S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 27 NO. 3
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Gov rejects planning money By JOSH MASSEY
AN ALLIANCE of northwestern municipalities formed in 2014 to push for a revenue sharing agreement with the provincial government for a cut of profits from resource development in the area has been turned down – at least for the time being. The Northwest Resource Benefits Alliance – which represents the communities in the regional districts of KitimatStikine, Bulkley-Nechako and Skeena-Queen Charlotte – has been seeking an amount in the hundreds of millions of dollars to be redistributed to the area for infrastructure and other upgrades. The communities would be accommodated under a single sharing agreement. In a letter from the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development dated April 22 and addressed to Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine chair Stacey Tyers, the government laid out the reason for rejecting a request for $1,131 million for planning and delaying any agreement. “The tone was a surprise. It was exactly the opposite of the previous correspondence, but we are still hopeful that we can go back to the table and talk to them,” said Tyers, adding that the alliance has already sent another letter “asking on a political level to meet again and try to get on track.” The money the group asked for was needed to do necessary legwork to secure a wide-reaching deal, she said. “To actually bring together all three regional districts is incredibly expensive and we would have to do that a couple times just to make sure that everybody is on the same page,” said Tyers. Local governments and the provincial government have already spent money planning for the agreement which they hope will be like the one the government has with industrialbased communities in the northeast called Fair Share. According to the government, it is too soon for a revenuesharing agreement to be signed and they are unwilling to commit more money for the initial planning at this point. “It is in our view, premature for the province to consider entering into any agreements that would see those revenues dedicated before they are realized,” says the government letter. “Future benefits from LNG development have not been incorporated into provincial revenue forecasts,” it continues. However Tyers said that the agreement would be based on new money in other sectors, not just the proposed liquefied natural gas industry. Despite 18 export plants proposed and 12 export licenses granted, not one of the gas companies has made up their mind to go ahead with their coastal liquefaction plants. “Mining, forestry, any resource development in our area really. We are looking at new revenue, we are not asking them for a piece of the revenue they currently have, we recognize that is committed elsewhere, but we are looking at new resource revenue,” said Tyers.
MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO
EVELYN POUSETTE tends to the tulips in her backyard, which have a special story behind their presence here in Terrace for the past several decades.
Touching history to local tulips
By MARGARET SPEIRS AS PEOPLE remember and mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands by the Canadians and other Second World War events, a part of that remembrance has lived in Terrace for more than 40 years. Yellow tulips given to veterans associations across Canada as thanks from the Dutch government for the liberation of Holland have been growing in Evelyn Pousette's
garden on the bench since 1974. And before that, they grew in her garden downtown where she and her husband lived before that. She says they just keep growing year after year. The exact year they were given to Canada wasn't known to her but she believes it may have been 1970 which was the 25th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Way back before she and her husband were married, they went out for
a drive one day and stopped at the top of Lanfear hill in the spot where their property is now, but which was just vegetation and land without any houses back then. She stood at the edge of the hill and her now-husband took a photo of her. On the back she wrote “I want to live here someday” then put it away in a drawer and forgot all about it.
Cont’d Page A9
Cont’d Page A9
Thank-you
Gone glaciers
Are you ready?
Veterans honoured for their roles in Second World War \COMMUNITY A10
What does climate change mean for the area’s glaciers? \NEWS A16
The Terrace Northmen are ready for what should be a tough rugby season \SPORTS A25