Industry and Trade

AND

Industry PG 10

TRADES

WHERE’S THE BEEF?

EASIER TO FIND THAN EVER

COPPER DRILLING

PG 04

NEAR PRINCE GEORGE BORDER

DIGGING FOR

INDUSTRIAL TRUTH

PG 12

JANUARY 2014

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

Table of COntents PG 04 Heavy industry contractor moves to PG ....................................................................... PG 05 Prince George content on Forest Practices Board ....................................................... PG 07 UNBC gets pine beetle study money ............................................................................. PG 08 Where’s the beef? Easier to find than ever .................................................................... PG 10 Digging for industrial truth .............................................................................................. PG 12 How to handle a temporary loss of income .................................................................. PG 16 How to get noticed in a crowded job market ................................................................PG 18 LNG linked to local mine proposal ................................................................................. PG 20 Fighting for federal funding............................................................................................ PG 23 Building a First Nations and local economy ................................................................. PG 24 Forest industry challenges ahead .................................................................................. PG 25 Premier applauds Northern BC ....................................................................................... PG 28 The power of PG wind ...................................................................................................... PG 30 Xstrata Copper drilling near PG border ........................................................................

THE

PRINCE GEORGE

CITIZEN

General Inquiries | 250-562-2441 Publisher | Colleen Sparrow Editor | Neil Godbout Circulation | Alan Ramsay Advertising | Dave Smith Creative | Grace Flack

Please Recycle

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

T

Xstrata

COPPER MINING

NEAR PG BORDER

Story by Citizen Staff

Frank Peebles

Photo Credit: from the Xstrata Copper Canada Sustainability Report 2009

he closest prospecting to the cityy of Prince George g is years y away from ever being a mine, if there is even enough copper there to warrant such an operation.

Xstrata Copper Canada has been drilling exploratory holes less than 10 kilometres from the city’s northern boundary. The international mining giant has staked an area at Pilot Mountain and has already done some drilling. They are permitted to drill more, and company officials said they intend to do some of that work this summer, but the amount would be small.

“We’re basically just poking around, and that’s actually literal, to see what’s out there, if there is anything interesting,” said company spokesman Louis-Philippe Gariepy from their Canadian head office in Montreal.

“Quite honestly this is small-scale stuff. It is grassroots exploration.”

Their current permit, good through to the end of 2014, allows them to use a pickup to transport a small drill to the site, and extract core samples a total of 1,000 metres long from no more than six holes.

By contrast, another nearby mining project - the NewGold exploration site west of Prince George -drilled 260,000 metres of core sample last year.

Xstrata is not the first mining firm to be interested in the copper possibilities around Pilot Mountain. Residents in the area said that dribs and drabs of exploration has been happening for decades.

Although mining activity often means lucrative and abundant economic spinoff for a community, the closest homes to the Xstrata exploration are hoping they find too little copper to pique their interest.

“This is about the third or fourth year they’ve been exploring and before them it was Kaminko,” said Gary Nunley. “Word is there is a big copper deposit out there, but we don’t know if they’ve found enough to

make a mine. mine mine.””

“We are worried about our land values, values we are worried about our water quality, we are worried about having everything we’ve known destroyed [if they do open a full

“

“

4

“Word is there is a big copper deposit out there, but we don’t know if they’ve found enough to make a mine.”

mine],” said Pam Nunley. “I don’t know if you’ve seen any of the documentaries about what these mines do, but it isn’t nice and clean. We have fantastic water, fantastic wildlife, fantastic everything, and we don’t want that destroyed.”

The Nunley’s would be neighbours to any mine that would hypothetically be built. Their property is at the end of the Moldowan Forest Service Road - an offshoot of Pilot Mountain Road, which in turn intersects with Chief Lake Road. They have lived in this undeveloped wilderness area for more than 30 years.

Gariepy said the Nunley’s lifestyle is not threatened by Xstrata’s activities at least in the foreseeable future.

“When you look for mineral quantities necessary to invest in a mine, you first have to find enough indications that the minerals are there. You need solid evidence,” said Gariepy.

“With that property, we are in

the very preliminary stages and it takes years to get from there to the level of mining. At this stage, you’re really blind.

You drill sample holes and test the core to see what’s there. Anything? No? Then you drill a little to the left or a little to the right. Anything? No? Maybe? Then you drill again, and you keep testing to see if anything is discovered. You go along like that for a long, long time, always evaluating if it’s worth continuing.”

Anywhere from $100 million to $200 million is the typical investment in the exploration phase of a mine, if it keeps showing enough promise to ramp up the drilling program. To indicate the stage Xstrata is at on Pilot Mountain, they are slated to prepare four to six spots for drilling, each patch of land can be no larger than 20-metres-by20-metres. The investment for this is sevenfigure spending. Gariepy advised that community hopes or fears for a local Xstrata mine are far from a reality.

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

5

Heavy-Industry

Contractor Moves to PRINCE GEORGE Story by Citizen Staff

T

Frank Peebles

he region’s industrial engine is revving so much for a southern interior service company that they are now also a Prince George com-

pany.

Hoban Equipment Ltd. (HEL) is the latest industrial player to install itself at the hub of northern economic activity. The heavy construction and roadbuilding firm based in Vernon decided to set up a second home in Prince George, moving into the Danson Industrial Site neighbourhood just before Christmas.

Company vice-president of operations Will

Hoban said he was in Prince George so often he had a personal address in the city, so adding a business address was only logical.

“I’ve resided in Prince George since 2004,” he said. “I realized I was always in P.G. anyway, so it was a natural move. The corporate reasoning for us was better access to skilled trades and construction personnel. Most of our projects were in the north anyways. P.G. was a good, central location for the northeast as well as the northwest and the west coast. When you do projects in all those regions, this is the city that fits best.”

Cont’d on page 6

William Hoban , company vice-president of operations for Hoban Equipment Ltd. in their Prince George operation.

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

6 Cont’d from page 5 They purchased a shop d office ffi complex l on Mil k W and Milwaukee Way. IIt has a three-acre campus with just less than 20,000 square feet of repair space for their equipment maintenance program. The corporate space will be home to a team of projects managers, surveyors, quality control personnel and the like. Some will be there on a permanent basis and many will use it as a home base for project work across the northern region.

HEL is one of the few companies in the heavy construction field that keeps most of its machinery and labour force in-house. Most use subcontractors to bulk up their project teams, but HEL’s are mostly staff.

The corporate head office will continue to be in Vernon, since they are active across Western Canada. Northern B.C. is not their only hotbed of business.

“We have long-term contracts in place with some major companies in the north, and we try to focus on the larger projects - one to two years of construction,” said Hoban.

Some of the recent highlights include the new road construction done on Highway 97 between Sintich Road and Old Cariboo Highway and a 4-kilometre passing lane in the Fort Nelson area.

Hoban estimated that in nPrince George alone, last year, the company han hann dled 200,000 cubic metres of gravel and laid down 50,000 tonnes of asphalt.

