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VOL. 27 NO. 30
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Thornhill becomes election issue By MARGARET SPEIRS THE ISSUE of Thornhill's incorporation or amalgamation with Terrace featured prominently as a topic of discussion at the Terrace municipal all-candidates forum Nov. 5 at the REM Lee Theatre. The forum was split into two parts, one for council candidates and other for mayoral hopefuls, and the future of Thornhill was debated in both. A question from the media panel directed to city council candidate Don Dunster asked if his vision of the area was amalgamation of the
two communities or incorporation for Thornhill. “Forget amalgamation with Thornhill but move to the north,” said Dunster of the rural area that’s north of Terrace. Fellow council candidate Allan McIntyre said the city and Thornhill were good neighbours and the way to continue that was to respect the decisions Thornhill makes. “That said, there needs to be a lot of dialogue with respect to what happens in Thornhill should they incorporate,” he said, adding that referred to land zoning, tax rates, and connections of Thornhill water
and sewer systems. Council candidate Sean Bujtas spoke next, saying Thornhill residents rejected amalgamation earlier. “We are not in charge of what Thornhill chooses to do but I also think it's very important that we educate both Thornhill and Terrace and I think we need to look into getting a feasibility study done to see what makes more sense ... and then both parties can make an educated decision on what want they want to do,” he said. Incumbent city councillor Stacey Tyers said Thornhill doesn't
have to decide one way or the other. Thornhill is looking at incorporation and if they choose it, they can have a mayor and council to decide what's best for them, she said. Tyers also commented on the taxation issues which could arise, noting that the City of Terrace already needs to spend an estimated $45 million on infrastructure within its current boundaries. That being the case, she said she wasn’t prepared to take on Thornhill’s own infrastructure deficit. “They have their own right
to make their own decisions and we have no business telling them {Thornhill) what they need to do,” added Tyers. Longtime city councillor Lynne Christiansen said there's pros and cons to amalgamation but it made no sense to go down that road when Thornhill residents have already said no. She also said Ted Ramsey, Thornhill’s director on the Kitimat-Stikine regional district board, is already promoting the idea of incorporation.
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Alcan permit process questioned By JOSH MASSEY
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
■■ Lighting it up GREATER TERRACE Beautification Society volunteer Allen Wootton strings up Christmas lights along the Millennium Trail Nov. 8. Volunteers took advantage of the break in the week’s rainfall to put up the strings which is an annual tradition.
TWO KITIMAT residents are questioning the payment by Rio Tinto Alcan of the salary of a provincial environment employee involved in issuing permits for the company's $4.3 billion Kitimat aluminum smelter modernization project. Lis Stannus and Emily Toews are appealing the granting of a permit allowing the company to increase its sulphur dioxide emissions as part of the modernization work and now argue, in documents filed with provincial Environmental Appeal Board (EAB), that “the decision under appeal is invalid due to a reasonable apprehension of bias.” The two are requesting documents relating to what's called a secondment agreement whereby Rio Tinto Alcan paid the salary of environment ministry staffer Frazer McKenzie for two years while he worked the ministry's assessment of the project. Rio Tinto Alcan is saying there is no bias and has filed its position with the EAB. Company official Colleen Nyce said secondment agreements such as the one for McKenzie are not out of the ordinary when it comes to assessing and permitting large industrial projects. “Secondment agreements are a practice between industry and government in British Columbia as a way for major projects that require significant time and attention to the hundreds of permits required,” said Nyce. With more than 300 permits needed and the complications of planning a large project, Nyce said “the BC Ministry of Environment was not able to provide such a dedicated resource” and so benefitted from the Rio Tinto Alcan payments.
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Big time Nass bands heading down to play in Grey Cup Parade in Vancouver \COMMUNITY A17
SEE THIS WEEK’S B SECTION FOR BUSINESS, NEWS, SPORTS & CLASSIFIED ADS
In the ring Terrace teams take on the northwest at PG-hosted ringette tournament \SPORTS B7