Industry and Trades

AND

Industry TRADES

Too many

PG GREEN TREES 24 BEING CUT,

rEPort fInds

SEEDLING NURSERY

PG 04

Back aND BIGGER thaN EvER

MIxEd rEsults sEEn bEtwEEn

PG 28

FIRSt NatIONS, MINING INtEREStS

MONEY FLOWING

towards downtown IMProVEMEnt

PG 09

April 2014

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INDUSTRY AND TRADES

Table of COntents Page 4 If the Lorax had a home in Prince George….............................................................. Page 6 Money flowing towards downtown improvement.................................................. Page 9 Centennial of rail’s arrival marked............................................................................. Page 12 Bioenergy Conference speakers set.......................................................................... Page 14 Pipeline plan lands support........................................................................................ Page 16 Headhunter links employers with recruits..............................................................Page 20 Timber tenure changes considered..........................................................................Page 22 Too many green trees being cut, report finds........................................................ Page 24 Coastal Gaslink/Shell open public consultation on LNG plans...........................Page 26 Mixed results seen between First Nations, mining interests............................... Page 28 THE PRINCE GEORGE Arcand ‘got ‘er done’ with forest safety................................................................... Page 32 CITIZEN Heli-skiing...................................................................................................................... Page 34 THE The Northern turns 95.................................................................................................

Page 36 PRINCE GEORGE Wooden coins................................................................................................................ Page 38 CITIZEN Seedling Nursery Back and Bigger than Ever.............................................................

THE

PRINCE GEORGE

CITIZEN

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April 2014

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Seedling nursery back and

bigger than ever Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

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INDUSTRY AND TRADES

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A little more than a year after the collapse of the JD Little Forest Centre’s cooler building, and the seedling nursery is looking to break production records.

Last year was a banner year for the facility, despite the cave-in of the roof of their main reefer building. The weight of the snow did that damage on March 15, 2013 but due to the subzero weather at the time, almost all the chilling seedlings survived. According to nursery superintendent Larry Clark and managing grower Richart Cran, that meant a lot to the rebuild considerations.

“Last year we had better numbers than we could find in the records dating back to at least 2000 for most seedlings grown,” said Clark. “That’s what we want to see, and that is why there was confidence from the company when they had to consider investing in a rebuild.”

The totals last year got close to 9 million seedlings available for Canfor and its partner forestry companies to replant - thousands more than the preseason orders. If it was a math test, the J.D. Little crew scored 109

per cent, overall.

All overruns are used up with gusto, so having more than estimated is not a problem. Having fewer than estimated is a big problem.

The previous storage space would allow for 15 million trees but this one now has capacity for 21 million.

“One year there was a hail storm that damaged the greenhouses and we lost half the crop,” said Cran. “The operational systems we have are solid, so the only real danger is a major environmental event, but those do happen.”

Several years ago, another major snow load caused the collapse of one of the greenhouses. That, too, is being replaced this year,

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

New seedlings planted in the Canfor J.D. Little Forest Centre

April 2014

which will put another 350,000 seedlings into their capacity. Canfor also invested in building a separate building for thawing the trees out prior to the annual treeplanting blitz, which frees up work space inside the main facility. All this is due to the bottom line performance met by this operation each year, Clark said.

“It is a total investment of about $2 million in the rebuild,” said Clark. A big part of that total went into the supplies, services and labour from local construction companies, especially the BID Group of Companies that has been a longtime Canfor partner.

Some of that investment confidence was subtle, but important to the daily business of the nursery. New mechanized docking lifts for loading trucks with trees takes away time spent by two people to manually do that job, and a job with a lot of physical concerns.

No those people are available to do other jobs that don’t have the bodily stress inherent with that duty.

A new forklift was needed that reached higher than the previous one, and the new one is a skid-steer machine, more maneuverable (adding safety and efficiency) than the former tractor-style machine.

The reason the forklift needed a higher

5 touches on the centrepiece of the rebuild.

“We built it on the same foundation, but it is a higher, so it has more capacity,” Clark said. “The previous storage space would allow for 15 million trees but this one now has capacity for 21 million. That allows Canfor to store all of our trees but also a significant amount of the trees we bring in from other nurseries that will be planted in our region.”

The previous cooler was about 30 years old. Engineering codes at the time required a warehouse roof of that nature to support 50 pounds per square inch of foreign materials (snow, ice, etc.) whereas modern codes require 70 pounds per square inch.

“There was no rot in the trusses, one of them just broke with the weight of the snow and ice, and when that one let go it caused a cascading effect,” Clark said.

He is confident the new facility has the muscle to handle foreseeable winters.

Modern insulation techniques also allowed Canfor to install better wall materials for tree health and energy efficiency.

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April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

6

If the Lorax had a home

IN Prince George...

Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

The new coolers at Canfor J.D. Little Forest Centre. They replace ones that were crushed by snow load

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INDUSTRY AND TRADES germination rates.”

Growing “We are bound by legislation to use a better tree has been the A-grade seed if it is available,” said nursery main marching order for the J.D. Little Forest superintendent Larry Clark. “It averages 20 Centre since it first opened in 1982, with to 22 per cent better growth, so it is a good an introductory capacity to grow 5 million idea to do that, and it is always going to seedlings a year. move the tree quality and forest quality forThe facility first included the office com- ward over time.” plex, work space for things like thawing and That work is done in a quiet copse of (ironboxing the trees, and interconnected set of ically) aspen trees not far from a few farmer’s glass greenhouses. It cost about $4.8 million fields in the Fraser River flats about 12 kiloat the time, and the crops included spruce, metres north of the city. The twin towers of pine, and other evergreens native to the Northwood Pulp Mill, another Canfor busiCentral Interior region. ness, juts above the treeline and it provides In 1987 the nursery was expanded by a constant bass hum to the otherwise quiet adding a set of poly greenhouses. This cost grounds. The clickety-clack of CN trains roll about $720,000 at the time and beefed by within an easy golf shot of the nursery’s up production to theoretically 12 million campus. seedlings per year. In reality, the amounts It’s a pastoral setting for large-scale indusfluctuate between 8.5 and 9 million, and try. Despite the green thumb spirit inside the centre now specialthe J.D. Little fence, it is an izes exclusively in white epic agri-forestry operaspruce. tion. When you focus only According to managWe use A-class on the eentsy-weetzy ing grower Richart Cran, green sprouts popping seed that comes “we could grow a really out of each dirt cup, you from the province’s great pine tree here, but can still revel in the garit doesn’t make finanseed centre, which dening simplicity of what cial sense to do that. It the crews are doing there, works with the seed would cost us about 16 but cast your eyes to the orchard in Vernon. cents per tree to grow a back of each greenhouse, pine, and they grow at and stride down the hall10 cents per tree in other way from greenhouse places in B.C. but we can to greenhouse, on your do a great job of white spruce.” left and right, and the Herculean scale of it The aggregate cost is about 15 cents per becomes unmistakable. white spruce tree, when all planting and There are 10 greenhouses made of glass, cooling costs are factored in. The operating 11 made of poly (a 12th was destroyed by budget of the nursery is about $1.4 million snow several years ago and will be rebuilt annually. this year). All are filled to capacity with styroCanfor plants about 53 million seedlings foam boxes laid side by side in a solid mass each year for its B.C. silviculture require- except for walkways. Each box is a gridwork ments. Most are grown by their own nursery of holes in which a single tree grows. One operations like J.D. Little, but many are also kind of styro-box has 180 tree cavities, the purchased from private tree nurseries that other kind has 144 cavities, and each greentake orders from Canfor and other forest house holds thousands of these boxes. companies.

Joan Bain, the nursery co-ordinator and a Regardless of where the trees are grown 30-year veteran of the facility, says they have at these provincial facilities, they come from to always consider the individual seedling in seeds selected out in the forest that are kept all their plans and activities. together for replanting purposes back in “We over-sew by 20 per cent. We plant their region of origin. Because the seeds are more seeds than we need to ensure we get sourced from the trees that performed best seedling growth in each and every cavity,” in those regional ecosystems, the forests of said Bain. “When they sprout, a team of peothe future will be evolved for best natural ple goes through and thins them all to one traits. tree per cavity. We have a crew of 21 people “We use A-class seed that comes from the doing that work now, and it will take about province’s seed centre, which works with six weeks. Just on this side of this [glass] the seed orchard in Vernon, and Canfor is greenhouse, we have 600,000 cavities.” part owner of that facility,” said Cran. “With A-class seed you get 90 to 95 per cent Story continued on page 8

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April 2014

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April 2014

8 Story continued from page 7 The seeds were sewn on March 17. Eight days later, they had germinated. By July 1 it is anticipated each seedling will be 18 to 20 cms tall.

