.
HISTORIC PANEL UNVEILED AT PRRH
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, July 10, 2006
Pages One and Five
A traditional ceremony using smoke and cedar boughs was held to officially mark the opening of the renovated hospital and rededicate the panel of crests that marks the entry way.
During a solemn event on Saturday, chiefs and matriarchs blessed the panel which was installed 30 years ago and moved into the new lobby area during the recent renovations.
It was carved by Harvey Robertson, using the designs of the late Frieda Diesing.
“I call this a re-education of the public, letting the people know what the panels are about instead of just walking by them every time they come here,” said Chief Clarence Nelson, who welcomed the dignitaries and public to the ceremony.
“After 30 years they forget what the panel means.”
The panel represents all four crests of the Tsimshian – Eagle (Laxsgiik) Raven (Ganhada, Killer Whale (Gispudwada) and Wolf (Laxkibu.)
“(When people enter the hospital) they realize the great spirit of the Creator is here with them, the creator who showed us the designs of the crests,” said Nelson.
The panels were installed for the hospital’s official opening 30 years ago, It was Queen Elizabeth II who attended to mark the event.
At the time of the original blessing, Robertson was out on the grounds for the fishing season, although his daughter Joan Athanasopoulos, who was five at the time, presented flowers to the Queen at the event.
On Saturday, Robertson’s granddaughter, Tehya Athanasopoulos, handed out cedar branches for the blessing.
“We appreciate having the Master Carver here with us who wasn’t here during the original opening,” said Nelson.
“We ask the Creator to bless this panel and the carver who carved it and Fried Diesing, the artist, and all those who walk by this to use this facility.”
He explained it was symbolic that cedar boughs were used to bless the panel.
Even though the panel is carved of California red wood, cedar is what the Tsimshian use because it means so much to their culture, and is used in everything from clothing to transportation.
“Each crest was blessed individually, as the public watched.
Robertson called it a “very touching” ceremony.
“It is even more special when you share the tradition with the general public,” said Nelson.
Politicians, hospital representatives and first nation’s leaders all provided oratorical skills in praise of the city’s refurbished hospital project and rededication of the wooden panels that greet those who arrive at the hospital.
The Hospital management and staff which has been under quite a bit of scrutiny of late over staffing issues and other health care decisions could find one night of relief from the onslaught of negative news with a bit of a positive news for a change.
With the Premier in attendance they cut the ribbon on the completed $2.4 million dollar project.
The Daily News had coverage of both events in its Monday edition,
PREMIER OPENS $2.4 MILLION HOSPITAL WING
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, July 10, 2006
Pages One and Three
It was the involvement of Prince Rupert Regional staff that will make the $2.4 million redesign of the hospital translate into better patient care, said Premier Gordon Campbell on Saturday.
Campbell, Jeff Burghardt, chair of Northern Health and Sharon Hartwell, chair of the Northwest Regional Hospital District, were among the many dignitaries who attended the ribbon cutting for the $2.4 million renovation project.
“This is a modern hospital.. there is a ceiling here, walls and a bed, but without the staff that are a part of this hospital, that provide the care and attention people need when they come to this hospital, it would just be walls and a ceiling and a empty bed,” said Campbell.
The renovation project relocated several hospital departments to the main floor. Ambulatory care and day care surgery services are now located immediately next to the hospital’s operating room. The hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) is now closer to the facility’s emergency room. The relocation provides better use of surgical time, better flow of patient activity, and improved nursing activity in day care surgery and the post-anesthetic recovery room.
Burghardt said it was truly a staff driven project.
“Staff were able to fully explain the efficiencies they could offer the public,” he said.
Melanie Basso, a nurse in emergency room and intensive care for 18 years, spoke on behalf of those who helped provide input on the project.
”It was probably about two years ago administration asked the staff to form committees… and make recommendations and they worked for many months on this. At one of our last meetings we got a letter from Jeff that said ”We got it,” she said.
While she couldn’t speak for other departments as they haven’t moved in to new space yet, she said those working in the emergency room can already see many efficiencies.
“Before this happened if you were a patient who had a heart attack and you were seriously ill, you were probably three feet from the nursing station with the curtains open, with a crying baby and people who were very ill themselves beside you, it was just not a great situation,” she said.
“Now we have an area for you if you are sick like that, we have a big nursing station and in the last couple of months we found out we are getting funding for more nurses.
“I think we are getting better care because of it.”
The government of British Columbia paid for 60 per cent of the project’s costs through capital funding to Northern Health. The North West Regional Hospital District provided the remaining 40 per cent.
Construction started in July of 2005 and took a year to complete.
