December 01, 2008
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Help Desk
Every day Nathan’s staff assist constituents with a variety of issues and concerns. Our online Help Desk is provided as a resource for people looking for more information on federal government topics relevant to their lives. To learn more, please select a topic from the list at right.
Please contact us if you have further questions:
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Kitimat-Terrace Community Services Guide
The City of Terrace and the District of Kitimat have assembled and released a Community Services Guide (click to download pdf, 3Mb)
This guide was designed to create one source of information for special programs, employment services, community and social services, worker adjustment and retraining opportunities in Terrace and Kitimat. There is also information about government funding and financial services.
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Check out our new “Take Action” and “Contests, Events and Other Info” sections
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May 03, 2012
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GRENVILLE CHANNEL OIL A DECADES-OLD DISGRACE, CULLEN SAYS IN QUESTION PERIOD
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 3, 2012
PRINCE RUPERT - The oily slick spotted inside Grenville Channel Tuesday night is just the latest example of the Conservatives’ total disregard for environmental responsibility, MP Nathan Cullen charged in Question Period today.
“Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives promised the people of Hartley Bay two years ago to clean up this mess,” Cullen told Environment Minister Peter Kent. “They are not just failing to protect coastal communities, they are putting them at further risk, all the while cheerleading for raw export of pipelines and supertanker projects.
“Why is the government putting the health and life of coastal communities at risk all in favour of their friends in the oil patch?”
Cullen challenged Kent to explain recent government decisions that threaten the BC coastline and communities, including closure of B.C.s only oil spill response centre, gutting of environmental laws for pipelines and fast-tracking review processes, and destroying fish habitat protections.
Kent denied any negative impacts in his response.
The Gitga'at Nation of Hartley Bay announced Tuesday that a commercial pilot has reported a fuel slick about 60 metres wide and between 3.2 and eight kilometres long in Grenville Channel, south of Prince Rupert. The discharge is believed to be upwelling from US army transport vessel Brigadier General M.G. Zalinski, which sank in 1946 with munitions and about 700 tonnes of fuel on board.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans estimates the leak is "very small," a bit less than half a cup. However a local witness reports that there is no chance only a cup was spilled. Investigators and representatives from both parties are at the scene and Cullen is staying in close contact with authorities.
The site is in the middle of the nation's territory and almost directly across from important traditional shellfish harvesting areas. Gitga'at depend on the ocean from 40% of their diet.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, cullen1@parl.gc.ca or 250-877-4140
May 02, 2012
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New Democrats Celebrate May 2 Victory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 2, 2012
One year later, caucus strong, united and moving forward, says Cullen.
OTTAWA – New Democrats across Canada are celebrating the one year anniversary of their historic victory when the party grew from 37 to 103 MPs and became the Official Opposition in the House of Commons.
“It was a huge victory,” said MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) who is now in his fourth term representing the region. “Under Jack’s leadership we increased our voice in Parliament. The chance for New Democrats to form government became a reality.”
New Democrats mourned the loss of their leader in August 2012 when Jack Layton passed away just months after leading the party to victory. His untimely death inspired many to continue his work.
“I think all of us decided early on that our job was to continue Jack’s legacy and to keep his vision of a Canada with greater equality, justice and opportunity alive,” said Cullen.
Cullen’s bid for leader took him across the country and put the issues of Skeena-Bulkley Valley on the national map. Cullen says he’s happy to be working with the NDP’s new leader, Tom Mulcair and as the Official Opposition House Leader.
“Tom’s doing a great job,” said Cullen, “I am working closely with him on the strategic agenda of the Parliament, and Canada.”
As Official Opposition House Leader, Cullen is at the heart of setting priorities and bringing New Democratic concerns front and center. He will also be touching all legislation that comes before the House.
New Democrats have spent the past year standing up for seniors facing pension changes, for continued strong and independent Environmental Assessments, especially for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel, for postal and Air Canada workers, and to protect federal services for rural and remote Canadians.
It was with great pride that the New Democrat motion for Shannen’s Dream and First Nations’ education passed unanimously.
