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FRIDAYJANUARY 24
CHINESE: Province looks towards a formal apology
www.pgfreepress.com | newsline: 250.564.0005
Snow removal status quo OK: Gaal Ashley MacDonald-Venis Special to the Free Press
Bill PHILLIPS/Free Press Carrier Sekani Tribal Chief Terry Teegee chats with Premier Christy Clark at the Premier’s Natural Resource Forum in Prince George on Wednesday.
Pipeline safety first compensation comes second: Clark Bill Phillips editor@pgfreepress.com Safe pipelines come before any cash compensation the province may receive for voicing approval, according to Premier Christy Clark. Making sure that British Columbia receives its “fair share” of revenue generated by oil pipelines because the “level of risk” is higher here is one of the province’s five conditions for pipeline approval. Last week, Janet Holder, Executive Vice President, Western Access for Enbridge, said they are working to mitigate the risks of the pipeline for B.C. and that the province’s “fair share” is directly linked to the “level of risk.” “This doesn’t boil down to a contest between money for British Columbia and the environment,” Clark said during a stop
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at the Premier’s B.C. Natural Resources Forum in Prince George on Wednesday. “There is no amount of money that they can provide that could make up for an unsafe pipeline … none. “If the mode of transportation is not going to ensure that our environment is protected, we are not going to support it going across our province.” Three of the conditions are about environmental protection, on land and at sea, and the other is First Nations involvement. “We have to have the world’s best spill protection on land, and the world’s best spill protection on the marine side,” said Clark. “We are not there yet.” Clark said she was buoyed by the fact she is not the only premier in Canada now who supports the five conditions. Alberta Premier Alison Redford has supported the conditions. Clark said many of the
companies that move the bitumen are also supportive. Her comments came after a 25-minute address to about 300 people at the Premier’s Natural Resource Forum. Her speech to the attendees was virtually identical to a speech she gave last week at the Truck Loggers’ Association convention. Clark hailed the forest industry as the province’s founding industry, mining as the rebound industry, and liquefied natural gas as the future. “We have a choice, as a generation, do we grow so that we can maintain those institutions that our forebears built that in many ways define this country?” she said during her luncheon speech. “Do we grow or do we manage the climb? Do we watch those institutions crumble because we can no longer maintain those institutions? I say we grow.”
At a packed city council meeting on Monday night, the majority of a three-hour session was devoted to snow removal efforts around the city. As he presented a report on those efforts to council, Bill Gaal, superintendent of operations, began by saying he was not attempting to blame anyone for the difficulties of the snow removal. “Council has adopted a very robust, aggressive snow removal policy,“ said Gaal. “In mid-December we experienced an extreme snow event, followed by rain followed by freezing temperatures. Even if we would have had every private resource historically available, that storm would have taxed our ability to clear within our five day goal.” However, Gaal said, despite what a union official representing city workers claimed, ongoing labour discussions did affect the city clearing streets and sidewalks. “For the union president to say on this side of achieving a collective agreement that their actions had no impact on the snow and ice control operations is disingenuous,” said Gaal. “When union presidents are talking
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