HISTORIC PANEL UNVEILED AT PRRH
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Monday, July 10, 2006
Pages One and Five
A traditional ceremony using smoke and cedar boughs was held to officially mark the opening of the renovated hospital and rededicate the panel of crests that marks the entry way.
During a solemn event on Saturday, chiefs and matriarchs blessed the panel which was installed 30 years ago and moved into the new lobby area during the recent renovations.
It was carved by Harvey Robertson, using the designs of the late Frieda Diesing.
“I call this a re-education of the public, letting the people know what the panels are about instead of just walking by them every time they come here,” said Chief Clarence Nelson, who welcomed the dignitaries and public to the ceremony.
“After 30 years they forget what the panel means.”
The panel represents all four crests of the Tsimshian – Eagle (Laxsgiik) Raven (Ganhada, Killer Whale (Gispudwada) and Wolf (Laxkibu.)
“(When people enter the hospital) they realize the great spirit of the Creator is here with them, the creator who showed us the designs of the crests,” said Nelson.
The panels were installed for the hospital’s official opening 30 years ago, It was Queen Elizabeth II who attended to mark the event.
At the time of the original blessing, Robertson was out on the grounds for the fishing season, although his daughter Joan Athanasopoulos, who was five at the time, presented flowers to the Queen at the event.
On Saturday, Robertson’s granddaughter, Tehya Athanasopoulos, handed out cedar branches for the blessing.
“We appreciate having the Master Carver here with us who wasn’t here during the original opening,” said Nelson.
“We ask the Creator to bless this panel and the carver who carved it and Fried Diesing, the artist, and all those who walk by this to use this facility.”
He explained it was symbolic that cedar boughs were used to bless the panel.
Even though the panel is carved of California red wood, cedar is what the Tsimshian use because it means so much to their culture, and is used in everything from clothing to transportation.
“Each crest was blessed individually, as the public watched.
Robertson called it a “very touching” ceremony.
“It is even more special when you share the tradition with the general public,” said Nelson.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Viva Italia! (Or it's all how you use your head and keep your head!)
The month long orgy of football from Germany has come to an end. The final match provided the result of Italy returning to the stage to collect their trophy and the accolades of the soccer world for the next four years.
In a game that had its moments of great excitement, intermixed with interminable stalling, the Italians survived the regular and extra time tied at 1-1, in order to go to penalty kicks and then for good measure, not only survived but overcame the traditional graveyard of Italian football.
With successful kicks on all attempts, the Italian squad captured the World Cup for a fourth time, with a penalty kick score of 5-3. In past World Cup appearances the prospect of the penalty kick solution has sent Italian teams packing for home without the much desired trophy. Not this time as kicker after kicker, put the ball past French Goaltender Fabien Barthez.
It was a game of many emotions, featuring some fascinating play including spectacular game saving saves by the Italian goaltender Gianluigi Buffon, an Italian goal called back from an offside, a questionable penalty kick call in favour of France and an equally questionable incident against them that went unpenalized as if to even things up.
It featured your usual spate of diving incidents and occasional foul play which tend to detract from an otherwise fascinating sport. There was breakneck speed and spectacular passing and shooting exhibited to excited the fans, then followed by a form of the trap in place from Italy that would make Jacques Lemaire a happy follower of the Azzurri.
France’s magician like captain Zinedine Zidane nearly put the game away with a magnificent header that was deflected away desperately by the award winning Italian goaltender Buffon, who earned every single lira that he’s paid by Italian football.
Then there was Le Incident. In which Zidane used his head in a completely different manner, losing his temper and committing the most heinous of fouls in World Cup History, a head butt to the chest of Italian defender Marco Materazzi, late in the second half of the extra time.
It was a costly bit of self indulgence for the French superstar who not only left his team short a man at a vital point in the game, he also eliminated himself from participating in the much dreaded penalty shoot out to declare the eventual winner. Normally a solid choice to make those kicks, Zidane would not be available to possibly change the course of World Cup History.
One can only imagine what possessed the Frenchman to so selfishly put his team in a poor situation, some suspect that an on field comment from the Italian defender led to the ugly incident that quickly turned the game into a nasty bit of work, a quick google check of Materazzi will show that he’s no stranger to rough play and controversy.
The late minute’s incident will most likely overshadow the Italian victory in all quarters but those Italian, as it may well be the last thing that International football fans will recall of the French superstar who will not play internationally any more. After a remarkable tournament for the elderly statesman (well former statesman now we guess) of French football, it’s a sad end for his time on the international stage.