“That is three years worth of growth in less than four months,” said Cran.

Each one of those seedlings is cross-referenced by hand for year-over-year germination data, so successes and failures can be tracked and that information used.

The nursery is quiet two months of the year - the summer months. It is busy at seeding time, busy at thinning time, but busiest at “lift” time in fall when the seedlings are popped free from their styro-box cavities, bundled up, boxed, and put into the deepfreeze cooler building that mimics the Canadian winter until they are hauled away in spring for distribution to the treeplanter army waiting out on the logging blocks.

During lift season, two shifts of about 30 people each do the heavy work.

The reason so much growth can occur in one seedling is a series of environmental

tricks the nursery staff knows how to play on the plants. By carefully controlling the temperature, moisture, air movement, fertilizer and light - including nearly freezing them alive inside their boxes stacked in the reefer building until ready for the bush - the seedlings’ internal workings behave like they are years old when they are only months old in actual time. How many of these sprouts got their start at the J.D. Little Forest Centre before finding a home in the forest? More than 200 million since it first opened. It makes the J.D. Little Forest Centre one of the most important cogs in the wheel of the B.C. forest industry, and the staff know it.

“There’s something special about growing things for a living,” said Clark. “That’s why people really care about the place and how it performs, like Joan and Sandy Hoover who have both been here more than 30 yeas each. That is why we do production numbers that justify all this investment by Canfor. The greenhouses and these other buildings are just big tools. It takes people who know how to use the tools to really make a place like this do what it’s supposed to do.”

What they do is grow with their bare hands the jobs, communities, entire economies of tomorrow, today.

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

Millions of seedlings in the cooler ready for the spring plant

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April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

9

Money flowing towards

downtown improvement Frank Peebles Citizen Staff | Story on page 10

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

New RCMP city detachment on Victoria Street. One of many new projects helping to revitalize downtown.

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April 2014

10 Mention downtown revitalization 10 years ago and the reaction was the beating of heads against the theoretical brick wall. Now the mention of the city’s downtown comes with the sound of hammers and cement mixers pounding new investment into the core real, not imagined.

“We are seeing in excess of $40 million in construction that has just recently happened, is happening, or about to happen,” said City of Prince George director of planning and development Ian Wells. “And that does not include the millions that went into the Wood Innovation and Design Centre which is a B.C. government project so it doesn’t have municipal tax inputs the way private developments do. So yes, it is clearly the case that downtown Prince George is moving ahead.”

The under the same government heading is the new RCMP building, although its construction, too, pumped millions into the local construction sector and the downtown service industry during its building period, and it stands as a visual monument to improving downtown architecture.

The highlight construction projects some already finished, some in the process - make a long list on a short calendar.

• About $3 million was spent to rebuilt The Keg, and new owners just purchased the place as an extra vote of confidence.

• About $7 million was put into renovations to the Ramada Hotel.

• The Coast Hotel also put in renovations with more on the drawing board.

• The Quebec Street health centre and housing complex was built.

• The Delta Hotel project got going and is on pause now only to prepare for construction on the adjacent property the developers intend to connect to the one already underway.

• The same developers just facilitated Wholesale Sports doing a major renovation at Redwood Square as they moved in, which is not technically in the downtown but is close enough to affect the economic climate of that area.

• The same vicinity effect can be applied at the other end of the downtown’s periphery where Sinclar Group

INDUSTRY AND TRADES is rebuilding the sawmill at their Lakeland Mills site.

• Next door to Lakeland, CN Rail invested heavily in the past few years in their inland container facility.

• The Days Inn is about to convert, with much renovation, into a Holiday Inn Express location.

• BID Group purchased and significantly renovated the 5th Avenue Post Office building.

• There is a condominium project slated for 7th Avenue.

• All West Glass is working on a building on 11th Avenue and Victoria Street.

• There is an office complex about to be erected on the parking lot at 5th and Quebec.

“I have grown up here in Prince George, and there were always calls to revitalize downtown, and times when there was some talk that it was about to happen, but now you can actually see it happening. This time it is actually true,” said City of Prince George spokesman Mike Kellett.

Is it a sign of happier economic times nationally? Perhaps in part, but the prepara-

tions by private developers were underway long before the global financial cookie was finished crumbling. So the reasons were more localized.

Officials at City Hall said they saw the flow of development turn back towards downtown when a couple if key initiatives were introduced. One was city council’s decision to go ahead with a tax exemption for revitalization projects, and when Northern Development Initiative Trust introduced their community revitalization plan, in partnership with the City.

“It’s a new approach for the development community to capitalize on tax exemptions,” said Wendy Nordin, the City’s manager of policy initiatives. “A developer can have access to the equivalent of the full tax exemption at the front end of their project, payable when the project is finished. This idea came straight from developers themselves. We are acting on the advice we got from the development community.”

The sharp-pencilled taxpayer may complain that there is a taxation income cost to this, and Nordin agreed that there was a kind

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INDUSTRY AND TRADES of free pass for those developers on one hand, but “the idea being that those kinds of development spur other kinds of commercial and residential activity. We lose the one value but this is offset by increased economic activity in the downtown core. In addition, the assessed values of the properties in the area have increased.”

NDIT’s part in the equation has different features depending on the kind of development proposal. It could be a cash contribution towards qualifying residential projects or early revitalization tax exemptions on commercial projects. It has been so successful that, said Wells, the Trust is now offering a similar program in other northern municipalities.

The focus is on the downtown, said the City officials, because the public has made it abundantly clear through a number of communication methods and consultation sessions that no sector of Prince George is more economically important than the urban core.

The rest of the city depends, one way or another, on having a healthy and desirable, active and energetic downtown.

“Developers will approach us with different ideas for things they want to do in Prince George, some from within Prince George and some thinking of coming here for the first time, and we definitely work with them to realize their ideas, but our first efforts are to encourage them to do it downtown,” said Wells. “We explain how the tax exemption works, we help them with the application, we help them through all the permitting they might need, and we point out all the other programs that might help them with their needs.

We are mandated by city council, based on what the public input has clearly said, to do everything we can to fast-track projects that choose to be in the downtown.”

The exiting thing from his chair, he said, is seeing it actually working.

“There is no disputing what has already been built, and what has been

April 2014

applied for,” he said. “We have that activity going on we have been hoping for. We are seeing new investment come in, and we are seeing reinvestment in buildings by existing owners. I would say yes it is, without doubt, spurring more economic activity.”

He and Nordin listed some early highlights for those who are not doing major construction projects but are adding value to the downtown by upgrading their locations: Integris Credit Union, EDI Environmental Dynamics, Ohh Chocolat, PG Sewing Centre, the launching of all-local grocery store Home Sweet Home, and others. These sorts of projects can also tap into funds available through another partner in the revamping of the region, the Downtown Prince George Business Improvement Association which has a façade improvement program available.

All these initiatives – from City Hall to NDIT to the DBIA – are conspiring to wave that magic wand over downtown that so many people have wished for over the years. It turns out the magic wand looked more like a hammer.

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Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

Steve Fidler, National Training Manager for Keg Resturants takes some time out from Training staff to clear some snow from the renovated Keg on George Street.

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April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

12

Centennial of rail’s arrival

marked

The clank-clank-clank of railway toil can still be heard echoing 100 years down the tracks of time.

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was being beaten into place, iron inch by iron inch, until the hammers fell forever silent on April 7, 1914 replaced by the rumble of locomotives, cargo cars, passenger liners and dreams only now coming to fruition.

“The arrival of the GTP signaled a crucial moment for the opening up and subsequent development of the northern interior,” said UNBC history professor Jonathan Swainger. “Not only did it provide a vital link to outside markets, it established a string of nonnative settlements that, in many ways determined the future population profile for the region. Although the railway may not have fulfilled all the hopeful expectations of its champions, there is little doubt that it opened a new era of economic development and expansion that profoundly shaped northern British Columbia and its resource extractive identity until well after the Second World War.” The GTP rail link to the Port of

Prince Rupert was an economic complex envisioned most dearly by industrial mogul Charles Melville Hays. He was president of the GTP and well connected to the steamship industry as well. He was a celebrated western figure in Japan, already laying the foundations of the Pacific Rim trade activity we see today. Hays’s predictions for the Port of Prince Rupert, the transportation connections to it, and Asian markets were 10 decades in coming, but are coming now to the points he calculated.