“It’s been difficult with the loss of Jack and incredible year as we continue his work,” said Cullen. “I’m confident and hopeful we are creating the change needed to create a better Canada.”
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
April 30, 2012
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Nathan Cullen’s Statement on Raising Decorum in the House
Mr. Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, today I am announcing our team's intention to discuss and work with you, as the Speaker of the House, and with the other parties on giving people the decorum they expect from their elected officials.
I will quote my friend Jack Layton who about a year said:
We will disagree passionately at times but passionate debate is essential in this place. We may disagree but we must show each other respect at all times because Canadians elected each and every one of us here. When we do not show respect for each other as individuals, then we are not showing respect for the Canadians who sent us here.
To honour Jack's belief in this place and to honour the role we have been given by Canadians, let us all work together to reform this place, to bring it to a higher level of discussion, to a more respectful discussion on behalf of all Canadians.
April 26, 2012
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Statement in the House by Nathan Cullen, MP, on National Day of Mourning
Mr. Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, today is the National Day of Mourning to commemorate those injured and killed while at work.
Canadians know that far too many accidents on job sites are not accidents at all, but entirely preventable.
Just this past year, B.C. has witnessed tragedy at two separate sawmills: one in January in Burns Lake, which killed 2 and injured 19; and just this past week in Prince George in disturbingly similar circumstances, 2 more workers were killed and 22 injured.
Don Dahr, my father-in-law, lost his father in the workplace when he was very young. He has dedicated much of his life to protecting workers at the workplace. He has often said that the rules and regulations that protect Canadians at work are written in blood.
When workers leave their homes and families to go to work, we must commit to them that we will do everything in our power to make sure that they come home safely at the end of the day.
http://www.youtube.com/user/NathanCullenMP
April 26, 2012
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A statement by Nathan Cullen, MP, on the explosion at the Lakeland Mills in Prince George
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2012
It is with great sadness that we learned the tragic news of the explosion at the Lakeland Mills in Prince George this past Monday. We deeply regret to hear of the deaths of two workers from the mill. Our thoughts are with the entire community, particularly with the families of those who perished and the twenty two who were injured.
At times filled with grief such as these, it is when we most rely on the strength and love of our community. As part of the greater British Columbian community we would like to offer our support and any help you may need. We are glad to hear that WorkSafeBC will be looking into this and will continue the call for action to prevent tragedies like this in the future.
Burns Lake suffered a similar tragedy at Babine Forest Products early this year. The courage and commitment of that community to support the families most impacted is truly inspiring. We offered services and help in that tragedy and will endeavour to work the mayor, the union and company to make available whatever you may need.
Once again, we offer our deepest condolences to the families, friends, and co-workers at Lakeland Mills and to the entire community of Prince George.
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
April 24, 2012
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Nathan Cullen speaks on if Minister of National Defence committed breach of privilege
Mr. Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to rise in this place on such an important question. I am sure that not only members of Parliament but those we seek to represent well in this place will be very interested in the conclusion you bring with respect to the breech of privilege that has been suggested by the member for Toronto Centre. We should begin with the conditions under which you will be deciding whether our privileges have actually been breeched in this place by the Minister of National Defence in this particular case.
I will quote from the House of Commons Procedure and Practice just to remind us all of the context about which we are talking. Privilege has been broken if “Misleading a Minister or a Member has also been considered a form of obstruction and thus a prima facie breach of privilege.
In Erskine May's Parliamentary Practice on page 111 it reads:
The Commons may treat the making of a deliberately misleading statement as a contempt.
Finally, Speaker Jerome's ruling from March of 1978 reads:
...has the Member an arguable point? If the Speaker feels any doubt on the question, he should, in my view, leave it to the House.
That is the question that has been put before us with respect to the statements by the Minister of National Defence in response to questions put by the opposition when we sought to understand in this particular case the full life costs of the F-35 purchase. Those are the particulars of the matter.
What we seek to rectify at this moment is whether members of Parliament were allowed and able to do our job, because, particularly in this case, our job is to put questions to the government to understand the true costs of the fighter jets to the taxpayers of Canada.
