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www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 61 No. 41
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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Three of the Skeena-Bulkley Valley’s candidates for MP in the federal election turned out to the Kitimat All Candidates Forum. Left to right: NDP’s Nathan Cullen, Liberals’ Brad Layton, and Christian Heritage Party’s Don Spratt.
Candidates pitch platforms to Kitimat It was a debate of three of the five candidates running for MP in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding. Absent from the All Candidates Forum was Green Party candidate Jeannie Parnell, who was not expected to attend, and Conservation candidate Tyler Nesbitt, who, the candidate forum host explained, said he could not attend due to a family emergency. That left the NDP’s Nathan Cullen, the
Liberals’ Brad Layton, and the Christian Heritage Party’s Don Spratt on stage at Mount Elizabeth Theatre to woo voters to their side. The format was a series of pre-written questions given by the Rotary panel on stage to the candidates. The second half was questions directly from audience members. The opening remarks: SPRATT introduced himself as running for a party which
Love Kitimat launches with fair at Riverlodge. /page 12 Ice Demons open strong for season.
/page 16 PM477761
he says values openness and free speech. He spoke to his position as a pro-life candidate, saying you can’t express that view under the other parties. He also said free speech is being muzzled in the country and wants to push for more openness. “If we’re driven from the public square then the whole country is going to suffer for that.” CULLEN pointed to his 11 years on the
job as MP for this riding and noted his two main ambitions: putting the northwest on the map to be in the “national conversation” and secondly to work closely with all parties for the nation. “To varying degrees we’ve had some success,” he said. Now, he says the goal is to develop an economy that does not leave the planet worse off and to maintain a viable wild salmon economy. He also said rec-
onciliation and respect with First Nations is a priority as well to chart a path forward. LAYTON pointed to two issues, one that the Canadian government “has stopped listening” to people, and second that the incumbent MP “belongs to a political party that hasn’t offered a plan to Canada in this election.” He pointed to his experience with two terms on a municipal council and said his
experience has taught him to be an effective listener. He said the Liberal party has a strong platform of infrastructure development which he says will kickstart the economy. He said as our MP he will fight for local communities getting a fair share of that investment. He also said the Liberals have a plan to emphasize and work with First Nations. The debate began
with a question about the loss of scientific libraries in Canada which kicked off the candidates position on the state of research in the country. Cullen said the trend of muzzling scientists must stop, it’s research we pay for and must have access too. Layton said the Liberal party is committed to giving Canadian scientists the freedom to share information and not to be muzzled. Continued on page 6
Grizzlies abound in Kitimat Cameron Orr Numerous bear sightings in Kitimat have put residents on alert. The Conservation Officer Service confirmed there’s been some reports of grizzlies and black bears in the Kitimat area but so far human conflicts with them have been minimal. Terrace-based Conservation Officer Ryan Gordon says there’s been approximately three calls for black bears in Kitimat, and just a couple for grizzlies. “Typically there could be a few hanging around in town, [and] there’s probably a dozen more on the river that don’t generally want to be near people.” He said the sightings have been out in Cablecar and even in downtown Kitimat near the mall. The spike in bear sightings he said
“Grizzly...and black bears are trying to fatten up.”
is a reminder to take away bear attractants from your home. “It’s the time of year, and grizzly bears and black bears are trying to fatten up for winter. They can get pushed in to town if there’s attractants. We’ll still see fruit on trees...so they’ll be drawn in to town for that. And then garbage obviously smells good and fatty so they’ll be drawn in to town as well by unsecured garbage.” He said any instance of bear ‘conflict’ in Kitimat so far has been in black bears accessing garbage. He said there are no reports of grizzly bears breaking in to people’s garbage cans.
Gordon said taking care of your garbage is ultimately the best thing you can do to not attract bears. “Same with barbecues. Make sure your barbecues are all cleaned up,” he said. Gordon also encouraged people to call the RAPP hotline rather than the RCMP for animal issues as the RCMP can be busy with other files. The RAPP number is 1-877-9527277. Even if it’s not something COs will respond to calling in information helps. “Sometimes we might not respond to every complaint we get but it helps us pattern animals and when we do go set a trap it makes it easier for us to get a good location to set that trap and have a higher success rate that way.”