The Highway 97 project won 2nd place in the Grading Contractor’s category in the provincial government’s annual Ministry of Transportation awards.

They won the trophy in the Safety and Innovation category, and won a design-engineering award in Saskatchewan as well.

The safety and innovation project that brought them such acclaim is something Hoban is particularly proud of. The company has a patent pending for a software system that works with paving equipment. It modernized the control systems for their crusher, and also sends alerts if a human gets too close to the machine’s most dangerous pieces.

The new location in Prince George is itself an innovation. The geographically central spot, and the network of roads and railways “will help reduce equipment downtime and increase the speed in which we can mobilize to our projects” when their fleet of scrapers and dump-trucks and other heavy machinery needs to be repaired or overhauled.

“The new office will bring our team together allowing a more collaborative approach to the project management process,” Hoban said.

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES PRINCE GEORGE CONTENT ON

Forest PracticeS Story by Citizen Staff

Frank Peebles

T

Board

he Forest Practices Board is changing chairs.

Since 2010, longtime Prince George forester Al Gorley was at the board’s helm. The new year began with a new person filling that position as Gorley moves on to other pursuits. Tim Ryan will now take the position. The spots on the FPB are appointed by provincial cabinet.

“The Forest Practices Board serves as the public’s watchdog on forest practices in British Columbia. I’m confident that Tim Ryan will serve British Columbians with the same commitment to sound forest practices that Al Gorley did over the past four years,” said Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Steve Thomson.

Gorley said, “Tim brings a wealth of forestry experience to the table, and staff and board members look forward to continuing to encourage sound management of B.C.’s forests under his leadership. We would also like to congratulate Bill McGill on his appointment to the role of vice-chair, and Ralph Archibald on his reappointment for another term. Both Bill and Ralph bring thoughtful

insight to the deliberations of the board and their experience and contributions are highly valued by all of us.”

McGill is a professor at UNBC and was recently the president of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce.

Mike Nash is another resident of Prince George included on the FPB team of directors.

Ryan is no stranger to this region. He once served as manager of forestry with the Cariboo Lumber Manufacturers Association and has more than 30 years of history working in the B.C. and Alberta forest industries, plus leadership positions in Manitoba, Ontario and Minnesota.

Prior to the FPB chairmanship he was chief forester and director of woodlands operations with Ledcor Resources and Transportation. A large part of his prior career was with Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd. where he was responsible for timberland operations, corporate forest and environmental policy and bioenergy.

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

8

UNBC GETS

pine beEtle Story by Citizen Staff

Frank Peebles

T

study money

he mountain pine beetle will continue to be under the UNBC microscope.

The Prince George university and four other partner universities (UBC, University of Alberta, Université de Montréal, and Université Laval) got confirmation this week that special funding will be available to continue the science projects already underway to perhaps combat the infestation of bugs threatening the North American boreal forest.

It already devastated the B.C. pine lands and is moving east and north with enough force to alarm the keepers of the national economy. The new money - more than $4 million - comes from the the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The research already done was funded by Natural Resources Canada and forest industry private interests. The grant announced on Thursday will keep the science operational for another five years for the research group known collectively as TRIA-Net. “So far, the TRIA project has been able to sequence the genomes of the beetle, the tree, and the fungus that allows the insect

to break down the tree’s defenses. We have discovered many new aspects about the physiology of the organisms in the system,” said UNBC professor Dr. Dezene Huber, a Canada Research Chair in Forest Entomology and Chemical Ecology.

He and fellow professor Dr. Brent Murray have been involved in mountain pine beetle research for the past five years.

“With TRIA-Net, we intend to look at how differences in a host tree’s defenses affect pine beetle larvae survival over the deep cold of winter,” Huber said.

Murray said, “We will be investigating how the insect might spread into new regions, like the jack pine forests of Alberta and beyond. We’ll also study genomic variation across the entire Western North American distribution of the pine beetle to uncover differences in adaptation among populations, and explore how they interact with the various host trees and their environments. This new funding will also allow us to train many new researchers at the graduate and postdoctoral levels, who will then be well-positioned to help advance Canada’s forest industry.”

While the five universities involved in TRIA-Net are each contributing knowledge and data to the mountain pine beetle issue (and the general fields of forestry and insect study), this region is ground zero for the epidemic and the studies.

“UNBC’s involvement is [integral, particularly in] providing answers to how beetles contend with winter and other stressors that they encounter during their life cycle,” said the network’s director, Janice Cooke of the University of Alberta. “The ecosystems and communities in B.C.’s Central Interior have felt the impacts of the epidemic. Having grown up in Prince George, I have witnessed this with dismay. The research that will be conducted at UNBC will be important not only in combatting the current spread of mountain pine beetle into new regions, but also in addressing the next outbreak that arises in B.C.’s Central Interior.”

The information the research network uncovers will, it is hoped, provide data and advice to industry, governments, and communities in time for them to take meaningful action.

Dr. Dezene Huber (left), and Dr. Brent Murray.

Photo from UNBC’s website

Mountain pine beetle red attack tree on Connaught Hill.

Citizen photo by Davd Mah Pine beetle photo from Natural Resources Canada website.

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

JANUARY 2014

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

10

Where’s the beEF?

Karen Kellett, local rancher and beef education consultant.

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten.

Easier to find than ever.

C

attle ranchers are struggling with a new sensation lately: success.

After the industry took a spectacular blow that closed many ranches and ended many beef farmers’ careers (and hurt the service sectors connected to it), a campaign of innovation and reinvention took place. The results are now turning the colour of the financial ink from emergency red to fertile black, since the BSE crisis (a cow-based disease that forced trading partners to close their borders to Canadian beef of any sort) happened 10 years ago.

“We are about back to 2002 levels again,” said Mark Grafton of the Prince George Cattlemen’s Association and, with wife Laura, manager of the Bar K Ranch, the area’s largest cattle spread. “We

have seen reasonably positive commodity prices lately, we have an exciting agreement now with the European Union coming on-stream here soon, they are really wanting our product. And we are still working on Asia, there are some positive signs there for the future.”

What kept the industry - about as old as Canada itself - alive through the mad days of “mad cow disease” was the Canadian consumer. When the science confirmed the Canadian beef herd was healthy but international markets remained closed for political reasons, some home grown ire was raised. Domestic sales went significantly higher, and got many ranchers through.

There was public demand, however, (echoed by the international import community) that the

industry become transparent. Every cut of meat should be tested and traceable. The Verified Beef Production system took hold, and other initiatives to ensure record keeping, health testing, quality control policies and consumer traceability were the best in the world.

This was done, but the next evolution in that food safety culture is now a local priority. Grafton said a push is on in this region to get ranchers signed up for the Beef InfoXchange System (BIXS), so consumers have unprecedented information on whatever they have sizzling on the stove.

It is an information-sharing system between farmers and ranchers that spotlights the leading edge of safety issues and best practices as they come up.