Frankly, as far as championship matches go this one had its chance to be one for the ages, but seemed to fall off as the game neared its conclusion of regular time, despite the drama of the extra time and penalty kicks to come for victory.
The Italian – Germany semi final of last Tuesday, was a much better example of what the game could be when played to its fullest potential. A masterful display of the sport both offensively and defensively, two teams playing the sport the way it should be played without the ugliness that crept into far too many of the matches through June.
Still for drama there is nothing like a final game, expecially one steeped in controversy as time winds down. Though the idea of penalty kicks to crown a champion somehow seems to be cheating to both fans and players alike, we understand why they do the penalty kick thing to settle things. The idea of a mind numbing ten hour match as teams pass back and forth for hours isn’t appealing. But one wonders why they don’t go to a one goal takes all format after the first ninety minutes, no two halves before penalty kicks, just get to it and play until someone scores and wins the trophy through team work and not through happenstance.
For Italy, the victory will take some of the upcoming sting out of the corruption investigation into Italian Football. An investigation that will most likely see some very high profile teams including Juventas, from which a good portion of this Italian team came from, relegated to the lower echelons of Italian football in suspension.
For the legion of fans worldwide that live and die Azzurri, Sunday was a day of great celebration. In Italian neighbourhoods across North America and worldwide, the joy quickly spread as the transplanted sons and daughters of their homeland celebrated as though in Rome
Locally fans of Italia took to the streets immediately following the match to fly their flags, honk their horns and gather at Prince Rupert’s City Hall fountain to celebrate the success of their now favourite sons. With gas registering in at 1.17 a litre in Podunk, it’s a testimony to their love of the result that they filled their tanks and drove around town for hours to celebrate Italia’s return to the top of the football pecking order.
As the final car headed for home, the sun set on another World Cup, one filled with many stories some fascinating and some probably a little frightening to those that control the game through FIFA.
The sport offers the world a chance to come together like few other sports can do, seemingly the entire planet had become attentive to all things football, cheering on a surprising Australian squad and hoping against hope that tiny Cote d’Ivoire or even smaller Trinidad and Tobago (TNT to their newfound friends) might somehow slay the soccer Gods.
The next world wide match of importance will come with the 2008 Beijing Olympics when soccer next takes to the World stage, but even that Olympic event pales in comparison to this month long festival of football that somehow manages to survive its own weight.
The football world next gathers in force in South Africa in 2010 for the next World Cup, a new crop of football players to entertain and enthrall; a new batch of stories for the world to follow.
And after today a championship for Italy to defend!
Pictures of Podunk: Get your motor running!
On a sunny day in Rupert, there's no better way to see the sights of the city than on one of the many scooters available for rent at the Atlin Terminal.Sunday, July 09, 2006
Northern Ferry traffic down 70% from last year!
The Vancouver Province had a sobering look at the economic fallout of the Sinking of the Queen of the North, with an article in Sunday’s paper that looked at the impact province wide of the tragedy.
On page A27 of the paper is a comprehensive investigation into the economic turmoil that the sinking has caused, including a shocking statistic that travel is down over 69% since this time last year on the Port Hardy-Prince Rupert run.
The findings probably won’t come as a surprise to local tourism operators, many of whom suspected the worst was yet to come when the ship went down in March.
One of the hardest hit attractions locally is the Port Edward Historical Cannery where staff hours have been slashed as the tour cancellations mount.
It’s worth a read to get a full grasp on what the tourism industry is facing not only here, but inland as well, as the loss of a major mode of transportation ripples across the province.
Maybe now, the folks in the rest of the province will realize just how important those boats really are to the economy not only of the North but in their hometowns as well!
Loss of ferry felt in many centres
INTERIOR TOURISM: RV, tour-bus circuit sees huge drop as passenger volume sinks
By Susan Lazaruk
The Province
Sunday, July 9, 2006
Page A27
The ripple effect of the March 22 sinking of the Queen of the North is still being felt in Northern B.C. -- and tourism officials and operators fear this tourist season is probably sunk, too.
The dramatic sinking of the 115-car ferry after it hit an island sailing to Port Hardy from Prince Rupert, killing two and forcing 99 crew and passengers to abandon ship, has cut ferry service in half to the northern region.
The Queen of Prince Rupert is now being used for two routes from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy and to the Queen Charlotte Islands, and statistics from Tourism B.C. show that passenger volume plunged an average of 60 per cent in April and May over the same months in 2005.
B.C. Ferries said it may have found a replacement and an announcement is expected this month. But the new ship wouldn't be available until next spring, said spokeswoman Deborah Marshall.
"We recognize that it is having an impact on communities," she said.