The context is very important because we are also in a budget year in which significant cuts have been made to services upon which Canadians rely. We have been raising those issues day to day in this place. We have talked about pensions. We have talked about protections to the environment. We have talked about health care cuts. In the context of the government choosing to not allocate funds to one thing and yet to another, it is important to understand what those costs are.
While there are particular details with respect to this purchase that frame the context of the question, I know, Mr. Speaker, you will be most interested in whether the minister committed a breech of privilege to this place. I would offer for members on the government benches that this is also critical for them to do their jobs and be accountable to their constituents.
In listening to the comments from my colleague across the way yesterday and previously, there seems to be two types of federal employees who work for the Government of Canada. When the government gives them credit or it feels they are doing a job the government agrees with they are called good civil servants. We could run through the list of quotations by parliamentary ministers and members of the Conservative Party about what great civil servants we have. When they are not doing so well, when they are presenting facts that the government disagrees with, even if those facts are blatantly true, they become bureaucrats and the bureaucrats get blamed.
There is an accountability link that is very important in this question of privilege. I will quote the government's own statements and documents to ensure everyone understands that this is its own agenda, its own set of guidelines that we are talking about in this context, not anything put forward by us as New Democrats.
We understand that when the government breaks the pact between itself and the Canadian people and the minister stands in his place and continues to repeat a misrepresentation of the facts, privilege has in fact been breeched.
Who is accountable? This was the question recently put to the Auditor General in his testimony both before committees and in the press conference in first releasing his report on the F-35. I will use the government's own conditions. This quotation is called “Accountable Government” and it was produced in 2011 by the Prime Minister's office. I want all members of Parliament to understand the context of our seeking accountability from the minister and his accountability to the House of Commons to not breech privilege. It reads:
Clear ministerial accountability to Parliament is fundamental to responsible government, and requires that Ministers provide Parliament with the information it needs to fulfill its roles of legislating, approving the appropriation of funds and holding the government to account. ... Under responsible government, Ministers exercise executive authority on the basis that they have the confidence of Parliament...which requires that they, and through them the officials under their management and direction, be accountable to Parliament for their actions.
That is on page 9 of a document written by the Prime Minister's Office entitled “Accountable Government: A Guide for Ministers and Ministers of State”.
The government's accountability between the civil servants who provide the estimations—in this case for the multi-billion dollar fighter jet, which is one of the most significant purchases in Canadian history—and the executive accountability of the Minister of National Defence to us as parliamentarians is a clear link that the government itself understands to be true. Therefore, if we establish that link is true, then the accountability of the Minister of National Defence and all ministers of cabinet to this place is to represent the facts as they find them and provide Parliament with the information it needs to fulfill its role in legislating, approving the appropriation of funds and holding the government to account. This is a very basic, simple, yet critical component of the work we do as parliamentarians. For the people we represent, it is their dollars that we should cherish and hold with some esteem.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer, the Auditor General and other officers of Parliament attempted to do their jobs and help to ensure that the government was being properly scrutinized. The Parliamentary Budget Officer was appointed by the government. It is a role that the government created with support from New Democrats, and members will recall the Accountability Act and other acts. However, for almost two years, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, in trying to do his job, was consistently discredited here in this place and outside in press conferences for the numbers he was providing to Canadians on what the true cost might be for these jets. The government almost made it personal.
That is a separate matter and not a breach of privilege, but it is important in this context. The ability of members to do their job, which is to understand how the government is spending taxpayer money, is encumbered when we hear one report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer clearly laying out what the cost of the jets would be, but then time and again we hear from the Minister of National Defence, the Prime Minister and other ministers of cabinet that he is wrong and simply making up the numbers. Until we had the Auditor General's report in hand, it was a “he said, he said” scenario, I suppose. Who to believe?
Well, the Department of National Defence actually had the documents. If you remember, Mr. Speaker, there was some controversy as to the Parliamentary Budget Officer gaining the documents from the Department of National Defence. It was difficult, and he made some public expression of how difficult it was.
That is not now the case. We now have the Auditor General's report, and he had access to all of those documents and all of those estimations that the minister was also using. Here is where we get to the point of privilege:
Misleading a Minister or a Member has also been considered a form of obstruction and thus a prima facie breach of privilege.
