S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 27 NO. 12
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
City set to ink $12M land deal By JOSH MASSEY A DELEGATION of Chinese industrialists is expected here within weeks as the City of Terrace closes in on a deal to sell more than 1,000 acres of its Skeena Industrial Development Park for almost $12 million. The city last week announced its intention to sell the land representing ap-
proximately half of the park located south of the Northwest Regional Airport. Terrace mayor Dave Pernarowski said negotiations on the real estate deal are coming to a head following months of effort by the city. “We are letting people know there is interest in it right now,” said Pernarowski. “It’s getting close.” Up for purchase is 1,188
acres at a price of $11.878 million. The city has kept the details of the impending transcontinental deal secret during negotiations but should reveal specifics within the coming weeks, said the mayor, including exactly what industrial outfits are coming to town. “We’ve got that narrowed down. We are definitely not selling land at the industrial
park on speculation,” said Pernarowski. “We have to see a solid business plan included in the document. We are definitely looking at one or two possibilities and will be able to announce more on that in a week or two.” Much will be resolved during the visit by the Chinese business delegation. “Details would be more clear once we signed off on
the document. We are expecting to see a delegation coming in the next couple weeks,” said the mayor. The Chinese delegation will be from the Qinhuangdao development zone located on the east coast of China. The deal is being brokered through a Vancouver-based firm called Taisheng International Investment Services Inc., which is the
Canadian investment arm of Qinhuangdao. Attempts to speak with officials from the company were unsuccessful. In terms of what the city would spend the $12 million on, Pernarowski said the main focus will be expanding the infrastructure at the industrial park and for affordable housing projects.
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Pipeline vote plan promoted here By ANNA KILLEN CANVASSERS WITH a provincial environmental group are knocking on local doors in an attempt to gauge support for a provincialwide citizen’s initiative on the Enbridge Northern Gateway heavy oil pipeline. Dogwood Initiative, a Victoria-based non-profit, is asking residents to sign a petition pledging they would be in support of a citizen’s initiative should the group deem one is necessary in order to hold the provincial government to account on its position on the controversial pipeline. The pipeline would carry 525,000 barrels per day of diluted bitumen from Alberta west to Kitimat for export by tanker overseas. The citizen’s initiative legislation – which was used successfully by the anti-HST campaign and unsuccessfully by those wishing to reform marijuana laws – is unique to B.C. Under Elections BC’s Recall and Initiative Act, petitioners need to collect signatures from 10 per cent of the registered voters in every provincial district over a three month period saying they support the petitioners’ draft bill. If that threshold is met, the draft bill could be introduced into the legislature for debate, or a provincial-wide vote could be held asking voters to consider the act. In this case, the draft bill could use language making it impossible for the provincial government to approve the permits necessary for a pipeline to be built, essentially giving those against the pipeline an “insurance policy”, explained Will Horter, executive director of Dogwood Initiative. “This is the insurance policy when every-
thing else has failed,” he said. “When permits are being put forward and there’s the threat of shovels in the ground. This isn’t something we’re going to do tomorrow, we’re going to let the political process play out.” The people voting to repeal the HST weren’t necessarily voting because they didn’t like the tax, he explained, they were voting because they were mad at the government for misleading them – and he is counting that the same would happen if the provincial government came out in support of the pipeline. But he says the difference between the two campaigns is that Dogwood’s is in two parts. Right now, during the preparation phase, volunteers are knocking on doors to build up a database of supporters and organizers ready to mobilize if the decision is made to launch an initiative. “If it looks like Christy Clark is going to break her election promise and not stand up and protect British Columbians’ interests and go back and do a flip flop on the submissions the government made to the Joint Review Panel where they said this project shouldn’t be approved as currently proposed and trust us, it’s not good enough, that’s when we would launch,” he said. A provincial-wide vote on the pipeline is one possible outcome should a citizen’s initiative go through, and Dogwood’s slogan for this particular campaign is “Let B.C. Vote”. Not everyone is convinced a provincewide vote is necessary.
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JOSH MASSEY PHOTO
■■ Tee time HEATHER MASCH goes for gold in the Ladies Open held at the Skeena Valley Golf and Country Club July 5 and 6. This year had a Greek theme.
New chapter
No more
Run, salmon, run
Head librarian checks out here and heads to a job down south \COMMUNITY A9
Gitxsan vows to block natural gas pipeline work on its territory \NEWS A4
Hundreds of runners turn out for the SalmonRun hosted by Kitsumkalum \SPORTS A26