Virtually every community on the RV and tour-bus circuit -- which links in various combinations the Rockies, the Okanagan, northeastern B.C. and the Prince Rupert-Port Hardy ferry to or from the Island, and which is popular with Americans, Albertans, Germans and other Europeans -- is going to be affected.
"[Travel agents and visitors] build some very exciting packages, and when you take one leg out of them, absolutely there is going to be an effect. There's no question," said Deborah Kulchiski of Tourism Prince George, who said visits to her city's visitor-information centres dropped 25 per cent in May and 10 per cent in June over 2005.
Darlene Wolf, a tour guide at the Port Edward Historical Cannery in Prince Rupert, has had her 40-plus-hour week slashed to 25 hours.
"[Tour buses] were coming on the ferry and we've had a lot of cancellations," she said. "Some are still cancelling."
"It's pretty stressful," she sighed, adding that she's looking for a second job. "The money isn't there. I can cover the basics, but I don't have any extras."
Recreational tourism in the north was expected to "remain subdued" this year, according to the Credit Union Central of B.C.'s economic outlook released last week, because of the stronger loonie and higher gas prices, as well as the loss of the ferry.
"I think it's a combination, but the ferry has definitely had a huge impact on the RV park," said Yvonne Danroth, owner of the Wild Duck Motel and RV Park in Terrace, where bookings are down 22 per cent this year and 24 per cent in June over last June.
"An article in the RV magazine said RVers aren't that affected by higher gas prices because they get used to them, but you can't take that huge ferry out of the system without it having some effect," said Danroth.
At the Terrace Tourism Society, Jennifer Lewis said,"I just got a call from a tour-bus operator saying they got a cancellation because the Italians can't get on the ferries."
John Taylor of Terrace's chamber of commerce said, "It's been devastating. There's no hope of recovery for this year. The rubber-tire traffic [RVs and buses] is way down."
Taylor said it was suggested to a group of visitors planning a trip from Belgium that they take a ferry to Bella Coola, which would mean driving east to Prince George and then west to Prince Rupert and back the same route.
"They decided not to come this year," he said.
"It doesn't just affect [northern towns]. It's also car rentals, RV rentals, businesses in Calgary, restaurants, hotels all along the way," he said. "It's mind-boggling if you put a dollar amount on it."
With the one-time funding of $450,000 from the tourist ministry to offset the losses from missing the Queen of the North, B.C.'s northern tourism region hired "summer counsellors" to travel to visitor information centres on Hwy. 16 from Prince George to Prince Rupert to talk up the other towns and create marketing campaigns.
Said Lewis, "One of the positives is that everyone is going to realize that this not just Prince Rupert's ferry.
It's B.C.'s ferry, and it affects tourism in Prince George, the Okanagan, Vancouver -- and it has an impact on restaurants, accommodations, tour operators, marketing firms."
And, she said, she hoped the crisis would prepare BC Ferries in future for a similar catastrophe.
"Don't you think if it were Vancouver-Tsawwassen, they would have a backup plan?" she said.
slazaruk@png.canwest.com
NUMBERS STORY
Ferry traffic on the Port Hardy, Prince Rupert routes has dropped since the March 22 sinking of the Queen of the North, as these tourism indicators on B.C. Ferries' passenger volume from Tourism B.C. indicate:
April 2005: 2,558 passengers (up 26.1 per cent from April 2004)
April 2006: 788 passengers (down 69.2 per cent from April 2005)
May 2005: 5,201 passengers (up 9.1 per cent over May 2004)
May 2006: 2,712 passengers (down 47.9 per cent from May 2005)
Ran with fact box "Numbers Story", which has been appended to the story.
© The Vancouver Province 2006
On page A27 of the paper is a comprehensive investigation into the economic turmoil that the sinking has caused, including a shocking statistic that travel is down over 69% since this time last year on the Port Hardy-Prince Rupert run.
The findings probably won’t come as a surprise to local tourism operators, many of whom suspected the worst was yet to come when the ship went down in March.
One of the hardest hit attractions locally is the Port Edward Historical Cannery where staff hours have been slashed as the tour cancellations mount.
It’s worth a read to get a full grasp on what the tourism industry is facing not only here, but inland as well, as the loss of a major mode of transportation ripples across the province.
Maybe now, the folks in the rest of the province will realize just how important those boats really are to the economy not only of the North but in their hometowns as well!
Loss of ferry felt in many centres
INTERIOR TOURISM: RV, tour-bus circuit sees huge drop as passenger volume sinks
By Susan Lazaruk
The Province
Sunday, July 9, 2006
Page A27
The ripple effect of the March 22 sinking of the Queen of the North is still being felt in Northern B.C. -- and tourism officials and operators fear this tourist season is probably sunk, too.