As well:
The Commons may treat the making of a deliberately misleading statement as a contempt.
The question for you, Mr. Speaker, is this: did the minister have the facts at his disposal to confirm some of the things that members of the opposition were requesting of him when it came to the full cost of these jets? We have shown through the Auditor General's report that in fact that was the case for a number of months, going back years.
In terms of accountability—and this is important for this breach of privilege—I will quote the Auditor General, who said that National Defence should start estimating full life-cycle costs in the options analysis phase of its project management process and present these costs to decision-makers at subsequent steps in the process. The basis of cost estimation should be included in approval of documents.
In response, the Minister of National Defence said that the AG “...has given us some recommendations, all of which I can assure the hon. member and the House have been accepted. These recommendations will be acted upon.”
We are not talking about the F-35s in this case; we are talking about the Sea King purchase, which goes back two years. We are talking about the question before you, Mr. Speaker, in terms of what the minister knew as to his accountability and his responsibility in presenting the full costs. We have seen this movie before.
When the helicopters were being purchased, and purchased for a price that the government declared much lower than the actual purchase price, the Auditor General showed that to be a problem because the full cost was not accounted for. The Minister of National Defence, after reading the Auditor General's report of 2010, agreed. He said the government would do better, would make changes so that the full cost was there and would present that to Parliament in the future.
The very next significant purchase after the Sea Kings is the process the government is engaged in right now around the F-35s. It is the very next opportunity for the government to show truth in accounting.
We cannot do our jobs effectively as members of Parliament if, after repeated omissions, after repeated and known errors in the way numbers are presented, the government continues to choose a path that is not truthful in the case of the actual cost. It is impossible for members of the opposition. It is also true for members of the government, who cannot knowingly go back to their constituents and say what the costs are for any project—never mind the jets or helicopters, but anything—if we cannot confirm that the budget estimates we are getting are truthful. It is impossible for us to do our jobs. One of the central roles of this place is to hold the government to account. That is not just the responsibility of the opposition; it is also the responsibility of members of the government.
The accounting discrepancy argument is not a sincere argument. This is not a divergence of opinions as to what things cost. The question was around full life-cycle costs. That was what we were asking for and that is what the Minister of National Defence was telling us he was giving us. The Auditor General has now told us that was not true. The break that the government is trying to make now is saying that it agrees with the Auditor General's full report while yet allowing the department to disagree with the fundamental aspects of the report.
Mr. Speaker, you cannot allow this argument, simply because it breaks the basic chain of accountability that I talked about before, the basic chain of accountability that the Prime Minister says is important and over which, under responsible government, ministers exercise executive authority on the basis that they have the confidence of Parliament, which requires that they, and through them the officials under their management and direction, be accountable to Parliament for their actions. That is the government's own directive.
In this case, the government is attempting to break that directive by saying that the department can disagree and say that the cost is $10 billion less, while the government will present those numbers and have the privilege of agreeing with the Auditor General.
That simply does not pass muster. It does not let the government off the hook with respect to the privilege of members of Parliament being breached. That is the case in front of us now. We are seeking accountability; I would hope that members of the government also seek accountability.
We are talking about a very significant purchase. The government often talks about the need to support our troops, but we simply cannot do that if the government is fudging the numbers on purchases as significant as this one. It cannot be done, because other choices flow from that. If $10 billion extra is going toward one thing and we as parliamentarians do not know about that, it will affect considerations down the line, not just for the military but for every other government purchase and spending decision that is made.
It is incumbent upon the government to tell the House the truth. Mr. Speaker, it is your role as Speaker to ensure that the government at all times keeps that link of accountability that the government itself has committed to. That is your job, Mr. Speaker. It is a difficult job at times, because we live in a political world and sometimes the facts can be politically inconvenient for a government when the suggestion of a $20 billion fighter jet purchase just before an election may cause political consequence.
However, that is not the point here. The point is that this place remains a place in which we seek, as best we can, truth in accounting, truth from government, so that we can be accountable ourselves as members of Parliament to those who elected us to this place, to those we work for—not the Prime Minister's office, not the party hierarchy, but the people who put us here.
