PRINCE RUPERT VOL. 8 NO. 40
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
FREE
Port Ed proof of LNG potential, premier says
FILIPINO FUN Feature
District singled out
Results from Readers Choice. Pages A15-A23
BY SHAUN THOMAS PRINCE RUPERT / The Northern View
“If you don’t believe LNG is happening, talk to the people of Port Edward.”
News Cross-country walk wraps up. Page A3
Martina Perry / The Northern View
Dancers finish off “Singkil”, a Muslim Royal Dance, during Filipino Night on Saturday. The event, held by the Filipino Canadian Association of Prince Rupert, included a number of cultural dances as well as food, speeches by local dignitaries, live music by Triple Bypass and dancing.
Sports
Travel to Haida Gwaii up, Inside Passage down
Rampage fall short in Challenge Cup. Page A11 BY SHAUN THOMAS
Decline in traffic surprising
PRINCE RUPERT / The Northern View
Haida Gwaii Getting a big bear hug. Page B1
If people in the province need proof of the impact of LNG development, they need look no further than Port Edward. That was the message Premier Christy Clark delivered in her speech to a room full of elected officials at the 2013 Union of British Columbia Municipalities conference on Sept. 20. “Ask Dave MacDonald of - Christy Clark Port Edward. He has a total municipal budget of $2 million and the district hasn’t sold a piece of land in the last 12 years. Until this year, when they have sold $2 million in land. They will have sold another $2 million in land by the end of the year,” she said. See LNG on Page A2
Ridership on the Inside Passage this summer was down, as fewer people made the trip from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy. The number of passengers on the route dropped 8.8 per cent in June, followed by a 9.2 per cent drop in July and a 10.8 per cent drop in August. In terms of totals for the summer, 2013 saw 16,240 passengers traveling compared to 17,993 last summer, a drop of 1,753 or 9.8 per cent. In the first eight months of the year, 20,373 passengers have been on the Inside Passage compared to 21,689 last year, a difference of 6.07 per cent. The number of vehicles traveling on the Inside
“Rubber tire traffic was thought to be up.” - Scott Farwell Passage was also down, dropping 5.7 per cent in June, 10.59 per cent in July and 7.3 per cent in June, equating to a total decrease of 427. Scott Farwell, chair of Tourism Prince Rupert, said he was surprised by the decline. “If you look around town, overall rubber tire traffic was thought to be up,” he said, noting many in the tourism industry had busy summers. In contrast to the Inside Passage, ridership
between Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii is up through the summer. June saw an increase of 320 passengers, July saw a slight drop of 103 and August saw an increase of 238, meaning a net increase of 455 riders. Through the first eight months of 2013, 22,179 people travelled between Skidegate and Prince Rupert compared to 21,119 in 2012, an increase of 1,060 passengers or five per cent. Vehicle traffic to Haida Gwaii was also up. While 5,817 vehicles crossed Hecate Strait last summer, 6,051 made the crossing this year, an increase of 234 vehicles. “That could be suggesting that people coming through, instead of doing the circle route, are traveling to Haida Gwaii ... it is certainly a destination in itself,” said Farwell.
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