The dramatic sinking of the 115-car ferry after it hit an island sailing to Port Hardy from Prince Rupert, killing two and forcing 99 crew and passengers to abandon ship, has cut ferry service in half to the northern region.
The Queen of Prince Rupert is now being used for two routes from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy and to the Queen Charlotte Islands, and statistics from Tourism B.C. show that passenger volume plunged an average of 60 per cent in April and May over the same months in 2005.
B.C. Ferries said it may have found a replacement and an announcement is expected this month. But the new ship wouldn't be available until next spring, said spokeswoman Deborah Marshall.
"We recognize that it is having an impact on communities," she said.
Virtually every community on the RV and tour-bus circuit -- which links in various combinations the Rockies, the Okanagan, northeastern B.C. and the Prince Rupert-Port Hardy ferry to or from the Island, and which is popular with Americans, Albertans, Germans and other Europeans -- is going to be affected.
"[Travel agents and visitors] build some very exciting packages, and when you take one leg out of them, absolutely there is going to be an effect. There's no question," said Deborah Kulchiski of Tourism Prince George, who said visits to her city's visitor-information centres dropped 25 per cent in May and 10 per cent in June over 2005.
Darlene Wolf, a tour guide at the Port Edward Historical Cannery in Prince Rupert, has had her 40-plus-hour week slashed to 25 hours.
"[Tour buses] were coming on the ferry and we've had a lot of cancellations," she said. "Some are still cancelling."
"It's pretty stressful," she sighed, adding that she's looking for a second job. "The money isn't there. I can cover the basics, but I don't have any extras."
Recreational tourism in the north was expected to "remain subdued" this year, according to the Credit Union Central of B.C.'s economic outlook released last week, because of the stronger loonie and higher gas prices, as well as the loss of the ferry.
"I think it's a combination, but the ferry has definitely had a huge impact on the RV park," said Yvonne Danroth, owner of the Wild Duck Motel and RV Park in Terrace, where bookings are down 22 per cent this year and 24 per cent in June over last June.
"An article in the RV magazine said RVers aren't that affected by higher gas prices because they get used to them, but you can't take that huge ferry out of the system without it having some effect," said Danroth.
At the Terrace Tourism Society, Jennifer Lewis said,"I just got a call from a tour-bus operator saying they got a cancellation because the Italians can't get on the ferries."
John Taylor of Terrace's chamber of commerce said, "It's been devastating. There's no hope of recovery for this year. The rubber-tire traffic [RVs and buses] is way down."
Taylor said it was suggested to a group of visitors planning a trip from Belgium that they take a ferry to Bella Coola, which would mean driving east to Prince George and then west to Prince Rupert and back the same route.
"They decided not to come this year," he said.
"It doesn't just affect [northern towns]. It's also car rentals, RV rentals, businesses in Calgary, restaurants, hotels all along the way," he said. "It's mind-boggling if you put a dollar amount on it."
With the one-time funding of $450,000 from the tourist ministry to offset the losses from missing the Queen of the North, B.C.'s northern tourism region hired "summer counsellors" to travel to visitor information centres on Hwy. 16 from Prince George to Prince Rupert to talk up the other towns and create marketing campaigns.
Said Lewis, "One of the positives is that everyone is going to realize that this not just Prince Rupert's ferry.
It's B.C.'s ferry, and it affects tourism in Prince George, the Okanagan, Vancouver -- and it has an impact on restaurants, accommodations, tour operators, marketing firms."
And, she said, she hoped the crisis would prepare BC Ferries in future for a similar catastrophe.
"Don't you think if it were Vancouver-Tsawwassen, they would have a backup plan?" she said.
slazaruk@png.canwest.com
NUMBERS STORY
Ferry traffic on the Port Hardy, Prince Rupert routes has dropped since the March 22 sinking of the Queen of the North, as these tourism indicators on B.C. Ferries' passenger volume from Tourism B.C. indicate:
April 2005: 2,558 passengers (up 26.1 per cent from April 2004)
April 2006: 788 passengers (down 69.2 per cent from April 2005)
May 2005: 5,201 passengers (up 9.1 per cent over May 2004)
May 2006: 2,712 passengers (down 47.9 per cent from May 2005)
Ran with fact box "Numbers Story", which has been appended to the story.
© The Vancouver Province 2006
The Williams experiment, slow to fruition!
The Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons takes a look at the Argonaut's use of Ricky Williams after four weeks of regular season play. Despite the high profile of the NFL star, the returns on investment so far haven't been too great.
