Muskeg Press

In just over a week, the nomination phase of the municipal elections will begin, as candidates can start submitting their papers on October 4.

This poll may be a bit early, but since Muskeg News is shutting down at the end of this week, we thought it fitting that a poll on city council’s performance over the last three years would be our last.

Please let us know what you think of the current council by answering the question below.

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Municipal elections are coming up in November, so it’s time for voters to start thinking about who they’d like to send to office.

Alongside votes for mayor & council, the electorate will also be voting for school board trustees to guide educational policy for School District 52.

We’d like to know who you think has done the best job at the school board over the last three years.

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The dog days of summer will soon be replaced by the rush of September, as workers & students alike rush back to their classes and/or jobs for the fall.

Taking stock over what’s happened over the summer months in Rupert, there has been both good news and bad news on the economic front. Ridley Terminals Inc. started construction at the beginning of August for an expansion of its facilities and, only a few days ago, announced that a long-term contract was signed with Teck. The container port is now seeing around four ships per week, meaning more hours for longshoremen; that’s also caused more trucks to whiz between Fairview Terminal and Watson Island, laden with containers that need to be stuffed and unstuffed. A few small businesses have also cropped up in Cow Bay.

That good news is balanced by the bad: McMillan Fisheries announced it would be closing its Rupert plant at the end of October. Empty storefronts plague 3rd Avenue West, the result of rough times in local retail and long-time business owners retiring without being replaced. There will also be tough times next summer for those involved in the tourism industry, as only five cruise ship visits are scheduled for next year.

We’d like to know your impressions of the local economy in the poll below.

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According to various media reports, negotiations between the provincial teachers’ union and management have been sporadic at best, and the two sides are far apart on many issues.

Teachers have voted 90 per cent to launch job action if a deal isn’t reached by September 6, the day after Labour Day. If that deadline passes without a deal, there may not be a strike right away: teachers have said they will stop performing administrative duties, such as bus duty and recess.

Teachers want a wage hike, smaller class sizes, and better class composition. The province says there is no money for any of this stuff, and had already mandated a “zero-wage-increase” on the public sector in 2009.

We’d like to know where you stand on the issue.

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Ballots for the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) mail-in referendum were due back to B.C.’s chief electoral officer on August 5, so now the counting can begin. According to media reports, we should know the results of the referendum by the end of this month. If more than 50 per cent vote “No” to extinguish the tax, we’ll stay with the HST system; if more than 50 per cent vote “Yes,” we’ll go back to the PST-GST system.

But that’s not soon enough for Muskeg News. We’d like to know how you voted in the referendum.

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At last month’s city council meeting, councillors voted to apply for intervenor status for the Joint Review Panel process involving the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project. This effectively means the City of Prince Rupert will have a chance to submit something orally or in writing to voice its concerns over the proposed project.

The deadline to submit oral evidence to the Joint Review Panel is October 6, 2011. The deadline to submit something in writing is December 22. The panel will be in Prince Rupert early next year.

Given all this, we’d like to know how you think the City should intervene in the process.

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If you were downtown over the weekend, you would have seen many people painting various buildings around Prince Rupert. It was part of the “Paint Prince Rupert” campaign, initiated by Glen Saunders, with help from Hecate Strait Employment Development Society (who supplied some of the workers) and Rona & Sico (who supplied the paint).

In total, 19 buildings have been painted so far, and while organizers say they might paint a few more buildings in the coming weeks, they’re happy with what they’ve done so far.

We’d like to know what newly-painted building is your favourite, and which one you think needs a coat (or two) of paint.

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Some of the Paint Prince Rupert crew stands in front of Leanne’s Pet Shop.
Organizer Glen Saunders (second from left) would like to give a big thank you to everyone who helped brighten make Rupert a bit more colourful.

Photo submitted

At the June 27 council meeting, the City released its statement of financial information for 2010. In that report, the total remuneration for city employees was shown, and the top moneymakers were named.

The financial report showed the total employee remuneration for the City of Prince Rupert was $12,099,475 in 2010 (expenses are not included in this or any other subsequent figure). The report also named 31 employees who made at least $75,000; altogether, their remuneration was over $2.91 million, or about 24 per cent of the total payroll. All other City employees accounted for over $9.07 million, or about 75 per cent of the total payroll. The seven people who make up city council took home $110,911 — less than one per cent of the total remuneration.

Given this information, we’d like to know what you think of the salaries of City workers in the poll below.

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This Friday, Canada turns the ripe old age of 144. She’s seen a lot over the years: Confederation, railway scandals, Amor De Cosmos, conscription, William Lyon Mackenzie King, the Great Depression, William Lyon Mackenzie King, the Avro Arrow (briefly), a new flag, Trudeaumania, NAFTA, the GST, the PST, the HST, plebiscites on Quebec separation, a few Olympics, the migration of the Stanley Cup south of the border, the return of the Winnipeg Jets, and, of course, Biebermania. And that’s just scratching the surface.

In this week’s poll, we’d like you to sum up what Canada Day means to you by clicking on one of the options below. Trust us, you’ll feel a swell of patriotism once you do it.

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Last Wednesday, Canada Post decided to lock out its employees after two weeks of rotating strikes across the country. Management said this was a necessary step because it was losing hundreds of millions of dollars due to the dispute.

In response, the Conservative government has promised to introduce legislation to end the lockout/rotating strikes. Unless the union & management make a deal soon, postal workers will probably be back on the job by the end of the week.

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