I have a final quote and then I will surmise on the breach of privilege. This is from the Auditor General:
National Defence did not exercise due diligence in managing the process to replace the CF-18 jets.
His report goes on to say:
Full life-cycle costs were understated in the estimates provided to support the government's 2010 decision to buy the F-35s. Some costs were not fully provided to parliamentarians. There was a lack of timely and complete documentation to support the procurement strategy decision.
He is saying that to this place. That is to you and to me as a member of Parliament. The Auditor General says that you and I and the members of this place did not get the full life-cycle costs of the Sea King helicopters, which in this case the government had committed to doing evermore. We had the next opportunity, and the government again chose not to do that. You, Mr. Speaker, and members of the House were unable to make an informed decision.
That raises the question of whether the Minister of National Defence also knew what the defence department knew. The government's own code of accountability requires that he know and that he be accountable for his actions, but the repetition of the false figures continued, thereby conducting a breach of privilege for members of Parliament who were trying to understand the decision before us, which is whether to go with this purchase or another.
Allow me to finish. As a previous Speaker put it, “Has the member an arguable point? If the Speaker feels any doubt on the question, he should, in my view, leave it to the House”.
As well:
The Commons may treat the making of a deliberately misleading statement as a contempt.
We, as the official opposition, feel that the government and the minister in this particular case had the facts before him, first from the Parliamentary Budget Officer and later from the AG's report, which the minister received many months before members did. He saw the numbers, yet continued to misrepresent those facts and figures that are fundamental to this question. Misrepresenting facts and figures knowingly is a breach of privilege according to the rules of this place and the direction and directives of the government's own orders from the Prime Minister's Office and the Prime Minister.
If this is not a breach of privilege, if this is not a break in accountability, then the lesson that the government will learn from this is that it can continue to do it. The lesson that Canadians will take away from this is that whatever figures are presented cannot be trusted. That would be a further erosion of the work that we have to do, of the trust we have between ourselves and our constituents and for future generations. Many of these decisions will last not just the life of this election cycle or our terms as members of Parliament; many of these decisions extend to those who will have to pick up the pieces.
We are talking about billions of dollars. We are talking about our troops. We are talking about decisions that the defence minister made again and again. This is not one occasion: again and again, he knowingly had one set of much higher figures in his hands, at his disposal, and when questioned about them, he instead chose forms of character assassination on members of the opposition. He chose to attack the credibility and veracity of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, thereby eroding his own merit within the eyes of Canadians.
These are very selfish choices. These are choices made by a government looking to do something other than be accountable.
You have a difficult choice in front of you, Mr. Speaker. There is no more serious matter that Parliament could consider than when a minister of the crown knowingly breaches privilege of members of the House and knowingly misrepresents the facts, but that is the question before you.
I wish you well with your deliberations. We feel the facts have become increasingly clear and increasingly worrisome. We believe that the role of the opposition has been dramatically hindered and that our privilege has been dramatically breached, as it has for all members of the House. If all members of the House disagree on much, let us agree that our ability to hold the government of the day accountable to the Canadian people we seek to represent requires us to know that ministers will be held to account.
If the Prime Minister chooses not to do that in this case with his Minister of National Defence, that is his choice. The Speaker's choice is otherwise, which extends beyond any political cycle or any partisan considerations. This is the job that you have taken on, Mr. Speaker, and that we have elected you to take on, and it is a difficult one. I wish you well.
April 21, 2012
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Cullen’s new Opposition House Leader role good for riding
Cullen’s new Opposition House Leader role good for riding
SMITHERS - Good news for the Northwest is how MP Nathan Cullen is describing his new appointment as Opposition House Leader.
“I am excited and honoured to have the privilege of serving Canadians,” Cullen told regional journalists via teleconference during a break in a four-day riding tour. “The Opposition House Leader is in charge of the party's day-to-day business in the House of Commons and also negotiates with the other parties on the business of the country.
“I’ll be working with our Leader daily to set the strategic direction of our questions and debate in Parliament, and also touching every piece of legislation the government brings in. It is a position of influence within the party and Parliament and will give me even greater access to ministers in my fight for the riding.”