Story by Citizen Staff

Frank Peebles

“Only 20 per cent of B.C. ranches are signed up for this program, it is voluntary,” said Karen Kellett, co-proprietor with husband Dave of Northern Farm Products and Sweder Berries U-Pick, a commercial farming operation including berries, veggies and cattle. “In other provinces it is virtually 100 per cent. B.C. is behind and we really shouldn’t be.”

Grafton said other industries - pork, poultry, sheep, etc. - are also undertaking versions of the program making it all the more important for beef producers to join and stay at the forefront of the livestock sector.

He added that a new program is also afoot specifically for B.C. beef and aimed directly at the relationship between rancher and beef consumers.

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

(The program) would give the consumer the best chance they have ever had to know exactly what they are getting, where it came from, and how to look for more of that in the future.

“

“

“This i an id h came originally i i ll is idea that from the retailers,” Grafton said. Its working title is the Beef Industry Alliance Program. It would be a cooperative link between rancher, feedlot, slaughterhouse, retail outlet and consumer. All the steps in the journey from the corral to the kitchen would be available to the buyer at the butcher’s counter.

“The attributes of the program would be designed around consumer preferences. It would give the consumer the best chance they have ever had to know exactly what they are getting, where it came from, and how to look for more of that in the future,” Grafton said.

Kellett is doing a one-on-one version of this right now, in person as the local Meet A Rancher / Behind The Beef ambassador of the BC Cattlemen’s Association. She rotates around the city’s Save-On-Foods locations to explain beef - the product and the industry to anyone with questions.

“We realize the modern consumer is interested in knowing where their food comes from, sometimes pretty exactly,” Grafton said. “This started out as a big-city initiative.

Most consumers of beef are in large urban areas but the producers of beef are in rural areas, so we [BCCA] organized a number of ranchers to travel to the bigger urban centres and be on-site in the grocery stores to talk about what they do and what the consumer is buying. It was a huge

success. People wanted to discuss farming practices, environmental practices, animal welfare practices, food safety, a whole lot of things and the best way to address all those

questions is directly, in person.

“We We are very lucky in Prince George to bee able to do that with someone - Karen - whoo has a lot of personal experience in the industry. Go ahead and ask her anything, I doubt you’ll stump her.”

Karen is one of 19 “beef educators” across the province set up in grocery stores to have personal conversations with the public as they browse for their groceries.

Kellett said everything from hormones to antibiotics to fertilizers has been brought up in those conversations, and she is well versed in the national standards and local realities of those topics.

“People are primarily interested in learning about the actual cuts of meat, and the best way to prepare it,” she said. “As the beef educator, you are there to provide all of that information and clear up any misconceptions, but people have been very inquisitive and respectful even if they have concerns about the industry. It is not a place where people bring up confrontations, but they are encouraged to ask me questions about anything on their mind about the beef industry.

I love talking about ranching and preparing food.”

11

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

DIGGING FOR

industrial

Truth Story by Citizen Staff

Frank Peebles

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES fracto the hydraulic frac turing (known as fracking) process of unearthing liquified natural gas, it the GBC they turned to for ongoing data collection strategies.

GBC is also, at the urging of First Nations and local governments in the northeast, look-

We provide data without any sort of interest. And we present our results to everybody. It is public data, free for everybody, and independent.

“

“

T

h public he bli agency that digs the northern region the most is Geoscience BC (GBC).

The agency is independent of government, independent of industry, paid for by the taxpayer and the work they do is public information. They study the geological features of subsurface British Columbia, generating data that is reliable for environmental protection groups, mining and petroleum companies, First Nations, local governments, and anyone interested in what lies beneath the ground.

A considerable amount of their work happens in northern B.C. due to the interest in natural gas, minerals, oil, geothermal and other uses for subterranean commodities.

“We are the honest broker of science,” said GBC’s president and chief executive officer Robin Archdekin. “We provide data without any sort of interest. And we present our results to everybody. It is public data, free for everybody, and independent. And it is responsive - we are looking at the areas of concern specifically.”

After the BC Oil and Gas Commission connected small earthquakes in northeastern B.C.

13

ing at how fracking might be affecting the region’s water table, and also trying to locate saline aquafirs in the region that are no use for drinking or watering vegetation and thus a great substitute in the fracking process, sparing communities and the general environment from so much fresh water used instead.

Their data is, however, just as usefu ul for direct implementation useful by industriall interests interests.

“The easiest easiest way to get the interest of the juniorr [mining] exploration companies is [GBC’s] GBC’s] mapping programs,” explained Dave ave Forshaw, co-founder of the Northernn Interior Mining Group and a town councillor ncillor for Mackenzie. He is a veteran prospector. rospector. “They pinpoint places that are interesting, that have potential. Iff Geoscience B.C. finds an area that’s mineralized, and they provide trustworthyy numbers for what’s below the surface, it can make a big difference in where exploration oration should be done. All the junior exploration oration companies - hundreds of them - are looking at that data. They want to be able to focus their activities as efficiently as possible.”

Archdekinn said it is no coincidencee that the nine years of GBC’s existence have also been timess of significant growth owth in mineral exploraploration in the province.

Cont’d on page 14

Robin Archdekin, Geoscience BC president and chief executive officer.

Submitted photo

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

14 Cont’d from page 13 “ ’ produced “We’ve d d geoscience ddata supporting record mineral claim staking, and helped British Columbia jump from less than six per cent of Canadian exploration investment in 2001 to almost 20 per cent last year,” he said.

While the companies doing the main mining and petroleum extraction tend to be billion-dollar corporate enterprises, the ground-level exploration companies are often small, sometimes just a family or lone individual. They haven’t the financial wherewithal to study the glacial remains, volcanic layers, and other eons-old folds that obscure the elements underground.

Prince George is a prime example site, in the realm of natural gas. This city and much of the surrounding region is known to be loaded in the

stuff. But the underground terrain is so undulating with thick volcanic characteristics that no private-sector i t t companies i have h l t d to t volunteered invest in researching it. it Why would they, they when the gas is relatively easy to access in the northeast.

That northeast gas will not last forever, said Archdekin, so if GBC does the research in the next few years ahead, this region will be data-ready when the northeast industry starts looking for new ground. The Nechako Basin (and the similar Bowser Basin in the Skeena watershed) would then be a sensible next area of development, keeping B.C.’s petroleum economy moving forward almost seamlessly.

But that data would not be useful for exclusively for natural gas interests, it has a host of uses, all available thanks to GBC. The agency is also working closely with Cariboo-Chilkotin aboriginal interests. The remote

Photos on this page from Geoscience BC 2011 brochure

First Nations communities south of Prince George and west of Quesnel/ Williams Lake/100 Mile House have little energy security. Hydro lines are few, diesel generators are expensive and hard on the environment.

Geothermal points, if they exist, would be reliable and local sources of power for those communities and perhaps also boost the provincial energy grid.

GBC is involved in that search as well.

“We have a track record that should give everyone in the debate confidence about the quality of the information we deliver,” Archdekin said. “We work effectively and at low cost to provide important independent and timely information that guides environmentally and economically sound resource exploration and development.”