He died prematurely, one of the victims of the Titanic sinking, before these business plans could be realized. That anniversary date, too, is coming soon: April 15. He missed the last spike by one year and 51 weeks.

Someone who didn’t miss the GTP Last Spike ceremonies was expert surveyor and amateur photographer Parker Bonney. He died in 1977 and his collection of 600 photographs ended up in the UNBC archives where, it was discovered, he had a shot from that fateful day at Fort Fraser when Canada completed its second

transcontinental railroad.

“We acquired the Parker Bonney collection several years ago because it contains images of so many different parts of northern B.C.,” said UNBC’s head archivist Ramona Rose. “An appraisal of the collection determined that this particular shot of the driving of the last spike for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad was ‘undoubtedly rare’ and captured by ‘an accomplished amateur photographer,’ and we’re pleased to have images such as this in an archives dedicated to the preservation of northern BC’s history.”

For more information on the centennial of the GTP, visit the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum, which will open a special exhibition on April 23 commemorating the anniversary. Other elements of this 100-year benchmark will take place throughout the museum’s 2014 calendar, especially June 27 to July 1 when Canada Day events will dovetail into the historic occasion, including concerts, lectures and more.

Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

Above photo courtesy of UNBC files

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April 2014

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April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

14

Bioenergy conference speakers set Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

Plans are smoldering for the next edition of the International Bioenergy Conference.

Held in Prince George every two years, the conference brings together heavyweights in the burgeoning industry. Some of the featured speakers were unveiled this week for the June event.

Chris Turner is the author of the international bestseller Planet Simpson, in which he comments on modern popular culture.

He also penned the acclaimed Geography of Hope: A Guided Tour of the World We Need, followed by The Leap: How to Survive and Thrive in the Sustainable Economy, and this past year he released The War on Science.

Through these books he has become a luminary on the topic of living within our means at a household and cultural level.

“He’s sure to inspire with his revolutionary but optimistic thoughts on what it will take to shift society’s thinking about renewable

sources of energy such as biomass, and how we can survive and thrive in the sustainable economy,” said event manager Cam McAlpine.

Also on the keynote agenda is a nationally recognized journalist well known for his broadcasting appearances and his prolific newspaper writing. Jeffrey Simpson was inducted into the Order of

Canada for his books and articles detailing Canadian policy and cultural conditions. One of his recent books is Hot Air: Meeting Canada’s Climate Change Challenge.

“As a leading thinker and analyst on politics, policy and economics, Jeffrey brings an insider’s look at the key policy drivers that will be required to bring Canada’s renewable energy sector to the forefront of sustainability,” McAlpine said.

Also featured are well-known industry insiders such as Bill Strauss, the winner of the

International Excellence in Bioenergy award in 2012, Seth Walker of RISI, who will provide a view of the industry from 30,000 feet, Joseph Seymour from the U.S.-based Biomass Thermal Energy Council and Gordon Murray of the Wood Pellet Association of Canada.

Additional featured speakers include: • Ken Shields – chairman of the board, Canadian Bioenergy Association • Deborah Elson – vice-president of stakeholder relations, Canadian Renewable Fuels Association • Matt Bovelander – senior consultant (bio-solutions), Indufor Asia Pacific • Paul Lansbergen – vice-president, Forest Products Association of Canada • Steve Price – executive director (biosolutions), Alberta Innovates • Brent Boyko – director of biomass business development, Ontario Power Generation

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INDUSTRY AND TRADES McAlpine said the event has grown over its 10 years to be “the largest wood-based bioenergy conference in Canada” and the sector itself has grown along with it. In addition to the innovative panelists and a thick line of exhibitors encircling the proceedings at the Civic Centre, delegates will be able to take part in “expanded industry tour offerings” and sets of businessto-business meetings that foster the bioenergy economy still further.

Prince George is at the vanguard of the wood bioenergy industry, with several successful companies based in this region.

The event takes place June 11 to 13.

Chris Turner shown here with his new book ‘Planet Simpson’, is one of the featured speakers at this years Bioenergy Conference.

Photos from Wikipedia.

April 2014

April 2014

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INDUSTRY AND TRADES

Pipeline

plan lands

support Frank Peebles Citizen Staff Story on page 18

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April 2014

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April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

18 The Petronas project took major steps forward on the investment side of their liquefied natural gas megaproject, and the environmental permitting side as well. The company’s proposed plan involves the breadth of northern B.C., passing close to Prince George in the process.

The Petronas project seeks to build a pipeline from Hudson’s Hope near their existing gas fields activity (they sell all their natural gas products to the Canadian domestic market, currently) to a proposed processing plant at the Port of Prince Rupert where the transported gas would be liquefied and loaded onto ships for the Asian market.

Petronas is the giant petroleum company owned by the government of Malaysia. It is considered one of the top 50 richest companies in the world by Fortune Magazine.

In 2011 and 2012, Petronas became a partner and then the primary owner of Progress Energy Canada Ltd. (PECL), the Canadian company with the largest single extraction tenure at the massive Montney natural gas basin in

the B.C. northeast.

PECL has about 900,000 acres there on which to drill, and already produces about 350 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, which is sold to Canadian customers.

When Petronas bought PECL, two smaller partners were part of the deal: three per cent owners Petroleum Brunei, and 10 per cent owners Japan Petroleum Exploration.

This spring, that family of minority owners grew, giving Petronas more cash to use in their ultimate plans for northern B.C. “I am pleased to announce that we have just finalized a further 25 percent equity participation from an Indian party and an established Asian LNG buyer,” said Shamsul Azhar Abbas, president and CEO of Petronas. The Asian buyer of the natural gas was not disclosed, nor was the India-based investor, although sources in Asia indicated India’s state-run petroleum company Indian Oil Corp. had been positioning itself recently to make a major purchase of shares in Canada.

Petronas is still advancing its hopes to build

the pipeline and the shipping facility. It has secured land on Lelu Island and an operating agreement with the Prince Rupert Port Authority for the proposed LNG terminal.

Should it go ahead, this would be a construction investment estimated at between $9 billion and $11 billion. The company said they anticipated the construction phase of the Prince Rupert facility would sustain about 3,500 jobs at the peak of construction, plus provide 200 to 300 additional jobs to operate the plant, which would be owned and operated by a Petronas subsidiary company called Pacific NorthWest LNG. The shipping facility is subject to provincial and federal environmental assessment. That part of the overall project took a major step forward in the regulatory process in March.

“The filing of our Environmental Impact Statement to both federal and provincial regulatory agencies is a significant milestone in the life of this project,” said Greg Kist, President of Pacific NorthWest LNG. “This marks a renewed round of consultation and

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April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES feedback from all interested parties on our proposal and I encourage participation in this rigorous environmental review.”

Of course, obtaining the gas in the northeast and shipping the gas in the northwest requires a pipeline in between. The company hired by Petronas to build and operate this proposed land-link is TransCanada Pipelines under the working title Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project. (The deal was announced at the 2013 edition of the annual B.C. Natural Resources Conference in Prince George, a $6 billion pact.) This aspect of the overall proposal has to go through its own environmental assessment process.

“We are working on our application for an Environmental Assessment Certificate now and expect to file it with the Environmental Assessment Office soon,” said Garry Bridgewater, a spokesman for the pipeline segment. “Beginning on the day of submission, the application will be subjected to a 30-day completeness review by the EAO and the working group. The completeness review

19 will ensure that the application meets all the Application Information Requirements.

Once the review is complete, a 180-day public review period begins, which includes another public comment period in which we will hold open houses and seek public input to ensure that all potential adverse effects are identified and considered as part of the assessment process.”

The preliminary public consultation has already resulted in changes to the original Pacific Northwest LNG draft blueprint.

Some of those improvements include: • Raised the height of the Lelu Island bridge for marine users • Raised the height of a section of the jetty trestle for marine users • Adding a 30m tree and vegetation buffer around most of Lelu Island to provide a natural sound and light barrier.

“We want to build the best facility possible, and that means hearing from residents on what their vision is for Pacific NorthWest LNG,” Kist said. “Pacific NorthWest LNG intends to

be a positive contributor to the local economy and a provider of long-term careers for decades to come. The submission of our Environmental Impact Statement is another step in achieving that goal.”