While it no doubt takes time to learn the intricacies of the CFL game, the yardage totals and turnstile turns aren't rolling upwards as first hoped. Check out the story below.
Ricky Williams a good idea gone bad
By Steve Simmons
Canoe
Sunday, July 9, 2006
What seemed like such a good idea at the time -- the one-year Ricky Williams experiment -- is turning out to be an expensive disaster for the Argonauts.
Wins are down. Attendance is down. Whatever early fascination there was seems lost. And attempting to over-involve Williams in the Argos offence only has bogged down a team that was beaten again yesterday, 24-17, by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of all people.
It isn't necessarily Williams fault, but on a wide field and playing a different game, the Bombers' Charles Roberts looks the part of a Pro Bowl running back while Williams can't even seem to pull off what Canadian Jeff Johnson managed a year ago.
Yesterday, Williams' numbers were dismal. Nine carries for six yards running behind a rather inept offensive line. One run mattered. One play excited people. And that was it. (Johnson had 12 yards on two carries).
If the reason to come out and watch the Argos was Ricky Williams, it now is not much of a reason. Quickly, the Argos' season is going up in smoke, and after four games and just one win, that's just a bad one-liner.
The above posting first appeared on my Twelve Men on the Field blog, for more items about Canadian football check it out!
While it no doubt takes time to learn the intricacies of the CFL game, the yardage totals and turnstile turns aren't rolling upwards as first hoped. Check out the story below.
Ricky Williams a good idea gone bad
By Steve Simmons
Canoe
Sunday, July 9, 2006
What seemed like such a good idea at the time -- the one-year Ricky Williams experiment -- is turning out to be an expensive disaster for the Argonauts.
Wins are down. Attendance is down. Whatever early fascination there was seems lost. And attempting to over-involve Williams in the Argos offence only has bogged down a team that was beaten again yesterday, 24-17, by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of all people.
It isn't necessarily Williams fault, but on a wide field and playing a different game, the Bombers' Charles Roberts looks the part of a Pro Bowl running back while Williams can't even seem to pull off what Canadian Jeff Johnson managed a year ago.
Yesterday, Williams' numbers were dismal. Nine carries for six yards running behind a rather inept offensive line. One run mattered. One play excited people. And that was it. (Johnson had 12 yards on two carries).
If the reason to come out and watch the Argos was Ricky Williams, it now is not much of a reason. Quickly, the Argos' season is going up in smoke, and after four games and just one win, that's just a bad one-liner.
The above posting first appeared on my Twelve Men on the Field blog, for more items about Canadian football check it out!
Man U gets a new owner?
With the World Cup coming to an end, everyone is suddenly in love with the Beautiful game. And when we say everyone, we mean everyone!
Wayne Rooney gets a new owner and Man U prepares to relocate!
Transportation Board prepares to write report on the sinking of the Queen of the North
Next week the team involved in the investigation into the sinking of the Queen of the North will begin its report phase of the investigation. Having interviewed the crew, utilized a submersible for further investigation and examined the procedures in place at B C Ferries, all in a bid to put together a comprehensive report on the tragedy.
The reports normally take over a year to reach their conclusions and recommendations, but the Team members are hoping to expedite that process as much as they can. They hope to have a first draft ready by September, with further refinements to follow with board reviews and editing. However, they are striving to provide a report for the public ahead of schedule.
The Times-Colonist of Victoria has the full details on the story below.
It's full-speed ahead for sunken ferry report
Investigators to 'break mould' and start writing this week
Cindy E. Harnett, CanWest News Service
Published: Sunday, July 09, 2006
Transportation Safety Board investigators probing Queen of the North's spectacular sinking are hoping to issue their highly anticipated report ahead of schedule. They plan to start writing it on Monday.
"That's the plan to expedite it," safety board lead investigator Capt. Raymond Mathew said. He hopes to complete the first draft of the report by September, with board reviews and editing to follow.
"We just want to set a precedent here and get on with it," Mathew said.
Queen of the North, travelling from Prince Repeat to Port Hardy, rammed into Gill Island and sank about 75 minutes later on March 22. The vessel now rests 400 metres below, on the ocean floor. There were 101 people on board the passenger ferry, 42 of them crew. Two passengers disappeared and are presumed to have died.
Some of the safety board's previous reports have been written within six months. They don't assign blame, instead pointing out safety lessons to be learned. But the majority take at least a year, if not much longer, to be produced.
Queen of the North investigators want to "break that mould," Mathew said.
This weekend, the Vancouver-based team is returning from a week of meetings in Ottawa where it shared and reviewed its findings.