The bang for the buck has even more evidence.

The government has provides GBC with operating

grants b $$50 million, ll d off about and sometimes they acquire partnership funding from the stakeholders involved in their studies (data influence is never part of any GBC partnership).

Only five per cent of that income has gone to running the office and public outreach.

The agency has come to the end of its current operational contract. Archdekin is cautiously optimistic the provincial government will renew their mandate.

“We see ourselves as helping support the new, stronger economy of B.C. while protecting environmental values,” Archdekin said. “We enable rational discussion around concerns and how to develop.”

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

JANUARY 2014

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

16

HOW TO HANDLE

LOSS OF

INCOME

M

illions of North Americans are struggling to make ends meet, and data suggests many adults are living paycheck to paycheck. A study released in 2012 by the Consumer Federation of America and Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards revealed roughly 38 percent of Americans stay afloat by living paycheck to paycheck. In 2010, a national survey showed that around 60 percent of Canadians would be in financial peril if their paychecks were delayed even one week.

Household liabilities, including mortgages and rents, as well as other established debt makes it impossible for some people to remain financially sound without a steady income.

Should a circumstance like a medical illness, loss of job or furlough in pay delay a salary, many people would quickly find themselves in financial hot water. Despite conventional wisdom that suggests people should have enough money set aside to cover at least six months’ of expenses, many people do not even come close to this amount. So what do you do if your are faced with a temporary loss of pay? Everyone’s situation is unique, but the following tips can help men and women weather the storm of financial uncertainty. * Remain calm. When money suddenly stops coming in, remain calm and assess the situation. Now is the time to take out financial worksheets and bank statements. Add up the amount of money you have in the bank and any assets that can be liquidated without penalty.

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

17

Compare thi to t the th money that th t is i spentt this each month. Once you have an accurate picture of your finances, you can establish a plan. * Explore assistance programs. Laid off workers may be eligible for unemployment benefits. Be sure to file for unemployment as soon as possible.

While unemployment benefits won’t equal your previous earnings, the money can help pay bills until you are able to get back on track. Individuals sidelined from work by an injury may be eligible for compensation through worker’s programs or any personal insurance plans.

“

families who work together can ride out the situation successfully.

“

* Talk to your creditors. It is best to be open and honest with creditors so that this blip on your financial history doesn’t end up causing any long-term damage to your credit. Many creditors have contingency plans in place and will be willing to work with individuals who anticipate trouble paying their bills. You may be able to temporarily freeze accounts or waive payments for a certain period of time without penalty. If you have a store credit card, you may be able to negotiate a cash settlement to wipe out the debt. Some creditors will take as little as a few dollars a month as good-faith payments. Just don’t wait until it’s too late to negotiate with creditors. * Find ways to cut back. Lack of work may have already cut out some of your daily expenses, such as commuting costs. However, now is also the time to assess if any luxuries can be dispensed of to save money. Think about cancelling expensive mobile phone plans or cable service. Cease having dinners out on the town or ordering take-out.

Kids may need to make concessions on extracurricular activities that cost money. These luxuries can be restored when a steady income is once again coming in. * Talk to family members. Do not hide the situation from friends and fam-

ily members. Be honest with family members about the situation, and they help Although may offer advice or some financial help. loans between family and friends can be tricky, they may be your best option to stay afloat financially during a rough patch. * Steer clear of credit cards. Many credit cards come with steep interest rates, so using credit cards to secure cash advances or make purchases is a risky proposition. Explore other options before resorting to credit cards to bail you out. * Be open to new employment. Keep an open mind when searching for a new job. You may need to settle for something part-time until a fulltime opportunity comes along. Think about looking outside of your normal line of work and into industries that are thriving even in tough financial times. * Stick together. Financial uncertainty can take its toll on a family. Naturally, losing a job or having a temporary loss of pay can take its toll on morale and put added stress on relationships. But families who work together can ride out the situation successfully.* Make plans for the future. Realize this type of situation can happen again, and commit to making future plans for emergency savings and other coping strategies. Find ways to achieve a relatively stable nest egg so that you can weather any future financial storms.

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

18

HOW TO GET

noticed IN A

crowded

job market

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

19

“

“

F

inding a new job is never an easy task. That task grew even more difficult over the last half decade, when a struggling economy forced many companies to lay off workers and institute hiring freezes. As a result, unemployment numbers rose, and many out-of-work men and women found themselves searching for ways to stand out among a crowded pool of applicants.

Standing out in a crowded job market has always been tough, but many professionals find it even more difficult to get noticed now, when many companies request prospective employees apply for job postings via the Internet. That process can be frustrating, as even the most qualified applicants can easily get lost among the myriad of workers all applying for the same position. But as daunting as finding a new job may seem to those looking for work, there are ways to stand out among the masses. * Go the extra mile when sending your application. Many online job postings provide a link or an email address where applicants can fill out an application or send their resumes. This is a necessary step, and applicants should follow the directions in the posting. But applicants who really want to get noticed can take the extra step of finding the contact information for the company’s hiring manager and sending their resume directly to that person’s email address. Include the title of the position you’re applying for in the subject line of your email, and cut and paste your cover letter into the body of the email. In addition to sending your email to the company’s hiring manager, consider CC’ing the person who might be your boss if you were to get the position. * Tighten things up. Your resume should reflect your work experience, but you want to focus primarily on the experience and skills that are relevant to the position. You can list past positions or internships you’ve had, but keep the synopsis of those positions brief if they bear little relevance to the position for which you’re applying. The main focus of your resume should be the things you have done in the past that make you the best candidate for this job. This might change as you apply for various positions, but tailor each resume to each specific position. * Make your resume download-friendly.

Applying for positions but getting little response despite your qualifications? Chances are your resume might not be download-friendly. Bullet points and boxes might look good to you, but if the hiring manager on the receiving end of your resume does not have the same version of the

program you’re using, that resume might look like a scrambled mess by the time it’s downloaded. In such instances your resume is almost certain to end up in the scrap heap, no matter how qualified you might be.

When uploading your resume to a company Web site or emailing it to a hiring manager, choose a format they can easily download. A PDF, for example, is a format that’s easy to download and unlikely to scramble. * Beware of hyperlinks. Adding hyperlinks to a resume can be hit or miss. When it’s a hit, a hiring manager can click on a link in your resume and be taken directly to samples of your work.

However, if you’re asked to submit your resume via an online application instead of sending it directly to a hiring manager’s email address, then those same hyperlinks might be relegating your application to the trash bin before it’s ever seen.

Applying for positions but getting little response despite your qualifications?

Chances are your resume might not be download-friendly.

That’s because the database may be programmed to associate any documents with hyperlinks as spam, in which case the hiring manager will never see your application or resume. Hyperlinks can be useful and help you stand out, but only when they’re employed under the right circumstances. * Include social media profiles. More and more companies want employees who are familiar with social media, which can work to an applicants’ advantage or prove detrimental. If you have been responsible regarding your use of social media, conducting yourself in a professional matter and even benefitting your existing employer, by all means share these profiles with potential employers. But if you have traditionally used social media purely as a social tool and not in a professional manner, then it bears little relevance to your job search and likely won’t help you stand out for the right reasons.