The proposed pipeline would start at Hudson’s Hope, dip southward to a Williston Lake crossing point just north of Mackenzie, head west to almost Babine Lake where it will again turn north and continue on past the Hazeltons. At Cranberry Junction, about 60 kilometres north of Highway 16 on Highway 37, it will hook southwest to Lelu Island. The terrain in that region is so complex that a number of route options are being considered, but none have been definitively chosen.

Petronas may not be finished raising cash for the B.C. suite of proposals. Previous company statements indicated they would be willing to sell up to 50 per cent of the PECL part of the equation. Abbas said, “We are in advanced talks with other buyers for the remaining 12 percent.”

- with files from Reuters News Service

April 2014

20

Industry & Trades

Headhunter

CAREERS the Prince George Citizen

links employers with recruits Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

Putting potential employees in touch with potential employers is what keeps Core Recruitment up at night and buzzing all day.

The fledgling all-northern recruitment agency has formed as a further symptom of the bursting economy in northern B.C., and they intend to bridge a gap they have detected between the training programs, labour pools and active companies around the region.

“Believe it or not, but it is true that there a lot of people out there who hear the message about jobs, jobs, jobs and all the opportunities

in northern B.C. but they can’t find work,” said Core Recruitment co-founder Tysh (rhymes with wish) McCoy. “Why? What is going on that all those job openings exist and all these people are available right here in our own back yard, but they are struggling to find work and companies are struggling to fill all their needs. There is a disconnect.”

It is only going to get worse, according to the spinoff data for what lies ahead in the resource economy of the near future. There will be more jobs than there are people to fill them, but that doesn’t mean

everyone in the region will know how to find their way through the doors of employment on their own. It also might mean some people are underemployed or in positions that don’t suit them best; likewise companies may not have the best candidates in their key positions.

Core Recruitment was founded on the principles of maximizing northern B.C. labour talent for northern B.C. companies, and McCoy is putting a heavy (but not exclusive) emphasis on First Nations inclusions. She is of Kwakwaka’wakw / Kwakiutl heritage (northern Vancouver Island) and her business partner Clay Pountney is of

Lheidli T’enneh heritage from here in Prince George where both grew up.

The company is a headhunter agency and a recruitment firm, not an employment agency.

They advocate for the full range of profession - office staff, executives, skilled labour, general labour, contract service providers, etc. - on a candidate-to-business level. They don’t advocate for just anybody, either the individual looking for maximized employment or the company looking to fill a hole in their human network.

“I am passionate about making a change in our economy, and our future in the north,” said McCoy. “Recruitment is going on at a lot of levels, and in a big way, but when recruitment efforts are going to China and Ireland and there are still people in our own communities who are not participating in that employment action, that’s where I see we have work to do, and I am excited to step up to do it. If this happens in the right way, we can make a profound impact on the long-term future of the region, and it can change the lives of people on both sides - the employers and the employees.”

McCoy has seen the effects firsthand, in other communities. She is a graduate of UNBC’s Human Resource Management program, she was plying the trade in Alberta for a large multinational

Citizen photo by Frank Peebles

Tysh McCoy is the co-founder of a new headhunter and recruiting agency in Prince George.

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CAREERS

Industry & Trades

recruitment corporation, but for personal reasons wished to come back to Prince George.

She was recruited herself by Canfor for their HR department, and also did some consulting in the healthcare recruitment field. The indications coming in to her were that the resource industry from top to bottom lacked someone locally who could match the right people with the right positions - exactly what she’d been doing on a less direct scale.

She found a compatible skill set and motivation in Pountney, who has worked in the resource industrial setting for years and knows the field needs of both employees and employers.

Together, they researched the local marketplace for this kind of professional matchmaking and, with the help of StartUp Prince George and other business development connections, their company was formed so that other

companies could benefit, thus helping families and communities in the process.

Now their challenge is to meet as many people as possible for whom professional matches might be made. They have signed on about 250 potential employees in the general labour envelope, they are building relationships with the skills training providers, and meeting the labour intake professionals for the companies working in the region.

“One of the biggest challenges we are hearing about from companies is their reliance on certain skill certifications as the measurement of potential employees,” McCoy said. “Of course certain jobs definitely require specific education, but in a lot of cases there are people who could be trained into the vacant job, or have related experience and education that could transfer into the vacant job. But companies don’t often have the internal resources to give those second and third looks to candidates, to really examine a candidate’s full background. You want someone who can do the job, yes, or who can learn the job to your specifications, but you also want someone who will fit with the style of company you operate.”

It would be almost impossible, she said, to live in a major urban centre and start up a company like Core Recruitment, but in Prince George it is possible for her, and she feels a debt of gratitude to the general region for that entrepreneurial opportunity. It happens to be exactly where her skill sets and the economic profile are also perfectly matched.

April 2014

the Prince George Citizen

April 2014

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INDUSTRY AND TRADES

Timber tenure changes considered Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

The way forest companies are allowed to do business on the public landscape is changing. The provincial government is signaling a willingness to act on calls from forestry firms, communities and public-sector scientists to reduce the amount of “volumebased” dealings and increase the amount of “area-based” dealings for harvesting and replanting Crown timber.

It is not a new idea. It has been debated for decades. It is already in use in some small-scale ways. It is generally agreed that there are circumstances where volumebased is the better system and there is wholesale disagreement in some circles that area-based is the superior method.

In summary, volume-based is when a number of companies have a semi-fluid right

to harvest and replant in a large forested region, with changing duties over the longterm. Area-based is when only one company has rights to harvest and replant on a smaller region of forest, and that doesn’t change much over time.

In either case, the amount of timber each company gets to cut is about the same.

While in Prince George this winter at the B.C. Natural Resources Forum, premier Christy Clark said “there is much to discuss,” about area- versus volume-based timber agreements, “and we have time to have a good conversation about it.” On Tuesday, that conversation official began with a call for public input on the subject.

“To keep the engagement open and neutral, an independent facilitator has been

hired. The public engagement process will be led by veteran professional forester Jim Snetsinger, who will compile the feedback and provide a report to government by the end of June,” said forests minister Steve Thomson.

Snetsinger said, “Given the pressures facing the timber supply in B.C.’s Interior and the impact on communities and forest licensees, it’s important to hear from as many stakeholders and members of the public as possible before considering changes that would increase area-based forest tenures.”

Thomson added that if changes are made, they would not be wholesale shifts in B.C. forest policy.

“We’re only interested in pursuing conversions in areas where there is support - and we’re proposing that any requests for conversion to be considered on a case-by-case basis. I look forward to the public feedback on the process we’re contemplating,” he said.

One of the main reasons to shift some forestry dealings to the area-based system is to get away from the minimal forest maintenance practices being implemented by the collection of companies sharing one large area. Why would any one of them invest in fertilizers or extra transportation infrastructure, etc. if one of the other companies will be the ones who end up getting that area to harvest,

decades from now. If a company had their timber rights applied to an exclusive parcel of forest, those investments would likely be much more sensible. The hope that follows is, overall forest productivity would increase, the backwoods infrastructure would be improved, and forest companies could better their bottom lines through more careful long-term planning.

There would be no change in the public’s income on stumpage charges to these companies, and no change in the public’s ownership provisions to the landbase. According to ministry officials, should some area-based timber programs unfold, it is expected forest companies may boost their stewardship over certain parcels of forest but they would not get exclusive access to that land except for the same forestry practices they would have had in more haphazard fashion under the volume-based program.

People are invited to participate via online comments until noon May 30, 2014, at: http://engage.gov.bc.ca/foresttenures.

Snetsinger will also visit 10 regional communities for face-to-face public discussions.

the Prince George Citizen

April 2014

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April 2014

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INDUSTRY AND TRADES

Too many

green trees

being cut,

report finds The trees really are greener on some sides of B.C.’s forests. Prince George is one of the places where loggers are crossing too early over that line, in the view of B.C.’s forestry watchdog.

The Forest Practices Board (FPB) announced that some districts around B.C. have dead pine trees still to cut, yet

Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

some forest companies have nonetheless felled significant amounts of green trees.

The FPB report on the issue outlined the problem in stark terms.

“British Columbia is in the midst of a large-scale salvage program, the likes of which has never been seen.

the Prince George Citizen

April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES There is nothing sustainable about this harvest; this is a one-time activity initiated by the province to recover value from the trees killed by the mountain pine beetle epidemic and to speed regeneration of affected areas.

