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Volume 58 No. 19
PTI CEO responds to some concerns Cameron Orr Despite the remarks from mayor Bill Streeper in last week’s Sentinel, PTI Group CEO Ron Green is confident that their proposed workers lodge will, in fact, be beneficial to local businesses. That’s because the nature of work in Kitimat versus what happens in the Fort Nelson area are quite different. “This is a different type of worker,” he said of Fort Nelson. “This is a fly-in, fly-out kind of guy.” PTI’s proposed development, by comparison, aims to integrate better into the surrounding community. “[Ours] won’t look like...something that doesn’t really conform with community standards,” said Green. And he’s certain that at some point during a worker’s stay at PTI’s lodge they will have reason to come into town. While PTI at past public meetings have noted their other lodges sometimes have convenience store facilities, it’s not something they as a company seek to offer themselves. “We’d prefer actually not to do that,” said Green, saying its better for workers to get into the communities and off-site sometimes. “We’re all happier if we have outlets for recreation and everything else.” The lodge itself will also provide job opportunities for local people. He said if they have a facility of around 250 people, for their first proposed phase for Kitimat, there would be around 25 to 35 people working on site. If it gets to the full 2,000 people, over 200 people would need to work for the lodge. And Green said for the company it works far better to hire people from the local community rather than bringing people in from out of town. “We find that, just over time, we’ve done nothing but enhance what happens in those smaller communities,” said, referring to some Alberta locations, such as in the municipality of Conklin, Alberta, or inside a First Nations community north of Fort McMurray. The Sentinel also asked about opportunities for integration of local Continued on page 2
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Wednesday, May 8 , 2013
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Candidates talk issues at forum
Three candidates competing for the position of MLA for the Skeena riding in the upcoming May 14 election presented their views and responded to questions at the all candidates forum held May 1 in Kitimat’s Mount Elizabeth Theatre. From left: incumbent NDP Robin Austin, Conservative candidate Mike Brousseau, and Liberal candidate Carol Leclerc. Josh Massey Kitimat teachers came out in force to Wednesday’s all-candidates forum making education one of the hot debating points of the event. Facing off for the position of Skeena MLA were firsttime Liberal candidate Carol Leclerc, second-time Conservative candidate Mike Brousseau and incumbent NDP Robin Austin, vying for a third term. The forum was held in a
quarter-full Mount Elizabeth Theatre on a night of vigorous rain and sleet. In his closing remarks NDP candidate Robin Austin said it was a shame so many Kitimat residents “were too busy watching the hockey game” to make the debate. Those who did attend made sure to get the candidates pinned and wriggling, with several education-related questions fired by audience members wearing “teachers vote” shirts. Austin said during his open-
ing statement that “Eighty per cent of new jobs will require post-secondary education,” and he continued to pick apart the Liberal government’s record on eduction, saying that current Liberal party leader Christy Clark was in her time “the worst minister of education in B.C.’s history.” Leclerc responded by defending the gains in education that the Liberal government has made recently. “There is definitely rec-
ognition that there are issues,” she said in rebuttal to Austin’s jabs, citing the recent Learning Improvement Fund and an injection of $650,000 into school district 82 as evidence of Liberal change for the better. Leclerc referred to a study that placed Canada fifteenth in the world in eduction. “I don’t think it’s that bad,” she said. Brousseau highlighted his own position as director of a small school with an average Continued on page 2
Being with friends is what really counts. These three Girl Guides members link arms during a hike on April 27, during the local Girl Guides hosted Revelrama, where units from Kitimat, Terrace and Prince Rupert came together for a weekend of activities.
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Golf Course Vandalized...page 5