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City axes jobs DeLynda Pilon
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Protestors marched from the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council office to the Ramada Wednesday night in protest of the Enbridge joint review panel hearing held at 6 p.m. that evening.
Protestors greet panel in P.G. DeLynda Pilon
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Beating drums, First Nations’ voices raised together in song, and signs plastered with slogans like Say No To Enbridge greeted the Enbridge joint review panel at the Ramada Wednesday night. About 100 protesters marched from the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council office to the hotel where the hearing was held, unified by a cause in spite of the frigid temperatures, which dropped below minus 30C. Vice Tribal Chief Terry Teegee said the protest wasn’t just about the pipeline itself, but the process as well. “The issue is about more than whether or not they approve the project,” he said. There is no clear path to deal with First Nations issues, he said, in spite of the fact much of the planned line will cross traditional land. He added as of yet there has been no opportunity to speak about the safety of the proposed
tanker traffic either. And, he said, to many First Nations people it seems like the outcome of the process has already been decided, no matter what issues are brought forward. “The joint review panel is quite limiting,” he said. Protesters left their signs at reception and joined a crowd which grew to about 300 strong within a lounge at the Ramada. Joint review panel member Sheila Leggett provided some information about the process and introduced the two other panel members with her, Kenneth Bateman and Hans Matthews. Two presenters were on the evening’s agenda. The first spoke about the possible cultural and environmental harm the project might cause while the second took a scientific approach to the pipeline, explaining a number of calculations which concluded the energy put into retrieving the dilbit (diluted bitumen) would not be worth the amount of sweet crude oil extracted.
Gary Ducommon with the Metis Nation of B.C. was the first presenter. He shared a short history of the Metis in B.C., and said Metis people have been a documented population in the area since 1793. They are now one of the largest populations of people along the pipeline route. Although the Metis are not against the project, Ducommon said they are very concerned about some aspects of it and believe these issues need to be looked at more closely. For example, the pipeline will cross three watersheds. The rivers running through those watersheds extend to the Hudson’s Bay, southern and northern B.C. and the arctic. “More specifically, the Metis people in B.C. are fish eaters,” he said. Although there is not much opportunity to harvest salmon in the Prince George area anymore, the pipeline project brings forward the issue of cumulative affect, he said. With changes in water temperature and habitat degrada-
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Twenty-eight positions have been cut at city hall one day after a report from city manager Derek Bates stated $1.7 million in personnel reductions need to be made to help achieve a total of nearly $2 million in reductions and a balanced budget with a 3.12 per cent tax levy. Of these positions, 19 are vacant, so nine fulltime positions currently filled will be cut. The 28 positions are in parks, community policing, the CN Centre, the Civic Centre, development and transportation, long-range planning and park planning as well as communications. The cuts are expected to save the city $2 million over three years. Mayor Shari Green said that the current council has been in place six weeks, and during that time has considered the realities of the bottom lime and considered the citizen’s hard-earned tax money. “We’ve asked hard questions and turned our eyes to building the future not mortgaging the future,” she said. “It takes willing and courageous leadership to make change happen.” In another bid to save money, the city’s contributions to IPG and the library will remain at the 2011 level, Bates said. Green said that at the end of 2011 council was faced with up to an eight per cent tax increase, something they did not find acceptable. Instead they asked staff to come up with scenarios with an increase between two and four per cent. What was brought back included a labour component. She said the cuts will not, however, turn to PAGE A5