Once those trees no longer have any economic value, salvage will stop and the province will need to sustainably manage the harvest of the remaining live trees.”

The dead trees killed by the mountain pine beetle comprise most of what’s called the short-term timber supply. The mid-term timber supply is the next set of trees to be cut once the dead pine is no longer an option. That population of trees is still alive and healthy because they were different evergreen species untouched by the beetle or they are tracts of pine missed by the beetles.

Since the epidemic, the province-wide emphasis has been to target the dead pines as much as possible, trying to prolong that short-term supply as long as

possible so when it’s gone, the mid-term supply is large enough for the forest industry to still survive on.

“The more live green trees we cut down today, the fewer that will be available for us in five or 10 years,” said Tim Ryan, the FPB’s chair. “We are stressing the importance of taking the dead now and leave the green for later, to minimize the impact on your future timber supply.”

That is well known to milling companies, and they are the stakeholders with the most to lose if the mid-term timber supply falls short. However, harvesting green trees is still happening.

“The report looks at government’s records of what was harvested throughout the area affected by the mountain pine beetle epidemic,” said Ryan. “The majority of the pine trees harvested last year were dead, but over the last four years, the total amount of pine in the harvest has been steadily decreasing and was under 60 per cent of the harvest last year.”

25 The two districts pushing their green timber luck the most are the Morice Tiber Supply Area (surrounding Houston) and the Prince George Timber Supply Area.

According to their research, said Ryan, the government-suggested maximums for cutting green trees in the Prince George region was 100 per cent reached in 2011 and 2012, exceeded in 2013 and appears on track for significant overruns in 2014. The Morice area is taking their green timber at an even wider ratio, and could exceed guidelines by double in 2014.

On the other hand, said Ryan, “One of the best timber supply areas out there is the Quesnel TSA. They have done very well at focusing on the dead and minimizing harvests of the green.”

Adding to the FPB’s alarm is the patchy data available on which to base harvesting ratios between dead stands and healthy ones. The report urges the province’s chief forester and provincial government to vigorously reinvest in forestry science and harvesting caution.

The Board encourages the chief forester to: •

•

Develop a process of rapid re-evaluation of the Allowable Annual Cut in areas where it has been increased to facilitate salvage harvest of dead pine.

Be consistent in explicitly stating expectations about harvest performance, and, in particular, how performance against those expectations should be measured.

The Board encourages government to: •

Ensure it collects the information needed by the chief forester to measure performance, particularly in areas where there is an expectation that salvage harvesting will continue for the foreseeable future

the Prince George Citizen

April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

Coastal Gaslink/Shell

OPENS public consultation

on LNG plans Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

One of the closest LNG pipeline projects - are identified and considered as part of to pass near Prince George has taken the the assessment process,” said a company next step in the environmental assessment spokesperson. process, with public consultation sessions If all goes according to plan, the pipeline planned over the next few weeks. would begin in the town of Groundbirch The Coastal GasLink project seeks to con- located between Dawson Creek and nect the gas fields of the northeast with the Chetwynd. It would go south and west in a ports of the west coast. The proposed pipe- relatively direct line, crossing Highway 97 line is about 650 kilometres long and would just north of McLeod Lake, then angle just pass close to Prince George and through north of Eskers Park. From there it would many of the neighbouring communities veer almost directly west going just north along Highway 16. of Vanderhoof, along The pipeline’s overall the north shore of Fraser investment estimate is Lake, south of Burns Lake When the plant is about $4 billion. and Houston, and on to Coastal GasLink Kitimat. operational it would made its official Meanwhile, Coastal directly employ Environmental GasLink will continue to somewhere between Assessment Certificate do further studies on the application at the end proposed route.

200 and 400 people of January which was “The project study coraccording to LNG accepted by the proridor was established Canada. vincial Environmental based on a preliminary Assessment Office. The assessment of terrain, pipeline proposal is environment, social now in a 180-day public review period, which aspects and constructability, and through includes a 45-day window where the public engagement of landowners, aboriginal comcan provide comments on the application. munities and the public,” said a Coastal That window is open until May 4.

GasLink statement. “It is within this study A set of open house meetings have been corridor that we will now focus our extensive announced for some of that public input to engineering and environmental programs be gathered. including traditional ecological knowledge The application is available for review on gathering and traditional land use studies. the EAO website (http://www.eao.gov.bc.ca) We will share information, gather input and and hardcopies are also available at public incorporate feedback into our decision maklibraries in the project area. ing and route refinement process. We will “Public comment is sought to ensure that continue to engage with aboriginal commuall potential adverse effects - environmen- nities, landowners and stakeholders through tal, economic, social, heritage and health this process.”

“

“

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INDUSTRY AND TRADES I f approved, the pipeline portion of the project would employ 2,000 to 2,500 people at the peak of construction. It would take in natural gas from the Montney Basin primarily, but also the Horn River and Cordova Basins and perhaps other wells connected to TransCanada Pipelines’ extensive network in northern B.C. and Alberta.

Coastal GasLink is a subsidiary of TransCanada Pipelines, with a regional headquarters in Prince George.

The gas would travel the pipeline to Kitimat where it would be processed by a proposed plant that would liquefy and load the gas onto ships. This proposed facility would be owned and operated by LNG Canada, a joint-venture company led by Shell Canada along with Korea Gas Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation and PetroChina Company Ltd.

This marine terminal is undergoing its own environmental assessment process. Should it achieve all environmental standards and obtain all necessary licenses, the construction phase would employ about 5,500 people at its peak. When the plant is operational it would directly employ somewhere between 200 and 400 people according to LNG Canada.

The construction and operation of the pipeline would have its own construction workforce and ongoing operating crew, plus the gas field workers.

This is one of two LNG proposals for northern B.C. that use TransCanada Pipelines as the delivery company between the gas fields and the coast. The Petronas company has also contracted TransCanada to build and operate their proposed liquefied natural gas line between Hudson’s Hope and Prince Rupert.

« M onth A p»r i«lyea 2 0 1r 4»

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Photo courtesy of Shell Canada.

Flying J Truck Stop in Calgary, Canada’s first LNG refueling station.

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April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

28

Mixed results seen

between First Nations, mining interests Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

Citizen file photo.

Mount Milligan mining project Northern B.C. has become the battleground and field of dreams for the mining sector’s aboriginal relations. Some of the best and worst examples of mining/First Nations results can be found in this region in the past few years, setting the tone for this resurgent and lucrative industry.

The issue was not a primary concern for many years, as mining in B.C. lulled almost to a halt during the 1990s and only in the past five years has rebounded with concrete examples. That rebound was dealt a shock in 2007 when, for the first time, the federal/provincial environmental joint review panel said no to a proposed mine. It was the Kemess North project, and centred on using Amazay (Duncan) Lake as a tailings pond. Insiders wondered if the rejection of Northgate Minerals’ plan was because the science was sound or if it was in deference to the First Nations who stood up to oppose the project.

“It seems as if the unresolved social and cultural considerations of the region far outweighed the tangible economic and environmental factors being considered,” said Mining Association of BC then-president

Michael McPhie at the time. “This decision could potentially mean the loss of hundreds of high paying jobs and the flight of investment from an area desperately in need of economic activity.”

Not only did this dire prediction not come to pass, the reverse happened. The project was purchased for $1.5 billion by AuRico Gold Inc. and is now alive again as a proposed underground mine, seemingly overcoming all the environmental concerns raised by the First Nations.

Furthermore, straight south of the Kemess site, in the same Williston Lake valley, the Mount Milligan Mine went from exploration project to fully operational mine since the Amazay decision. Thompson Creek Metals partnered with the affected First Nations to smoothly bring the Mount Milligan Mine to life. Aboriginal companies helped build it, and native people are employed there.

“We are not against development in our territories,” said Gordon Pierre, grand chief of the Tse Keh Nay that led the fight against the Amazay Lake design. “This is not just about protecting this lake for First Nations peo-

ple; this is about protecting all lakes for all Canadians. There are currently over 20 lakes in Canada facing similar mining proposals and we are happy that a precedent has been set in Tse Keh Nay territory: killing lakes is unacceptable.”

Taseko Mines is facing the same opposition in a different local site of interest. Their hopes for a gold mine west of Williams Lake/100 Mile House have been dealt a number of blows by the joint review panel, and central to those decisions is the plan to use lakes as tailings ponds in their New Prosperity plans.