Standing out in a crowded job is rarely easy.

But savvy professionals can employ a few tricks of the trade to stand out as they search for their next jobs.

Many businesses now require you to submit your application and resume online.

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

20

LNG LINKED TO

locaL Mine PROPOSAL Story by Citizen Staff

Frank Peebles

T

he LNG sandman cast a spell and put Prince George’s most immanent mine project to sleep. But if the liquefied natural gas industry wakes up, likely so will the Angus Project.

This proposed mine is a rarity, in the industry. It isn’t a mineral or a gem, it isn’t a commodity sought after by the public.

The Angus Project, owned and developed by Stikine Energy, is all about sand - a specific kind of sand- frac sand. It is used specifically in the recipe for hydraulic fracturing (the high-pressure injection system used to liberate LNG from its underground chambers), and the two northern B.C. This proposed claims staked

by Stikine are mine is a rarity, in the nearest the industry. It isn’t supplies to the busy natural a mineral or a gem, gas activities in it isn’t a commodity the northeast quadrant of the sought after by the province. These public. activities are idling or progressing slowly while major infrastructure proposals are explored.

Stikine has invested more than a quarter of a million dollars so far to test the material and analyze the Angus site’s potential (they also did work at their Nonda claim near the Yukon border). At Angus, 11 holes were drilled in July, 2011, producing a total of 1,850 metres of core. The grid covered a space about 2,500 metres long and 430 metres wide.

The core samples were crushed and studied at a mill station in Abbotsford. The results from both sites were energizing to the Stikine staff.

Cont’d on page 22

Submitted photo

“

“

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

JANUARY 2014

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

Cont’d from page 20 They verified that they hhad d lik l di d significant i ifi t amounts t likely discovered of a material coveted by industrial interests virtually next door to these potential mines.

“Stikine plans to sell frac sand to the northeast B.C. market to meet the demands of oil and gas companies operating in the region,” said a technical report and preliminary economic assessment written for Stikine by veteran geologists Bob Lane and John Degrace and filed with the provincial government in late 2011.

“Currently, there are no developed sources of frac sand in northeast B.C.,” the report explained.

“Oil and gas companies operating in the region must import frac sand from out-of-province locations such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the US. Stikine will have a competitive advantage over current suppliers, because the project’s proximity to northeast B.C. shale basins will result in lower transportation and delivered frac sand costs compared with out-of-province suppliers.

“As shale gas projects continue to be developed in the Horn River and Montney Basins, the demand for frac sand is likely to increase significantly over the coming years. There is a viable market for the commodity in a number of nearby developing unconventional shale-gas basins in northeast B.C.” The potential for LNG is so significant, during the last election the current provincial government campaigned on it as its industrial priority. Dozens of capital projects - pipelines, drilling programs, terminals, etc. - are proposed to utilize B.C.’s LNG, but most sod hasn’t been turned, pending environmental and aboriginal consultations.

Until it does get the green light, said Stikine president and CEO Scott Broughton, it seems their mine development plans are at a standstill.

“We are stuck in this poor funding market, so we are stalled,” he said. During the global economic downturn, junior mining companies (the

Submitted photo

INDUSTRY AND TRADES small operators doing the preliminary searching and testing for mine possibilisupply pp y and that lower ties) were cut off from cash. cash Investors would only put money is sure things, not small or risky busi- cost for a strategic material. A lot of these guys treat it like a consumable like diesel and right now ness ventures like Stikine.

“We have done lots of baseline work, we are that works for them, but the alternative to our ready to file applications, but in the absence of sand supply is shipping it in from North Dakota sufficient funding, we are not going ahead right and Wisconsin. We are in their back yard and we now,” Broughton said, but stressed that the sand- have enough to last the life of the drilling prostone is still sitting there, just waiting for the LNG gram.”

If the mine were to begin work tomorrow, it projects to get the green light, triggering investwould likely produce ment in LNG work, about 1 million tonnes triggering hydraulic of frac sand per year. fracturing activity, trigThe potential for “We struggled with gering the need for what is the right size enourmous amounts of LNG is so significant, to build?,” Broughton frac sand. said, before they When those ecoduring the last arrived at the producnomic dominoes election the current tion plan they did. start to fall, guessed However, he stresses Broughton, they will provincial government that if demand is more fall decisively and the drawn out, or in a bigcampaigned on it as Angus project will ger hurry, the operalaunch. The speculative its industrial priority. tional plan can be investors will come to adjusted accordingly. the table at that point.

As it is on paper, curThe other investment scenario, the one Broughton prefers, is the rently, it would involve a number of people in the LNG proponents themselves could come to him on-site mining, the processing plant workers, and directly, now, and secure the asset. He could then shipping personnel to get the sand to the rigs. get working on drilling and milling to have the Broughton estimated about 300 people in the network of direct jobs. sand supply ready when they are.

There would also be indirect jobs, and many “It’s surprising to me that oil and gas producers can spend a ginourmous amount of money other jobs in the startup phase. The claim is locat- ginoromous! - in setting up water supplies, logis- ed almost laughably close to major infrastructure, tics, drill pads, all that stuff - and they have done a as most mines go, only about 25 kilometres down great job of driving their costs down as an industry the Darby Forest Service Road from Highway 97 in recent times - but they aren’t locking onto this and CN’s north/south rail lines. The length of comopportunity with frac sand,” he said. “Frac sand mon electricity cable and common natural gas is probably 10 to 20 per cent of their completion pipe for their utilities would be even shorter. Their costs, a huge number, a strategic material, and if startup costs would be minimal compared to most they don’t have a ready supply there are expen- mines.

“The mining concept is based on a series of sive standby delays. I’m amazed they [LNG companies] haven’t come to us to ensure themselves that adjacent pits of increasing dimensions, which will

“

“

22

Submitted photo

ll f the th progresallow for sive backfilling of tailings and avoid the need for an external tailings management facility,” said the technical report. “This concept has considerable environmental and cost benefits. The objective of the processing plant will be to liberate sandstone into specifically sized frac sand. The proposed process will be entirely mechanical, and will require no chemical treatments.”

The project is about 60 kilometres north of Prince George, not far from the community of Bear Lake.

According to Stikine’s research, “Almost all of the Angus project is overlaid by the traditional territory of the McLeod Lake First Nation, with some of Stikine’s claim area extending into Lheidli T’enneh First Nation. The West Moberly First Nation is also a band of consideration in Stikine’s plans.”

Some preliminary consultations have occurred with both the general public and the affected First Nations, said Broughton, but until the project has a fiscal mandate to move ahead, there is little need to go any further with community outreach.

Broughton did stress, though, that the economic impacts will be centred almost entirely on the logal region.