Mathew said the board's 90-day report to Ottawa officials was delayed by a "worthy" decision to hire an unmanned submersible vehicle to extract the electronic chart system's hard drive from Queen of the North, as well as taking photographs and video illustrating the ferry's bridge controls and the direction of the two steering switches in the wheelhouse.
"It was a successful dive, that's all I can say," Mathew said.
Members of the Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility operating Ropos, the submersible, also retrieved the ferry's global positioning system and the automatic identification system, a computer chip that records course, speed, longitude and latitude.
Investigators could have written a sound report without the dive, Mathew said, but having more information has proved valuable.
Examination of the equipment is just one part of the investigation, Mathew said.
"There are other issues we are looking at -- training and familiarization and how things are set up. There are all kinds of different things we look at as a whole."
Bridge resource management is also a focus, he said.
There were two crew members on the bridge at the time it hit Gil Island -- a junior officer, a man in his 50s with more than 10 years experience, and a helmswoman, in her 40s, also with considerable experience.
A helmsperson takes direction from one of the bridge officers. On the night of the crash, Queen of the North's senior officer was at dinner and the captain was sleeping.
Shaken and traumatized, crew were interviewed hours after the sinking by Transportation Safety Board investigators in Prince Rupert. All of the testimony is confidential and is not shared with the RCMP or any other investigating body.
For days, the crew explained in detail what they knew of the events leading up to the accident. Two crew members, one of whom was on the bridge at the time of the crash, have refused to take part in B.C. Ferries' internal investigation.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006
The reports normally take over a year to reach their conclusions and recommendations, but the Team members are hoping to expedite that process as much as they can. They hope to have a first draft ready by September, with further refinements to follow with board reviews and editing. However, they are striving to provide a report for the public ahead of schedule.
The Times-Colonist of Victoria has the full details on the story below.
It's full-speed ahead for sunken ferry report
Investigators to 'break mould' and start writing this week
Cindy E. Harnett, CanWest News Service
Published: Sunday, July 09, 2006
Transportation Safety Board investigators probing Queen of the North's spectacular sinking are hoping to issue their highly anticipated report ahead of schedule. They plan to start writing it on Monday.
"That's the plan to expedite it," safety board lead investigator Capt. Raymond Mathew said. He hopes to complete the first draft of the report by September, with board reviews and editing to follow.
"We just want to set a precedent here and get on with it," Mathew said.
Queen of the North, travelling from Prince Repeat to Port Hardy, rammed into Gill Island and sank about 75 minutes later on March 22. The vessel now rests 400 metres below, on the ocean floor. There were 101 people on board the passenger ferry, 42 of them crew. Two passengers disappeared and are presumed to have died.
Some of the safety board's previous reports have been written within six months. They don't assign blame, instead pointing out safety lessons to be learned. But the majority take at least a year, if not much longer, to be produced.
Queen of the North investigators want to "break that mould," Mathew said.
This weekend, the Vancouver-based team is returning from a week of meetings in Ottawa where it shared and reviewed its findings.
Mathew said the board's 90-day report to Ottawa officials was delayed by a "worthy" decision to hire an unmanned submersible vehicle to extract the electronic chart system's hard drive from Queen of the North, as well as taking photographs and video illustrating the ferry's bridge controls and the direction of the two steering switches in the wheelhouse.
"It was a successful dive, that's all I can say," Mathew said.
Members of the Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility operating Ropos, the submersible, also retrieved the ferry's global positioning system and the automatic identification system, a computer chip that records course, speed, longitude and latitude.
Investigators could have written a sound report without the dive, Mathew said, but having more information has proved valuable.
Examination of the equipment is just one part of the investigation, Mathew said.
"There are other issues we are looking at -- training and familiarization and how things are set up. There are all kinds of different things we look at as a whole."
Bridge resource management is also a focus, he said.
There were two crew members on the bridge at the time it hit Gil Island -- a junior officer, a man in his 50s with more than 10 years experience, and a helmswoman, in her 40s, also with considerable experience.
A helmsperson takes direction from one of the bridge officers. On the night of the crash, Queen of the North's senior officer was at dinner and the captain was sleeping.
Shaken and traumatized, crew were interviewed hours after the sinking by Transportation Safety Board investigators in Prince Rupert. All of the testimony is confidential and is not shared with the RCMP or any other investigating body.
For days, the crew explained in detail what they knew of the events leading up to the accident. Two crew members, one of whom was on the bridge at the time of the crash, have refused to take part in B.C. Ferries' internal investigation.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006
Container Port Buildings on the design table
The further development of the Fairview container port continues, as we mentioned earlier in the week the latest contract for port development was issued when Ledcor Design Build was awarded the contract for the administration and maintenance buildings on the site.
