The Northern View, January 28, 2015

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PRINCE RUPERT VOL. 10 NO. 04

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

FREE

HONOURING THE FALLEN Feature Heart of our City: Sam Bryant Page A5

Business Port-related employment grows Page A11

Shaun Thomas / The Northern View

Prince Rupert RCMP members, along with other emergency personnel, march down Third Avenue West on Jan. 26 to honour Const. David Wynn who was murdered during a routine traffic stop in St. Albert, Alberta on Jan. 17.

Alaskans postpone ferry dock upgrades Multi-million dollar project sparks international incident Sports Rainmakers dominate Masset Page A15

Arts Pirates take over Lester Centre Page A22

BY SHAUN THOMAS PRINCE RUPERT / The Northern View

Prince Rupert found itself in the middle of an international incident last week as the Canadian government took aim at what it sees as protectionism by the U.S. government when it came to an approximately $15 million upgrade to the Alaska ferry terminal. As a taxpayer-funded body, the Alaskan government was required to adhere to Buy America legislation that would have required all of the steel for thedock upgrades to come from the United States. But since the terminal rested on land owned by the Canadian government and administered by the Prince Rupert Port Authority, Minister of International Trade Ed Fast said that simply would not be allowed to happen. “We have been clear: The application of protectionist Buy America provisions on

“The cancellation of the bid process ... should be a major concern.” - Scott Farwell Canadian soil is unacceptable and an affront to Canadian sovereignty,” he said in a statement on Jan. 19. “Buy America provisions deny both countries’ companies and communities the clear benefits that arise from our integrated supply chain and our commitment to freer and more open trade. We call upon our American friends to join with us to end the harm such policies are doing within our shared North American economy.” While the State of Alaska could have asked for a waiver of the clause in this case, it declined

to do so, leading to the Canadian government to sign an order under the rarely-used Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act to secure “Canada’s right to prevent compliance with the Buy America provisions for this project”. The result was the State of Alaska cancelling plans to move forward with the upgrades at this time. The decision puts at-risk a $15 million investment in the area, but Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain said he is confident the project will move ahead at a later date. “I talked to Minister Ed Fast, I talked to the deputy chief of staff for the Governor of Alaska and I’ve talked with MP Nathan Cullen ... the assessment I have is all parties know how this will affect things on the ground in Prince Rupert. I think once the election is over in the fall, the Alaska government will re-release the call for bids because they do feel this is an issue in an election year,” he said See TERMINAL on Page A2

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