According to the technical report “Duz Cho Construction Ltd. of the McLeod Lake First Nation, and Radius Drilling Corporation of Prince George have already done site work,” as a start to that spinoff, plus hiring the analytical services of Lane and DeGrace, helicopter time, surface geology work, a small drilling program, some heavy equipment and some truck hauling.

Broughton is waiting for the LNG alarm to sound, waking up the industry that will, if all goes according to plan, inject substantially more into the immediate vicinity’s economy as it injects sand into the natural gas industry of the northeast.

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

FIGHTING FOR

federal Funding Story by Citizen Staff

Frank Peebles

New loggers in the Prince George region are not thought of as habitual welfare recipients, even if they once were.

The Central Interior Logging Association took exception to comments made in 2013 by federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney in which he told his provincial counterparts he was planning to axe hundreds of millions of current training dollars because they were not having the desired effect of getting un- or under-employed workers into productive jobs. Kenney said in media discussions on the topic that the current Labour Market Agreement fosters “habitual welfare recipients” and wasted money by giving such people no more than a polished resume and some job interview orientation. “[I take] offense to Kenney’s sweeping comments and generalizations about trainees,” said CILA executive director MaryAnne Arcand.

“Programs like ours have [put people who want to work] but couldn’t access the industry because they couldn’t afford training, into real jobs. Without them in the seat, the machine or truck would be sitting idle. [These employees] are legitimate, effective, and meet the needs of the industry. To label these folks as ‘habitual welfare recipients’ and ‘not workers’ is not only unfair, it is untrue. They are now fully and productively employed, contributing to the economy, and enjoying a much improved lifestyle for themselves and their families.“ Kenney’s B.C. ministerial counterpart is Prince George MLA Shirley Bond. She and the other provincial ministers responsible for labour and skills training met together with Kenney in the wake of his statements and announcement about scrapping the Labour Market Agreement (LMA). Bond said they were unanimously united against changing the system.

“Ministers were very clear about the effectiveness of these programs,” Bond said. “In no way is it training for training’s sake. It is doing what it was designed to do. Throughout the entire LMA document it references the people we are tailoring our programs for. Now, due to a shift in thinking, the most vulnerable Canadians are at risk.”

The new plan proposed by Kenney called for the private sector to buy in with financial contributions to go along with provincial and federal dollars. Bond said the problems with this were numerous, like small business being unable to afford it compared larger companies, a smaller investment pot, less uniform programing from region to region, etc.

“I have spoken to organizations that offer these programs,” Bond said. “The statistics tell us that some individuals require extra assistance, yes, but that is their best chance at moving into the workforce. Many are getting opportunities for employment they never had and never would have had were it not for these programs. Without programs like this, there are people who would be left on the employment sidelines. To all the ministers’ credit we were united that these vulnerable Canadians need these programs.”

Bond said Kenney showed signs of flexibility she had not seen prior to the group meetings held in Toronto. She also saw a greater willingness from the provincial ministers to spend more time together expressing their group wishes to the federal level, spreading best practices, and perhaps whittling away some of the inter-provincial roadblocks to grassroots employment.

“We have no argument that employers could be more involved, and we definitely appreciate the concept of up-skilling, but we want to make sure people not in the job market get into the job market. It’s a fundamental difference in thinking.

But minister Kenney opened the door to further discussion and flexibility and we appreciated that.”

If the federal proposal holds true, and the province were to pay the difference to maintain the same programs, it would cost B.C. taxpayers $80 million out of provincial coffers but the same federal taxes would still be paid to Ottawa. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

“I think Minister Kenney has a much better view of the effectiveness of the programs we have designed. We expressed that. We hope that makes a difference,” she said.

Arcand said CILA had trained almost 200 new loggers using the current system and the hiring rate was 100 per cent. Their companion organization the Interior Logging Association had an 87 per cent hiring rate for its similar program. Also, she said, the followup feedback from the employers has been overwhelmingly positive about the trainees. “[Losing your training program] is terrible news for our company,” Annie Horning, CEO of Excel Transportation told Arcand when Kenney’s proposal was announced. “We are looking to expand and grow. What is the point if we don’t have drivers? We have had huge success with the drivers coming out of your program and if we want to bring high standards back to the driving profession, we need your program to assist us.”

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

24

Building a first nations and

local economy SStory tory by

by Citizen Ci izen Staff Cit Stafff

Frank Peebles

Britco Factory Floor Photo from Britco website

in Western Canada.

“We are excited about working with Lheidli T’enneh – this is a powerful partnership,” said Britco’s president Mike Ridley. “Lheidli T’enneh is a nation that is business savvy and our partnership will generate a lot of value for our customers, community partners and other stakeholders.”

“

We are excited about working with Lheidli T’enneh – this is a powerful partnership

“

B

uilding the future of northern B.C. also has an element of building up local First Nations.

Britco - a B.C. company that constructs temporary, mobile buildings - is a leading supplier of structures to industrial firms. Work camps, field offices, short-term classrooms, etc. are built in Britco’s various factory locations.

The company signed a local First Nation to be one of their partner agencies. A memorandum of understanding was signed this month with the Lheidli T’enneh establishing a Prince George-based business shared between the two entities. The LTFN’s sales territory would be their large traditional territory and some neighbouring regions.

“Britco and Lheidli T’enneh have a lot to offer each other,” said LTFN Chief Dominic Frederick. “Britco’s commitment to excellence and to aboriginal partnerships combined with Lheidli T’enneh’s knowledge of the local and regional market is a partnership that will create opportunities for both parties.”

In 2013, Britco opened a modular building rental business branch office in Prince George and has seen its business in the region expand significantly, according to company officials. With half of its approximately 1,000 employees located in B.C., Britco’s growth in recent years has been the result of the investment in the energy sector

Detailed terms of the deal were not disclosed but both parties said it would “provide jobs and skills training opportunities in the construction trades” for members of the LTFN. Britco has partnerships with other aboriginal groups as well. They have a jobs and training agreement with the Penticton Indian Band and Seabird Island Band, each one located close to one of Britco’s manufacturing plants. Britco has a deal with the

’alaams Band similar to the LTFN pact, p , Lax Kw’alaams eing near to one of the company’s both being al outreach and sales branches in the regional rth. A similar partnership exists on the B.C. north. oast with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. south coast co recognizes and respects the unique “Britco mstances of each First Nation and circumstances inal community, and is committed to Aboriginal ping new and creative approaches to developing unities in communities where opportunities Britco has operations or projects,” dley. “Britco is commitsaid Ridley. ted to meaningful, progressivee and respectful ement with engagement nal s. aboriginal

Chief Domonic Frederick Citizen photo

by David Mah

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

FOREST INDUSTRY

JANUARY 2014

25

ChalLEnges

Ahead Story by Citizen Staff

Frank Peebles

Story on page 26

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

26

James Gorman, Council of Forest Industries CEO. Photo from woodbusiness.ca

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

L

ocal forestry ffortunes have h i pains i still ill to some contraction be felt term prognosis is very felt, but the long long-term healthy, as is the provincial forest industry.

