100 Mile House
Teachers delighted with consultation rules
39 ladies take part in icebreaker golf tourney
Sam Moody shares herbal healing remedies
A4
A24
B1
MAY 9, 2012
Festival of the Arts results
B6
• 52 Pages • Two Sections
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Christy Clark speaks in 100 Mile House Christy Clark pledges economy boost, jobs Carole Rooney Free Press
Premier Christy Clark visited 100 Mile House on May 4 to talk about jobs, training and growth. In her address to the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA) conference delegates, she stressed how important economic development and investment are in building strong communities. Clark granted a few minutes to speak with local media before her speech. Within the next decade, the province’s North will drive economic growth for every community across British Columbia, she said. “We, as a government, need to invest in and support economic development for Northern [B.C.] and recognize the role it’s going to play.” The premier says she believes the province is going to be leading Canada the country forward in economic growth, and explained it’s Northern B.C. that will really be doing that. The single “most important” economic change in the province that will make this happen is the introduction of a new industry in lique-
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fied natural gas (LNG), she noted. There will be three pipelines operating by 2020 from the Northeast to the Northwest, Clark explained, as well as added-value opportunities in the northwest. “Not many premiers get to say ‘we are going to enable the creation of a new industry’.” Once the industry is up and running, it will add $600 billion to the provincial Gross Domestic Product, she added. “Just think about the tax revenue that will come from that.” These will be the first LNG facilities in the world that are principally powered by green energy, Clark explained. There are “all kinds” of high-technology services available in the province for spinoff benefits, she said, as well as those supplying green energy. The Cariboo economy has had a “very tough time,” with many trees killed by pine beetle, Clark noted, but she sees some new opportunities arising, particularly in
Monika Paterson photo
The many government leaders at the North Central Local Government Association May 2-4 included Cariboo Regional District chair Al Richmond, left, Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett, Premier Christy Clark, Quesnel Mayor Mary Sjostrom, Community & Sport Minister Ida Chong, Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook and 100 Mile House Mayor Mitch Campsall. bioenergy and mining. “I am a big fan of mining. I think it makes a huge contribution to local economies with very stable, high-paid jobs and a pretty low ecological footprint.” New scholastic funding At the NCLGA con-
ference, the premier also announced $1.6 million for a new training program at the Williams Lake campus of Thompson Rivers University. The training is intended to address a skills shortage, she said, and accomplish it through a collaborative effort with the Interior Logging
Association and regional contractors and licensees. The funding will train 80 unemployed and under employed individuals in an Employment Skills Assessment initiative, beginning this month with truck driver training. Other training will include heavy equip-
ment operation for forestry applications, Clark explained, and as well as for mining, construction and roadbuilding equipment. “You can’t build an economy without people to fill the jobs.... If you train people close to home, they’ll work close to home.”
Wranglers unable to lasso junior hockey team Ken Alexander Free Press
The Revelstoke Grizzlies are staying in Revelstoke, and that means there won’t be a 100 Mile House Wranglers Junior B Hockey Club team playing out of the South Cariboo Rec. Centre this fall. The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) team has had a lot of controversy swirling around it ever since it was learned the Wranglers club was interested in bringing the team to 100 Mile. The Revelstoke Grizzlies Society said it was going to exercise its option to buy the team
back from Grizzlies Sports Entertainment (GES) for $1. Furthermore, GES had to put up a $25,000 bond payable to the society if the team was moved or folded before May 31, 2016. Michael Roberts, former majority owner of GES, recently sold his shares to Lew Hendrickson who was given approval to operate the team in Revelstoke at the May 6 KIJHL board of governors meeting in Castlegar. Wranglers Club president Tom Bachynski attended that meeting and says he was more than a little miffed at the way the takeover was handled. He adds his drive home from
Castlegar was a roller-coaster ride of emotions for him. “On the positive side, however, I got 15 minutes of face time with the governors of the KIJHL.” Bachynski says he got to explain how he thought the Wranglers had a right to takeover even though the 100 Mile club submitted its application after the deadline. “We were guided by the president on how to submit, and we were put on the agenda for the May 6 meeting and, subsequently, we were taken off the agenda. See WRANGLERS… page A5