Cullen told journalists it will be his job to stop the worst legislation from happening and work with the government to find ways to bring about good laws that will benefit all Canadians.
He acknowledged the challenges of serving as House Leader during a majority government but noted the position plays to his strengths as a facilitator, consensus-builder and his proven ability to work across party lines.
Cullen expects the first bills that will come before Parliament will deal with the “dangerous undoing” of the National Energy Board’s authority, an issue of particular interest to Skeena-Bulkley Valley because of the Northern Gateway Pipeline project Joint Review Panel currently underway.
Cullen said that one of his early goals will be to encourage more public participation in the governing of Canada. He hopes to dispel the “inside the bubble” mindset that historically has led to the affairs of Parliament being largely contained within a tight Ottawa bubble.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, cullen1@parl.gc.ca or 250-877-4140
April 19, 2012
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Strong BC Representation in NDP Shadow Cabinet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 19, 2012
STRONG BC REPRESENTATION IN NDP SHADOW CABINET
Cullen named Opposition House Leader
BRITISH COLUMBIA – BC NDP MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena – Bulkley Valley) has been named Opposition House Leader by NDP Leader Tom Mulcair.
“Nathan has shown a great capacity to involve people in the political process. His persuasiveness, his innovative thinking and his respect for others are his hallmarks. Nathan shone as a great debater and I am thrilled he agreed to serve as our House Leader.”
Opposition House Leader is a senior position in caucus, and Cullen will be responsible for the party’s day-to-day business in the House of Commons.
“I’m looking forward to this new challenge, and filled with confidence for our new team’s strength and determination,” said Cullen. “We’re going to hold this government to account and fight for Canadian families – we’re ready to take on Stephen Harper.”
Cullen is joined in his senior role as a House Officer by Deputy Leader, Libby Davies, who will also continue to serve in her role as Health critic.
British Columbians can count on strong voices in Canada’s Official Opposition Caucus, with several BC NDP MPs serving important roles in the Shadow Cabinet. A full list of BC MP Shadow Cabinet roles follows below.
“I am proud of the quality of the team we have,” said Mulcair. “I am particularly proud of the sense of unity and purpose New Democrat MPs have shown as we went through this process.”
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For more information, contact:
Devorah Kobluk, 613-993-8662 or nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca
April 03, 2012
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Conservative Budget Ends Nation-Building Katimavik Program, says Cullen
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2012
Conservative Budget Ends Nation-Building Katimavik Program, says Cullen
Ottawa – Canadians from coast, to coast, to coast are outraged with the announcement that the 35-year-old youth volunteer program Katimavik will be eliminated in this year’s budget.
“I worked with Katimavik,” said MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley). “It’s an outstanding program that brings young Canadians together to forge life-long friendships, give back to their community, and increase cultural understanding and care for the environment.”
Katimavik has offered programs off and on in the Northwest for years and has been a positive power for the community.
“We are not going to let this go. The program costs $14 million dollars. One F-35 fighter jet engine costs of $26 million. We need to get our priorities straight.”
Katimavik, which means “meeting place” in Inuktitut, was founded in 1977. It has grown to include more than 1200 youth participants per year, volunteering 964, 200 hours in 94 communities in Canada.
“This program brings people together to learn from each other and work together to build a better country,” said Cullen
When the Mulroney government cancelled the program in the 1980s, founder Jacques Hébert went on hunger strike for three weeks in protest. It wasn’t until the mid-1990s that the program was back off the ground.
Besides building community, Katimavik alumni credit their experience to increased employability, which is increasingly invaluable in today’s uncertain economy.
“I grew as a person while working with the organization. It showed me the possibilities of Canadians and of this country,” said Cullen.
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
April 02, 2012
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Cullen urges Enbridge JRP to return to scheduled hearings in Bella
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 2, 2012
SMITHERS - It is very important that talks today aimed at resuming community hearings in Bella Bella for the Enbridge Joint Review Panel are successful, Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen said from Ottawa today.
“It would be very unfortunate if the panel leaves the community without hearing from residents who stand to be among the most affected by the huge volume of oil tanker traffic over the life of this project,” Cullen said.
