The Northern View, August 28, 2013

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PRINCE RUPERT VOL. 8 NO. 36

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

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Airport loan may still need voter approval

A FURRY News

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BY SHAUN THOMAS PRINCE RUPERT / The Northern View

Council toying with longboard laws Page A3

Feature A salute to labour in Prince Rupert Page A9 Martina Perry / The Northern View

Prince Rupert BCSPCA branch manager Anna Terebka plays with Reeka, one of the dogs currently under care of the SPCA. Reeka, who was found locked up in a confined space amongst piles of garbage and her own feces, is one of the animals to benefit from the 2013 Paws for a Cause. For more on the 2013 BCSPCA Paws for a Cause, see Page A17.

Sports Canucks coming to Prince Rupert Page A11

Cullen slams Shea over sockeye crisis Feds fire back wondering why MP voted against fisheries funding, allege Cullen just playing politics BY MARTINA PERRY PRINCE RUPERT / The Northern View

Haida Gwaii Music at the Edge of the World Page B1

The loan to the Prince Rupert Airport Authority approved by city council to refurbish the terminal, runway and access road is not yet a done deal. Although the bylaw has been passed, the agreement signed and the paperwork for the $7 million loan has been forwarded off to the Municipal Finance Authority (MFA) for approval, under the Community Charter, a municipality borrowing money to loan to another public authority must seek out the approval of the electorate. Once the City of Prince Rupert receives approval of the MFA, the borrowing will need to either be approved via referendum or through an alternate approval process, under which a referendum would be sparked with 10 per cent of registered voters signing a petition against the borrowing. Larry Golden, who attended the Aug. 19 council meeting, is also questioning why the airport deal was passed during an in-camera session — a session that did not have the airport matter on the agenda. According to the agenda for the in-camera meeting, council was to discuss honouring an individual, Watson Island and the annual municipal report. Acting mayor Gina Garon did not immediately respond to repeated requests for comment from the Northern View.

Nathan Cullen said Canada’s Minister for Fisheries and Oceans is as absent as this year’s sockeye salmon run causes closures around B.C. The Skeena-Bulkey Valley MP slammed Minister Gail Shea for “not being involved” during “a crisis” of record-low sockeye salmon numbers in the Skeena River this year. “We can’t seem to get their attention at all on what we think is a significant crisis in the fishery, the absence of such an important fish,” Cullen said. “Just getting some basic response from her office is incredibly difficult. This is no time for her to take vacation. This is a fishery that needs

“We’re weeks into this thing and she’s as missing as the salmon.” - Nathan Cullen support. Certainly if this was happening on the east coast she would be all over it, but because it’s happening out here it doesn’t seem to be as important. That’s a shame because she’s the federal fisheries minister, not just for one region.” Cullen said the minister’s absence is all too familiar. “We’ve seen this rodeo when she was [the

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans] before. It took almost a year to get her to visit the North Coast, and then she showed up without any understanding,” he said. “The minister ... is doing just as good as a job as she did last time, which is to say terrible.” The Skeena-Bulkey Valley MP said Canadians on the west coast have justifiably began to feel like second class citizens. “My hope was she learned ... here’s her first test. We’re weeks into this thing and she’s as missing as the salmon,” he said. Shea was unavailable for comment, however Sophie Doucet, the minister’s spokesperson, said the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has been working to address the issue. See FEDS on Page A2

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