A panel of four forest industry players took the stage at the Premier’s Natural Resources Forum at the Prince George Civic Centre. They took turns offering their insights.

The panel included - Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Management Steve Thomson; - Council of Forest Industries CEO James Gorman; - Dunkley Lumber vice-president Jason Fisher; - West Fraser vice-president Chris McIver “Industry is moving cautiosly,” said Gorman, who’s group represents wood enterprises of all sizes, all across the province. “We are trying to work with government to increase certainty around timber supply, so each community and each company can plan accordingly. There is a fundamental fact [the shortfall in merchantable trees due to the Mountain Pine Beetle disaster], and that is going to require some adjustments.”

One of the examples, he said, was the unprecedented deal done this past year between major competitors Canfor and West Fraser to swap each other’s interests in one community in order to consolidate and save their operations in another (Quesnel and

Houston).

“W th Central C t l Interior I t i “We see the in the next couple of years as very challenging,” said McIver. “The U.S. south does have a timber surplus.

You will see, for a time, stable pricing for wood produced down there. As we right-size in the Interior of B.C., you’ll see things turn good again around this region, but there are some hard times and hard decisions ahead in the short-term. But long-term, we think this will be a great place for investment.”

Two of the saving factors in the forest industry, cushioning the sector from the crushing fiscal realities of the U.S. construction collapse and global economic downturn, was opening up trade relations in Asia.

Japan was already a valued customer of B.C. wood construction products, but China also became a major buyer just when building in America dried up.

Since then, China and Japan have remained and the United States is slowly returning to the purchasing table.

The second major momentum for the B.C. forest industry was the advent of new, high-tech wood products. Glu-laminate and cross-laminate building products are now a thriving item on the wood menu, as evidenced by the components going into the new Wood Innovation and Design Centre in downtown

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES Prince George George.

“It’s great to do demonstration projects in other markets throughout the world, but when you see it in the domestic commercial market, you know it is really taking off,” said McIver of the engineered wood culture now developing. “This is a gamechanger for us. We can take wood products from B.C. and compete directly with concrete and steel - and, we believe, in a sustainable way.”

He credited the provincial government for retooling the B.C. Building Code to allow for sixstory buildings built entirely of wood. The wood industry will do better now that there are products and regulations in place for construction projects like small commercial high-rises and strip-malls.

However, McIver cautioned that one architectural firm in the United States was working on the specs for a 40-story wood tower.

“B.C. has been way ahead of everybody on this, and it is spreading across Canada now,” but there was no room to rest on the current building codes and not keep advancing the province’s base industry.

Premier Christy Clark was the keynote speaker on the forum’s opening day and said government data indicated B.C. forestry was going to generate

25,000 new jobs j in the next 10 years. y .

She and minister Thomson each stressed d the importance of the ongoing review of the B.C. Timber Sales organization. They took turns explaining that this review, called for loudly by industry, was not complete but would set the table for much of the policies that would follow.

Items like tenure reform (the places major companies are allowed to harvest wood on an ongoing basis) could not occur until that process was complete.

Another significant challenge, but also an exciting opportunity, according to the forestry officials, was the skilled labour shortage being felt across all sectors of the economy.

“We are not sure we have the training alignment quite right,” said Gorman. “I know that is the focus of the Jobs Plan and I know Minister [Shirley Bond, responsible for jobs and skills training] has turned her mind to that,” so there is optimism the correct course material and practical learning experiences would soon be accessible to a new wave of forestry workers.

“He used to be in charge of the education system [in his previous career] so he should know,” said Clark. “You can’t build an economy, you can’t grow jobs, without people to fill them.”

27

Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources Manager.

Citizen photo

by David Mah

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

28

Premier

ApPlauds Northern Story by Citizen Staff

Frank Peebles

BC

P

remier Christy Clark called the annual industry summit going on in Prince George this week “the must-attend event in B.C., in Canada, for if you are involved in the resource industries.”

She believed that so much she put her name on it. It was organized and carried out for 10 previous years by local MLA Pat Bell, now retired from politics. His replacement MLA Mike Morris stepped into the organizational role for this 11th edition and Clark provided her influence directly. It is now called the Premier’s Natural Resources Forum and during her keynote address on opening day, she touched on several of the major sectors doing big business in this region.

Setting the government’s tone on the table right away, she posed the provincial dilemma, with a baby-boom bubble aging out of the workforce, a smaller tax-base as a result,

“

Canada cannot succeed economically without northern B.C. - but B.C. has always needed northern B.C.

“

Premier Christy Clark speaks at the Resource Forum Wednesday in the Civic Centre.

Citizen photo by Brent Braaten

huge infrastructure bills coming due for installations previous generations didn’t save for, a blossoming healthcare bill (see: baby-boomers aging), and a tense cross-Canada competition for workers and investors.

“Do we grow, or do we manage decline? Do we watch investments crumble because we can no longer afford to maintain them? I say we grow,” she said. “The only way to do that is to say yes to economic growth.”

One of the key priorities for northern B.C., she said, was further stimulation of the Port of Prince Rupert and all the infrastructure (rail, roads, airports, etc.) that complement the shipping activity through that west coast facility.

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES Another h kkey priority i it was streamlining t li i and reinvigorating the forest industry. That would be done through the current review of the BC Timber Sales agency and the policy review that would follow that audit. Also, cutting industry red tape and boosting wood-sector foreign marketing were high on her agenda.

“If forestry is our founding industry, then mining is our comeback industry,” she continued. The top of her list of indicators was the opening of Mount Milligan Mine northeast of Prince George and the expansion of the Gibraltar Mine in the Cariboo, plus all the other projects nearly at the threshold of operations.

She thanked industry, government officials and First Nations for their co-operation in getting Mount Milligan into production, and when she spoke of the need for deeper and more meaningful inclusion of First Nations interests in all natural resource aspirations, a spontaneous round of applause erupted from the decidedly pro-industry audience.

If one industry is most important, though, she pointed at liquified natural gas. With an estimated 39,000 construction jobs, 75,000 operations jobs and $1 trillion in buried assets (mostly in

the northern it literally will transform the region), “it face of our province, our country, forever. We can turn that into a debt-free future for our children and grandchildren.”

Further to that point, she insisted there would be balance found for using the assets of the land but no compromise of environmental factors.

“We have a responsibility to leave this province as beautiful and as clean as when we found it - or cleaner,” she said. “There is no contradiction there.

Other jurisdictions are looking to us to see how we [achieved the current balance] here.”

When asked if that meant Enbridge had satisfied her conditions for building the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline she said “this doesn’t boil down to a contest between the environment and economic creation...We are not there yet and there is no amount of money that can compensate [for cutting environmental safety corners].”

Clark on numerous occasions added references to national interests in what the resource sectors were doing in B.C., especially northern B.C. “Canada cannot succeed economically without northern B.C. - but B.C. has always needed northern B.C.,” she said. “I believe this region’s economic activities are going to drive the whole country. The people of Canada owe a debt to B.C.’s northerners for the work you do.”