Those proceedings, too, have been accused by Taseko officials of being too much about First Nations political license over science and economic values. On the other hand, Taseko has partnership agreements with some Cariboo First Nations and their operational Gibraltar Mine is a significant employer of aboriginal residents in the area.

The provincial government is on the record as supportive of the New Prosperity proposal, despite the panel’s multiple rejec-

tions of it, however the same B.C. government quashed the Booker Pacific mining company’s proposal for a mine at Morrison Lake near Granisle (north of Houston/Burns Lake) before it even reached the level of panel hearings. Rumoured to be a rejection based more on the company’s perceived treatment of the resident aboriginal nations (Gitxsan, Gitanyow and Lake Babine bands) instead of environmental concerns, the company fought the blockage in court and recently won a preliminary victory bringing their application back to life, if not yet approved.

The Blackwater gold/copper proposed mine is also still in the early stages of development, but ownership company New Gold is deep into partnership agreements with multiple First Nations located in the affected territory south of Vanderhoof and west of Prince George, and all signs so far are of aboriginal support similar to the successful Mount Milligan program only two hours’ drive away.

Story continued on page 30

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April 2014

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April 2014

Story continued from page 28 Signs of strong First Nations opposition were brewed at another northern B.C. industrial site. Fortune Minerals has done advanced exploratory work in the Klappan region of the northwest - Tahltan territory - but in late 2013 was ordered by the provincial government to halt their efforts when a sizable protest camp was set up adjacent to the mining company’s exploration camp.

The RCMP placed officers in between the two sides until Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett issued the order to cease mining operations while deeper discussions were held with the Tahltan.

When Fortune Minerals persisted in lobbying Tahltan members to side with them, the band’s government issued a ban in late March preventing them from entering any Tahltan communities without prior consent.

The ban will be expanded to all reserve lands if the company ignores the ruling, said Tahltan Central Council chief Annita McPhee.

“For years the Tahltan Central Council has made it clear to the province of British Columbia and companies, that it is ready to

INDUSTRY AND TRADES partner on sustainable development in Tahltan territory,” McPhee said. “We have a proven track record of collaborative success – including the Northwest Transmission Line and AltaGas projects within Tahltan territory.

“At the same time, we have been clear in carrying forward the message of the Tahltan people that further expansion of mining in our territory requires the protection of the Sacred Headwaters, and that if the area is not protected it could have consequences for other projects and opportunities across Tahltan territory.”

“

“

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We will continue to resist any industrial development ... that threatens to destroy our land and culture.

Their minds are stated to be made up about the Klappan coal proposal, as they were similarly made up over another industrial player petroleum company Shell - which they ousted in 2012 from any further activities in the same

region.

That required provincial government facilitation to prevent an outright financial loss by the company and the outright repudiation of provincial authority by the Tahltan which, like most of the First Nations in northern B.C., does not have a treaty. No treaty is seen in some affected circles as meaning no or at least limited federal/provincial jurisdiction over land use of any kind.

“The Tahltan Nation is united in its opposition to development in our Sacred Headwaters,” said McPhee. “We will continue to resist any industrial development ... that threatens to destroy our land and culture.”

Another on that list is the Red Chris copper/gold mine proposal that is far down the procedural road. It once had the flat refusal by the Tahltan people, but the band and proponent company Imperial Metals have had close discussions since then that have resulted in positive compromises. Although the Tahltan have yet to make a definitive decision about the future of Red Chris Mine, the dialogue is at least progressive. Company vice-president of corporate affairs Steve Robertson said “The Tahltan are very engaged in, and critical to the development of that project,” and their bandowner construction companies have been

hired to do much of the preparation work.

Robertson said the relationship has been a pleasure for his company.

“We have been working shoulder to shoulder with the Tahltan as we progress through the permitting process,” he said. “They weren’t sitting there as naysayers, they had valuable input. They were opposed to one of our first designs but came up with a new idea, brought it forward, the government got on board, so we were actually the last ones to get on board but it was a vastly superior plan.”

Imperial Metals is also the owner of longexisting Huckleberry Mine near Houston.

Robertson said the relationships between First Nations and mining companies has evolved significantly over the years of working in the northern region.

“Aboriginal consultation was not something miners were particularly good at,” he said. “But it is the new way of mining in B.C. and it is fundamentally necessary. It used to be a check-box on a government form, but now it is an everyday part of your company’s life. And to be honest, it is infinitely more rewarding. The benefits of what it all means

the Prince George Citizen

April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

“

“

goes so much farther beyond what the benefits of a mine used to be.”

Meanwhile McPhee was brought to the University of Toronto for a lecture last year on how her nation has balanced the options of interceding on huge projects they oppose versus partner on megaprojects they approve of. She said that in the past three years the Tahltan people have “started construction on $2 billion in resource projects, and $11 billion more are being considered” resulting in almost 100 per cent employment for her people plus an income stream for healthcare, language and cultural programs.

The stakes are clearly as high as fiscal projects get - hundreds of millions of investment dollars, years of gainful employment for entire communities, but the possibility of massive environmental costs (dollars and ecosystems) if things go wrong - when mining and aboriginal interests intermingle on the B.C. landscape.

McPhee was in Prince George at the Premier’s Natural Resources Forum in January to speak and hear more on this theme, as was premier Christy Clark. During Clark’s keynote address, spontaneous applause erupted in the

mostly pro-development audience when she said aboriginal inclusion in the industrial development process was not good enough, and all sides stood to gain by engaging together better.

“They have waited far too long,” for meaningful consultation, she said of B.C.’s First Nations.

Mining is not the only industry in this predicament. Forestry has faced the same tip of the balance between unfettered harvesting without aboriginal compensation or consideration during the 20th century to court imposed and socially mandated changes in favour of aboriginal sharing.

“The key is sound relationships,” said Jason Fisher, a vice-president at Dunkley Lumber, during a forum panel discussion. “Developing relationships can be done in a cliched way or a nuanced way - getting to know the needs not as ‘First Nations needs’ but as the needs of individual people in your region who feel the impacts of what you do as a company. It behooves us [in industry] to get out and meet those people on whose traditional territory we are working.”

Minister Bennett said that was exactly the template for a company wishing to avoid cost-

ly or plan-killing delays, public protests, court battles, government interventions and marketplace reputation damage: do the relationship work before doing the dirt work.

The stakes are clearly as high as fiscal projects get - hundreds of millions of investment dollars, years of gainful employment for entire communities.

Bennett told The Citizen, “Government has its own obligations to consult with First Nations. We are certainly willing and happy to engage with industry on that. But industry has taken a lead on this themselves.”

The best example, he said, was contained on 77 pages inside the new Aboriginal Engagement Guidebook written by the Association for Mineral Exploration B.C. (not to be confused with the aforementioned Mining Association of B.C.). It was unveiled this past week (previous toolkits were already in existence, this is an enhanced version) at

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the association’s massive Roundup annual conference in Vancouver.

It contains a comprehensive history of aboriginal relations pertaining to mining, a set of frequently encountered scenarios, a chart of common problems, and always with an accompanying set of suggestions and potential solutions.

“It is not what I’d call codified, because there are so many variables [from First Nation to First Nation and mine project to mine project], but it is a handbook that really gives companies information on how they should be doing their dealings,” Bennett said.

With the federal government still to make a ruling on the New Prosperity project, legal action underway including at the Supreme Court of Canada level, the provincial government’s next move on the Morrison Lake project, and about 20 mine projects into the Environmental Assessment Process stage of development - all on the ground of aboriginal communities with vested interest. The guidebook may yet have new chapters to be written just as the history of aboriginal industry and environmental protection does.

the Prince George Citizen

April 2014

Arcand

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

‘gotwith ‘erforest done’ safety Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

One of the iconic industrial figures of Prince George passed away from cancer on March 17. MaryAnne Arcand was known as The Bulldozer and pushed the forestry agenda - both the productivity and the safety aspects - with that kind of relentless force.

At their earliest convenience, the two Prince George MLAs - Shirley Bond and Mike Morris - rose in the B.C. Legislature to pay her official provincial tribute.

“I’m sure there are members on both sides of this House who would be well acquainted with MaryAnne,” said Bond. “She’s described as someone who brought people together and was always ready to help. She was amazing. She never stopped. When she decided to go after a project, she dug in full force and never wavered until she got results. In fact, one of her favourite sayings — and I heard it often — was: ‘Let’s just get ‘er done.’”