This brings the total amount tendered in contracts thus far to 90 million dollars, just 20 million dollars short of the total allotted monies for development.
The Daily News had the details on what the buildings will contain and when they should be completed.
PORT ISSUES $7 MILLION BUILDINGS CONTRACT
The Daily News
Friday July 7, 2006
Page One
The Prince Rupert Port Authority has awarded on of the final contracts for the construction of the Fairview container terminal.
The $7.5 million contract to build the administration and maintenance buildings at the site have been awarded to Ledcor Design-Build (B. C.) Inc., part of the Vancouver –based Group of Companies.
“Ledcor has the reputation of being a highly skilled and experienced building contractor with an established history of construction excellence,” said Don Krusel, Port Authority president and CEO. “We are looking forward to their contribution to the container project that will establish the Prince Rupert Port as one of North America’s globally recognized major gateways for container trade.”
The two-storey administration building will house the terminal operators’ communications, administration and logistics center. The specialized maintenance building will include a workshop, spare parts storeroom, repair and steam cleaning bays for maintaining a large fleet of vehicles and cranes. The facility will also include a longshoreman change room and restroom facilities, and a gear storage room.
The design and construction of the administration and maintenance buildings is expected to be completed in June 2007.
So far, the port has awarded $90 million of the $110 million in contracts available for Phase 1 of the container terminal project.
This includes a $41.4 million civil and electrical construction contract to a BA Blacktop/Pennecon Ltd: a $32 million contract to Fraser River Pile and Dredge/Western Industrial Contractors for a wharf extension; and $3.5 million contract to Babco Electric Group Inc. to upgrade the power supply...
This brings the total amount tendered in contracts thus far to 90 million dollars, just 20 million dollars short of the total allotted monies for development.
The Daily News had the details on what the buildings will contain and when they should be completed.
PORT ISSUES $7 MILLION BUILDINGS CONTRACT
The Daily News
Friday July 7, 2006
Page One
The Prince Rupert Port Authority has awarded on of the final contracts for the construction of the Fairview container terminal.
The $7.5 million contract to build the administration and maintenance buildings at the site have been awarded to Ledcor Design-Build (B. C.) Inc., part of the Vancouver –based Group of Companies.
“Ledcor has the reputation of being a highly skilled and experienced building contractor with an established history of construction excellence,” said Don Krusel, Port Authority president and CEO. “We are looking forward to their contribution to the container project that will establish the Prince Rupert Port as one of North America’s globally recognized major gateways for container trade.”
The two-storey administration building will house the terminal operators’ communications, administration and logistics center. The specialized maintenance building will include a workshop, spare parts storeroom, repair and steam cleaning bays for maintaining a large fleet of vehicles and cranes. The facility will also include a longshoreman change room and restroom facilities, and a gear storage room.
The design and construction of the administration and maintenance buildings is expected to be completed in June 2007.
So far, the port has awarded $90 million of the $110 million in contracts available for Phase 1 of the container terminal project.
This includes a $41.4 million civil and electrical construction contract to a BA Blacktop/Pennecon Ltd: a $32 million contract to Fraser River Pile and Dredge/Western Industrial Contractors for a wharf extension; and $3.5 million contract to Babco Electric Group Inc. to upgrade the power supply...
Keep your eye on the skies and your hand on your iPod
Another warning for iPod users to make note of, if the sky suddenly clouds over and the lightning bolts start to flash, it’s time to take off your iPod ear buds.
A Colorado teenager was mowing the lawn when out of the blue, a bolt of lightning struck using the iPod ear buds as a conduit and sent charges of electricity coursing through the unfortunate teens body.
The teen was transported to a Denver area hospital, suffering from burns, a ruptured ear drum and a number of scars.
The incident comes on the heels of a report from the British Medical Journal that exposed the dangers of cell phone and iPod usage during electrical storms. The British Study keyed in on a London teenager who was hit while using her cell phone in a London park.
It sure gives a whole new meaning to the AC/DC tune thunderstruck!
A Colorado teenager was mowing the lawn when out of the blue, a bolt of lightning struck using the iPod ear buds as a conduit and sent charges of electricity coursing through the unfortunate teens body.
The teen was transported to a Denver area hospital, suffering from burns, a ruptured ear drum and a number of scars.
The incident comes on the heels of a report from the British Medical Journal that exposed the dangers of cell phone and iPod usage during electrical storms. The British Study keyed in on a London teenager who was hit while using her cell phone in a London park.
It sure gives a whole new meaning to the AC/DC tune thunderstruck!
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