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

30

THE T

POWER PG WIND

he answer, my friends, to almost no one’s energy questions was simply blowing in the wind.

Very few jurisdictions have turned to the giant windmills that spin at industrial levels to generate electricity. The cost was prohibitive to build the structures required; the amounts of electricity are smaller than other kinds of generators; and if there isn’t at least a stiff breeze, there is no electricity being created.

Some areas had no choice but to embrace wind: California, Hawaii, places with few other power generation alternatives. In those circumstances, the huge propeller turbines are an affordable option compared to trucking in coal, piping in natural gas, even resorting to nuclear generators.

These locations have helped bring down the price-point on the hardware, and they also invested in technological advancements that are causing wind energy to blow into more and more sites around the world.

There are currently four operational wind farms – clusters of the eerily beautiful windmills towering above forests and buildings – in B.C. All four

Of

are only a few years old. Several other wind farm proposals are on the horizon.

Prince George has had intereste on all sides.

There are 20 licensed exploration missions happening in the Central Interior right now. The most visible proposal to the northern capital is Mount George, located in the same range of peaks as Tabor Mountain, but other exploratory work has happened at sites to the north, south, and the one most recently in the news is to the west.

That project, Nulki Hills, took a large step forward just before Christmas with a partnership announced between the company attempting to build the mountaintop facility, Innergex, and the First Nation affected, the Saik’uz.

“We look forward to continuing our positive relationship with Innergex,” said Saik’uz First Nations Chief Stanley Thomas. “We trust that Innergex will work within our traditional territory in a manner respectful of the environment, our culture and our constitutional aboriginal rights, titles and interest.”

Richard Blanchet, senior vice-president of Innergex’s western region, said, “The Nulki Hills

prospective wind project, representing up to 210 megawatts of clean, renewable power is currently undergoing a BC Environmental Assessment.

The partners will work together to obtain an Environmental Assessment Certificate from the province and an electricity purchase agreement from BC Hydro for this project, which could deliver power to the grid by late 2018.”

In a joint statement, the power company and the First Nation agreed to a framework of operational consultation, a spirit of cooperation on industrial activities, and to a traditional knowledge protocol.

The latter point pertains to the gathering, documentation and preservation of Saik’uz traditional knowledge expected to be uncovered during Innergex’s research and development of the wind farm. The MOU sets out a system to address the ownership, protection and integration of traditional knowledge during the development of the project.

But while one wind energy project took a recent advancement, two others were discontinued.

In March of 2012, Ontario-based Northland

Power Inc. had applied to the provincial government for investigative licenses to assess the viability of wind farms for a 4,144-hectare site near Cobb Lake (40 km west of Prince George) and a 3,658-hectare site near Marie Lake (22 km southwest of Fort St. James).

A spokesperson for Northland Power told The Citizen this week that the company had withdrawn all paperwork for further activities in the region and were no longer doing research in the area.

Northland Power is a veteran energy company, already operating 10 thermal and wind power facilities in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, the United States and Germany.

A European-based group, Fred. Olsen Ltd. (heavily invested in Scandinavia and the United Kingdom) was the proponent of the Mount George project. They hired local geoscience firm EDI Environmental Dynamics to do extensive field research and input that into their applications to government. However, said F.OL marketing spokesperson Alex Woodward, their company sold the project to a Canadian energy group.

A train carrying the first wind turbines to be set up in B.C. passes through Prince George.

Citizen photo by Brant Braaten

THE PRINCE GEORGE CITIZEN

JANUARY 2014

INDUSTRY AND TRADES

“

What we need is industrial growth and then we will have a huge demand for power, and I’m glad those guys are thinking ahead.

“

That group was Northland Power, the company that said they had withdrawn their interest in the Prince George region.

“Everything is withdrawn except Mount George,” clarified Michael Margolick, senior developer with Northland Power. In fact, with the right binoculars you can see two towers already atop the peak to the east. Each one is outfitted with multiple anemometers - wind-speed sensors constantly measuring the air flow at different elevations.

“We think it is a very promising site, it has a history, in other words others have had some confidence in it as well,” said Margolick. “There was preliminary work done by Fred.Olsen and it looked promising, but now we have to look into a more serious investigation.”

Margolick was unable to disclose when enough data would be in Northland Power’s hands to convince them to proceed with a full-scale application to BC Hydro or else to halt exploration.

They and Innergex are not the only companies trying to calculate the costs and benefits of Prince George wind. Sea Breeze Power Corp. of Vancouver confirmed their Prince George-area exploration projects were still in play.

“However these h projects j are very early l stage ffor us andd we hhaven’t’t progressedd muchh iin our investigations,” said James Griffiths, their manager of wind development. “Furthermore, given the recent signals from the B.C. government regarding a weak outlook for renewable energy in B.C. in the near term, we may require stronger market signals before we can justify ramping up our investigation on these sites. We are moving forward more aggressively with other investigative wind projects in the Okanagan region and on the coast, for example.”

In November, BC Hydro announced a limited interest in buying more electricity made by independent power producers in the next five years, which is the single greatest reason wind energy investment has gone suddenly soft.

“That is true,” said Margolick, “But we are actually optimistic that will change in the future. We take the long view, and we believe it is something worthwhile to do this preliminary work, so when circumstances change, we will be ready.”

Premier Christy Clark made no commitments, during her visit to Prince George to host her Premier’s Natural Resources Forum.

“We have an oversupply of power in B.C., really,” she explained. “What we need is industrial growth and then we will have a huge demand for power,

and I’m glad those guys are thinking ahead.”

That assessment is mindful of the Site C Dam providing the kind of sustainable electricity the short-term power consumption projections will require, but if all or even some of the proposed mines and natural gas projects come to fruition, the equation changes.

“Finding the power has been a really big preoccupation of [resource industry ministers] Bill Bennett and Rich Coleman,” said Clark. “We have to find energy that is as inexpensive as possible and at a time when we don’t really need that big input of energy - yet! - so we don’t end up overpaying for it.”

31 Also a factor, said Clark is the smaller demand Clark, from American consumers to buy B.C.’s electricity during times of oversupply in the local market.

Margolick said the wind industry, led by private companies with their own money on the line, had to make difficult calculations as well, to decide what to invest in or even if they should invest at all in British Columbia.

“You need a power purchase agreement at a viable price. You need your environmental assessments done. You have to have your consultations in with the public and the First Nations that might be involved. Then you have to do more wind studies to set up where your turbines are going to go.

You have to have a vendor [of the equipment and its installation] and a construction plan. All these things and more besides have to be in place for that one big day, the financial close, when a bank or investor puts their commitment on the dotted line. It is a lengthy and detailed process,” he said.

Risks aside, there are four operational wind farms in B.C., three of them in the Peace-region and one on the Vancouver Island coast, and together they supply about 488.7 megawatts of power to the provincial grid - about two per cent of B.C.’s overall electricity consumption.