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Northern
Years est. 1954
www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 60 No. 42
LNG Alliance now formed Multi-national liquefied natural gas (LNG) companies may be competitors when selling the product around the world but they’ve enough in common to lobby for mutually beneficial causes. And topping that list is a tax regime in B.C. that’s acceptable to the companies who make up the group president of the newly-formed B.C. LNG Alliance said last week. “What we’re looking for is good fiscal policy; a clear, stable and competitive fiscal regime,” said David Keane during the launch of the alliance at an event held in Terrace Oct. 7. The provincial government is so far promoting the creation of a new two-tier tax structure over and above any other taxes LNG producers might pay. That’s tied to the B.C. Liberal campaign pledges of the 2013 provincial election in which Premier Christy Clark said LNG producers could provide up to $100 billion leading to a provincial legacy fund which would, among other things, wipe out the provincial debt. But the provincial government has been slow in fully introducing its tax plan and one large energy company, Malaysian-owned Petronas, which has a large stake in a planned LNG plant at Prince Rupert, has warned it might put its project on hold should the tax be introduced. Keane said that while Petronas is a member of the alliance, he could not speak on behalf of the company when it came to specific issues such as taxation. “What I can say is we are waiting to see the [taxation] legislation in detail,” said Keane. “Having a clear, stable fiscal regime will help make final investment decisions.” If the alliance, made up of companies involved in six planned LNG projects, is concerned about provincial issues such as taxation, it’s also concentrating on exactly who will build the multi-billion projects. Keane, who has been involved on a provincial body examining skills development and training, said the direction is to first train B.C. residents for direct and indirect LNG employment. “Our goal is to hire in B.C. first and Canada second and then outside of Canada if needed,” said Keane. With some projects, if they proceed, requiring as many as 4,000 workers and with some of those needing to have specific skills, the prospect of needing to look outside the country raises the issue of temporary foreign workers. Continued on page 2
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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Top left, Gavin McGarrigle, BC area director for Unifor. Top right, Richard Paquin with Industri-all Global Union walks with Unifor 2301 local President Rick Belmont. Below, the crowd works from the Centennial Park to the Kitimat Modernization Project community office at the Upper City Centre mall.
Rio Tinto under fire from unions Cameron Orr A global day of action against Rio Tinto did not exclude Kitimat, where Unifor 2301 members, employees of the Rio Tinto Alcan smelter, marched to the Kitimat Modernization community office at the Upper City Centre Mall, and called out RTA, and the entirety of the Rio Tinto company, for practices which they feel at its worst is union dodging. Unifor 2301 President Rick Belmont said that with over 400 grievances in the system against its members the company has not shown a willingness to work through any problems.
He said the union has turned to using an expedited arbitration process allowed under the Labour Relations Code in order to get the grievances addressed. He said it has to be expedited otherwise it could take years for the issue to be resolved with the company. “If we don’t deal with them now, if you put them in the regular system, the [modernized] plant would be up and running for 10 years before you would be able to deal with rights of our members, in the actual transition,” he said. Belmont continued that he feels a lot of the grievances have much
larger implications. “We believe a good majority of those grievances in the system, that our members rights have been violated,” he said. The company, he said, has been sidestepping the union and dealing with members directly. “Rio Tinto has only been here several years, and they have not demonstrated a will to sit down and actually work with the union,” he said “If anything, it looks like a concerted effort to avoid any union involvement wherever possible.” Continued on page 2
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Who’s running in the election? ... Page 2