Morris said, “I want to recognize Maryanne for the contributions she made to the province, to the Prince George community and to the logging operations across British Columbia. Maryanne Arcand made history in 2009, becoming the first woman to manage a B.C. logging organization, the Central Interior Logging Association. She served on the B.C. Forestry Safety Council as director of forestry, truck safe and north-

ern initiatives. She also chaired the Carbon Offset Aggregation Cooperative of British Columbia.”

During her tribute address, Bond said, “One of the things that was most important to her was working on the Small Business Roundtable — many would know her from that — but I think, most importantly, talking about worker safety, particularly in the forest industry.”

Morris called her “tireless” in the pursuit of measures out on the land-base and within policies and regulations that could deliver more industrial professionals home safely at the end of the work day.

“She was not afraid to go looking for answers, as she did when she traveled the Mackenzie resource road network after two serious logging truck crashes in 2006,” Morris said. “Maryanne was instrumental in reducing the number of logging truck deaths in this province and travelled almost 100,000 kilometres around the province in her own truck, delivering her message on how to improve worker safety.”

Arcand sat on more than a dozen boards involved in community development, along with many past volunteer positions. Morris listed some of the highlights: a past director of the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum, one of the first female presidents of the Prince George Rotary Club, the 2012 winner of the

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INDUSTRY AND TRADES Business Person of the Year by the Prince George Chamber of Commerce, and other major marks on local society.

None of those marks were more important to her than her family. She is survived by her parents, Ditty and Bill DeWitt; her husband, George; their four children, Harald, Willy, Tina and Melanie; and 10 grandchildren.

Although Bond and Morris are both government members, opposition leader Adrian Dix also rose in the Legislature to tip his hat towards Arcand.

“I just want to join with [the Prince George MLAs] in supporting sending our best wishes to George and family. I was in Prince George when this happened, and it was on, of course, the front page. What I found remarkable in the time I was there was how many people asked me, ‘Had you met her?’ and ‘What were your dealings with her?’ and ‘What did you think?’ because people in town were very, very proud of her. I know her family is. I know [Bond and Morris are]. I know all of us are. It’s a huge loss for our province, and I join [the members in their] very, very profound words.”

Arcand was 59 years old.

April 2014

33 Citizen file photo.

MaryAnne Arcand with the BC Forest Safety Council truck.

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

APRIL 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

34

HELI-SKIING Frank PEEBLES Citizen Staff

Story photos © Skeena Heli-Skiing Money does fall from the sky, if you are a ski operator. The higher the elevation the thicker the piles.

The powdered peaks of northern B.C. are stacking up with more and more international denominations. The trickle of Euros, pounds and greenbacks is becoming a current, and it is running further and further uphill. These skiers and boarders are interested in slopes beyond the reach of any chair lift.

The conventional downhill mountains of northern B.C. are well known among skiers and boarders. Within two hours of Prince George there is Tabor, Purden, Powder King, Troll, Murray Ridge and Little Mac. The Hart Highlands Winter Club is right inside the city. Not much further away is Shames (Terrace), Hudson Bay Mountain (Smithers), and Marmot Basin (Jasper).

Many communities around the north - especially Burns Lake, 100 Mile House, and Prince George’s Otway facility at the top of the list - are also well endowed with nordic skiing trails.

These have their devout followers, but a niche industry is growing for heli-skiing and cat-skiing.

“We are getting tonnes of interest from magazines and ski periodicals,” said Susan Clarke of Northern BC Tourism (a division of Destination BC). “And we do have these special places. These are not run-of-the-mill downhill resorts.

Those have their place, and it’s a very important place in the local winter economy, but this is a whole other side of skiing. It is a unique experience you can’t get anywhere else in the world.”

The list of providers is becoming lengthy and diverse. Skeena Cat-Ski (Smithers/New Hazelton) will drive you on wide tracks into the fluffy nether regions of the northwest even on days helicopters can’t fly.

On the many days helicopters can whirl, you have options like

Skeena Heli-Ski, Last Frontier HS, Northern Escape HS (they also have cat-skiing backup services), and farther west you can go for a spin with Canadian Mountain Holidays (McBride), Crescent Spur HS, and the nearest to the northern capital is Bearpaw Heli-Skiing (Prince George), one of the newest operations in the province.

Skeena HS is one of the oldest in the region, with about 15 years of experience. It is owned and operated by a local man who grew up on northern B.C.’s slopes in a family keenly interested in the region’s landscape.

Giacum “Jake” Frei’s parents and other family members moved into the Canadian dream, a log house at Tchesinkut Lake (between Burns and Francois lakes, about 2.5 hours’ drive west of Prince George) from Switzerland when he was a small child. He went on school trips to Hudson Bay Mountain, and also took his burgeoning love of skiing back to Europe on family visits.

By 17 he had quit going to regular school in favour of correspondence education, had earned a sponsorship deal from the Salomon sporting goods company, and was apprenticing for a career in the outdoor adventure tourism sector. The dream never faded and now he is a longstanding member of the northern B.C. business community, and the startup proprietor of a leading company in this niche industry.

“January to April, that’s when the magic happens,” said Frei. “You’re trying to make all your money for the year in that short window, so if the weather is bad or you have a problem employee or anything at all goes wrong, you carry that loss all the way through to next season. That’s what’s hard.

The risk in this business is those variables.”

Eighty per cent of the world’s heli-skiing takes place in B.C., he explained, because it is the best location in the world for minimizing those variables. He explained that New Zealand, Russia, Turkey and other nations have some helicopter slope service, but those places have more warm weather events, or government interference in their business operations. Some have sketchy political situations. B.C., he said, is the perfect snowstorm: dependable snow, breathtaking scenery, challenging terrain, reasonable government regulation of the industry, ironclad safety protocols, and a stable political system.

Companies like his have to jump through a lot of regulatory hoops to get underway, he said, but once that happens “it is a lot of tweaking and maintaining your land-use plan, which is always a living document.” So entrepreneurs have had a chance to develop their companies here, whereas one melting event like often occur in Turkey or New Zealand or parts of Russia results in bankruptcy. The private sector in B.C. has launched off of all those advantages.

There have still be significant challenges in the B.C. heli-skiing industry. For instance, weather is not perfectly predictable, so if a client gets to the lodge but cloud or temperatures keep the choppers grounded, they get their money back.

Also, when the global financial crisis hit, a lot of that high-elevation powder simply wasn’t touched.

“Heli-skiing’s golden era was in the late 1990s. When the crisis hit, the whole industry took a dump,” said Frei. “For most HS companies, Americans make up the big majority of

the Prince George Citizen

INDUSTRY AND TRADES your clientele and they stopped buying. It took awhile for Europeans to infill for the missing Americans. Mine was always predominantly Europeans so I didn’t suffer quite as bad as some of the other companies. Now, the overall industry is showing signs of coming back to life.”

He sees emerging economies like China, Brazil, India, etc. as long-term possibilities for a new client base but short-term business plans have to remain focused on the USA and Europe, Frei said. One HS adventure costs $10,000 to $15,000 plus travel expenses, so only those with deep pockets take part in this sort of adventure. But it takes more than money.

The client also has to be a skilled skier, and the emerging economies will not produce those people for a long time, even though their populations are becoming every bit as wealthy as the Western world.

“We have to do a lot of work in the off-season to maintain our equipment, tie up the paperwork for the season that just happened and get the paperwork ready for the next season, plus you have to go to trade shows and go hunting for your markets,” explained Frei. “I get maybe a couple of weeks off each year, and even then I’m working somewhat. But what helps us is having those gateway airports in Prince George, Terrace and Smithers so our clients have an easier time

April 2014

35 getting to us, and having organizations like Northern BC Tourism doing a good job of getting the general message out on top of the direct marketing being done by each company.”

That is getting easier every year, said Clarke, because media attention begets more media attention, and the northern region of B.C. has been showing up in more and more publications and films aimed directly at the outdoor adventure tourist. She expects more calls to come in from reporters, bloggers, photographers and videographers interested in seeing the B.C. north, especially since there are so many different sorts of terrain and activity all alive within it.

Another advantage for skiing of all sorts is the global interest starting to congeal around “non-extraction outdoor adventures.” Hunting and fishing take things out of a landscape, plus the use of the land to move about in the backcountry. Skiing is one of those other activities that only uses the land; it takes nothing away. Hunting and fishing are subindustries within the tourism palette that also have a lucrative and enjoyable fan base, but for those who want to leave only tracks and take only pictures, it is a winter wonderland particularly pleasurable in northern B.C.

the Prince George Citizen

April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

36

The Northern turns 95 on a regular basis. “It’s something members of my family have done for generations.”

