Houston Today, December 17, 2014

Page 1

COMMUNITY PHOTO FEATURE: Santa at the Mall & Cram the Cruiser PAGE 15 Publications Mail Registration #0040028607

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2014

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District plans capital projects By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today

REMARKABLE Generosity

Jackie Lieuwen/Houston Today

Houston’s annual Cram the Cruiser was a smashing success! Four RCMP cruisers were packed full of food donations from this community for the Salvation Army Christmas hampers. Above are Houston kids Oliver, Lucas, Rebecca and Desirae with teddys to thank them for their food donations. For more on Cram the Cruiser see page 15.

Houston council is planning $250,000 of capital projects for 2015. They have an an additional $100,000 for water projects and $50,000 for sewer projects, said William Wallace, District of Houston Director of Finance. The projects were discussed by Houston’s new council at a finance meeting Dec. 4. Mayor and council will tour District facilities in January to get a better understanding of department needs, and then revisit the proposed project list in February. District projects were chosen based on priorities that council brought to the Union of B.C. Municipalities ( U B C M ) Convention, and major items from

meetings in 2014. Several top priorities were advocating for 24/7 health care and resources for community services, upgrading infrastructure and community branding and revitalization. It also included implementing plans from the HFP transition, including the Economic Development Plan and Labour Market Strategy. The following are the projects included in the draft 2015 District of Houston budget. Buying a new $447,500 fire truck is the biggest expense, with $47,500 from reserves and $400,000 borrowed. Next they budgeted up to $275,000 for a new garbage truck, and Wallace says there are always options to buy a used truck. See BUDGET on Page 2

Kitimat oil refinery to focus on financing By Cameron Orr Black Press

With a design and feasibility study in tow, David Black now needs to secure government support to make further in-roads in his plan to build an oil refinery in the Kitimat— Terrace area. Black announced

December 4 that Hatch Ltd. had completed the study for him, which sets out how the proposed refinery would process 550,000 barrels of diluted bitumen a day in to 460,000 barrels of day of refined fuel — gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. In a press release,

Merry Christmas from all of us at Glacier Toyota. Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you in 2015. God bless and safe travels

“Potential for up to 3,000 jobs with refinery.”

Black said that lenders are willing to put up money for the refinery but are insisting on “skin-in-the-game” from the government.

Black has been seeking debt guarantees from the federal government, and said he is offering compensation to the federal

GLACIER TOYOTA

and provincial governments to obtain them. Black told the Sentinel he was not ready to go in to further detail at the moment on what “compensation” looks like in this context, although he did say “it’s substantial.” That said, he says he does have condi-

tional support for debt guarantees from the federal Minister of Finance Joe Oliver. Reached for comment to confirm, the Department of Finance says they do not comment or speculate on possible actions. S ke e n a - B u l k l e y Valley MP Nathan

www.glaciertoyota.ca

Cullen, who is also the finance critic, said he’s spoken to people on the issue and said that the reception he’s seen has been lukewarm. “The loan guarantees did not seem to be something they were enthusiastic about,” he said. See OIL on Page 3

3187 Tatlow Road, Smithers, BC

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