It wasn’t the high price of gold by itself that enticed customers in to buy exploration equipment. Moffat pins it on reality television.

Once some shows depicted actual people out on Canadian rivers finding bits of gold, a trend began. It seemed the secret was broken, that a mechanic or accountant from anywhere could relatively successfully wander out in the woods and find the stuff the old fashioned way – grassroots placer mining.

“It’s as all-consuming as you want to make it,” said Moffat. “If you really put your mind to it, you can have significant success. Looking at old records, studying the geology, looking for signs in the geography, it all plays into it. And what might surprise people is, this has been going on all along for some people. There are people in Quesnel that I know who have to say to themselves ‘I have to go out and find 500 ounces or we’ll lose the house.’ It is their job. There are a lot of people like that around

here.”

By dealing with customers at the store, Moffat has met people who are third and fourth generation placer miners whose grandparents used to come into The Northern decades ago to buy the exact same equipment.

“

“

No retail store has been addressing the retail needs of this region’s industries longer than Northern Hardware. The downtown store turns 95 this spring and for all 95 there has been a direct connection to the sawmills, trap lines, fishing operations, farms, ranches, mineral prospectors and all the resource sectors working out on the land.

Alex Moffat, the store founder, was involved in those industries himself and all four generations of Moffat owners since then have also been plugged personally into industry while also maintaining the store.

While the household consumer may have seen most of the changes in The Northern’s inventory, the industrial user can still buy a gold pan or a sluice box or a chainsaw – or a pallet of them.

“There’s a small gold rush going on right now,” said Dan Moffat, who not only runs the outdoor adventure department of the store, he goes out on the land and uses the items he sells. He has claims staked and goes panning

It’s not about who is 10 cents cheaper, it is a lot about relationships and trusting each other in your business relationship

You can find similar conversations going on in the power tool aisle or the plumbing department. Construction, carpentry, lumber,

Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

these disciplines have been transacting over The Northern’s counter for 95 consecutive years.

Hilliard Clare, 85, is the oldest employee at The Northern, and perhaps the longest serving employee at any store in Prince George. He started working there in 1944 and remembers many families from the Upper Fraser sawmill communities like Penny and Macgregor and Sinclair Mills, and they were subject to a special kind of customer service that made The Northern intrinsic to their daily lives.

“We used to act as the bank,” Mr. Clare explained. “People from the east end would work all week and come into town for the weekends, but the banks would all be closed.

So they would bring us their cheques, we would cash them, they would buy some things they needed but they would usually have a lot of money left over so they would ask us to hang onto it until Monday and deposit the rest for them. I remember opening more than one

the Prince George Citizen

INDUSTRY AND TRADES bank account in the name of someone from down the line, and it would be there for them when they got back to town.”

With as many as 400 operational sawmills, plus all the logging and hauling and other industrial activities, the practice of credit accounts was common, and The Northern was active in floating small businesses from job to job. It was part of the service.

“We did a lot on credit,” said Mr. Clare.

“We got burned a few times. I remember once how Sovereign Contracting ordered a bunch of dynamite from us then went bankrupt, so we never did get paid out on that one. But we got to know who you couldn’t trust. Alex Moffat used to say, five per cent of the people would beat you no matter what you did, so you aimed what you did at the other 95 per cent.”

The store has always survived on a combination of servicing the individual do-ityourselfer and the commercial hardware buyer. The household consumer may not see it in the Third and Brunswick main store, but their Amco Wholesale operation

only a few blocks away is where the real temperature of the local economy gets taken.

“Forestry is still there. It’s nowhere near what it used to be but it’s still a significant part of our business and I think that will always be the case,” said Amco manager Glen Blair, another direct descendent of Alex Moffat. “Since 2008 [when the global economic crisis was in effect] the construction sector has gotten stronger, but it has its peaks and valleys. We are also seeing mining and gas industries playing a role. We are a hub in P.G. and we see it here in our store. We supply goods out to those operations and so do others in our kind of business. Most of these big companies are working on the big industrial projects, what they say is true, they will buy locally as much as they can. We get some of that business.”

Amco has had to adapt too, to modern times, and not just in their product lines.

Blair said they have to be more servicesensitive than ever these days, and build relationships with their buyers because the internet a the mechanism for anyone to use for getting their tools and equipment.

When the call Amco, he said, they expect

April 2014

t h e staff there to do their research and order in the items quickly. Any other competitive store could do that, said Blair, so they have to consistently offer product knowledge, research skills for sourcing supplies, and responsiveness to keep winning their customers. He doesn’t see any difference between modern times and the stores foundational times, in that respect.

It doesn’t matter if the invoice address is to a multinational corporation or a DIY weekend warrior, the contact is between human beings.

“It’s not about who is 10 cents cheaper, it is a lot about relationships and trusting each other in your business relationship,” he said.

He intends to push that business model through to the next major company milestone, and really it is the big one for everyone in the Moffat family and the store’s family.

“The big one is going to be 100. That’s what I’m looking forward to,” said Blair.

“That’s what my eyes are on. Is it always easy? No. But that’s business. We’re just going to enjoy what we do and go for that hundred years.”

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Citizen photo by David MAH

Glen Blair, general manager of Amco Wholesale.

the Prince George Citizen

April 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

Wooden COINS Frank Peebles Citizen Staff

People used to be warned against “taking wooden nickels” in older times, but these days they are all the rage.

A lone, rural entrepreneur with a garage and a sense of humour saw the mountain pine beetle devastation as an opportunity to make lemonade out of lemons, to coin another old phrase.

What Jim Smith did was set up a few simple machines in his Likely, B.C. backyard shop and start cutting the blue-stained dry wood into little round tokens. He would stamp each one with a witty saying or helpful message. He turned them into games, refrigerator magnets, lapel pins, corporate curios, and soon people were contacting him for custom wooden coins.

“I’ve sold directly to the U.S. Army, to people involved with the U.S. Navy, Francis Ford Coppola’s winery, Parks Canada more than once, Ikea ordered pins from me for a corporate event,” he said, listing some of the highlight customers.

“I get a lot of reorders, which is really what keeps me in business,” said Smith. “The fastest response was 15 seconds. The customers spilled the first bundle out on the table, loved it so much they called back immediately and doubled their order.”

He is curious that 80 per cent of his business comes, thanks to the miracle of websites, from the United States. They tell him that the mountain pine beetle is as problem all along the American Rocky Mountains, now, so it is as famous to the U.S. economy as it is to Canadians. Yet the Stateside customer base is not yet mirrored by the Canadian market. Smith is perplexed, but also wonders if his remote location (Likely is a two hour drive into the woods east of Williams Lake, year-round population of about 300) holds back the domestic news.

“I was hoping for more activity from Canada and ideally from the local area where forestry and wood really matters,” he said.

Perhaps his venture is only now emerging

into popular consciousness, locally, because this is a land of complex wood products and his is so simple you can carry it around in your pocket. His wooden coin assembly line consists of little more than a modified planer and conveyer in one room of the workshop and a printer in the other.

“I can produce about 1,000 coins a day or up to 5,000 per day if I already have the blanks made. I try to stockpile blank coins so when I get an order I can just run them through the printer,” he said.

He also keeps an inventory of premade wooden coins, while he waits for the next custom order.

“I have nylon bags full of phony money for kids so they can learn to make change. I have the prime ministers of Canada. I have chore coins so parents have a tactile way to reward the kids for doing homework and household stuff and build up towards big rewards. I have an I-Spy game for car rides. I have some joke coins like the Round Tuit, everybody loves the Round Tuit.”

When custom orders come in they are usually to commemorate someone’s special occasion, or as a chip for particular customer incentives at stores, or for nametags.

Altogether he has cut and printed more than 125,000 of them.

For an order of 1,000 wooden coins, with some kind of graphic on both sides of the coin, the cost is $600 including shipping and handling. For slightly more you can make even smaller, more exclusive runs, or if you order 5,000-plus you only about 50 cents each.

For custom orders, the coins usually arrive in 10 days or less once the artwork has been approved.

For full details on the company, including how to order your own wooden coins, visit Smith’s website at www.woodencoin.com.

the Prince George Citizen

April 2014