Early this morning the JRP announced it had cancelled today’s community hearings in Bella Bella because of perceived “security concerns” stemming from a protest at the airport there yesterday. The JRP had been scheduled to sit four days in Bella Bella, beginning today. Heiltsuk First Nation and community leaders and JRP officials are meeting this hour to ensure the remaining three days of hearings go ahead as planned and how they will proceed.
“The hearings must resume, plain and simple,” Cullen said today. “People have a right to protest the project, as they have been since the JRP hearings began two months ago, without their actions being falsely framed as a security issue.”
Cullen noted all other JRP hearings in the Northwest, including the Rupert session at which he presented oral evidence, have drawn large crowds. He pointed out all events have been respectful and without incident. Nor were there any reports of security concerns from others at the Bella Bella airport yesterday, including North Coast MLA Gary Coons and the RCMP.
“Why shut things down in Bella Bella?” he asked. “What message is being conveyed to people who have the right to speak up?
“Let’s be realistic here, it’s the residents along the proposed pipeline route and coastal communities who really feel threatened, not the other way around,” said Cullen, who spoke with Heiltsuk Chief Councillor Marilyn Slett earlier today.
“We are facing a bully for a prime minister and a company that can't promise the Northwest what we need to survive - no oil pipeline accidents on the land and no tanker spills at sea.”
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Contact: Shelley Browne, cullen1@parl.gc.ca or 250-877-4140
March 30, 2012
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Stripped down environmental assessment for Enbridge sparks widespread outrage
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 30, 2012
OTTAWA – Retroactively applying new, tighter deadlines for environmental assessments to the Northern Gateway Project “entirely changes the rules of the game” and lays an already heated process wide open to costly, time-consuming court cases, says MP Nathan Cullen.
“I’ve never heard of a government changing everything halfway through. They’re rigging the entire process and they’re not ashamed of it,” Cullen told reporters.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced yesterday that major resource projects will receive only one “streamlined” environmental assessment review lasting no longer than 24 months. Currently, major resource projects can take as long six years to approve. Flaherty confirmed the changes include the proposed Enbridge dual pipeline that would transport raw bitumen and condensate between the Alberta oilsands and Asian markets.
That could mean Enbridge hearings that began in February before a Joint Review Panel of the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency would finish in May of this year. That is a full year-and-a-half before hearings are scheduled to end and would silence the voices of thousands of individuals and groups who have registered to make oral statements before the panel.
Cullen pointed to the widespread outrage that has erupted in British Columbia since changes to the Enbridge environmental assessment process were announced yesterday.
“We’ve been hearing from stunned constituents all day who cannot believe the arrogance of this government and the utter disregard it has for a full examination of the huge environmental impacts and risks of the Enbridge pipeline,” Cullen said.
He noted the comments of Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs earlier today, warning of “battle in the courtrooms and on the land itself” if Conservatives follow through on plans to speed up the environmental review process for Enbridge.
Cullen called the new tighter environmental assessment deadlines “a rubber stamp that is not good for business or the environment.” He noted yesterday that one major terrestrial or marine oil spill associated with the Enbridge project would cost millions to clean up and wipe out established multi-million dollar salmon and adventure tourism economies in the Northwest for generations.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, cullen1@parl.gc.ca, 250-877-4140
March 29, 2012
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Cullen attacks Conservatives for silencing tactics and stripping environmental protections
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 2011
Cullen attacks Conservatives for silencing tactics and stripping environmental protections
OTTAWA – MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) demanded answers during question period yesterday in the House from the Conservatives about anticipated cuts to environmental protections and weakening of review processes.
“There’s a risk of the Conservatives changing the rules of the review process mid-stream to push this project through,” said Cullen.
Cullen attacked the Minister of Natural Resources, Joe Oliver, for having “brazenly undermined” the already weakened review process for the proposed Enbridge pipeline project.
“He is attacking Canadians who had the audacity to stand up for our home and our land, calling us radicals,” Cullen said.
A rigged review of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which had limited testimony from key stakeholders, and no systematic approach, was tabled this month. It included recommendations that will give more power to ministers to make decisions and weaken proposed project reviews.
“What the minister is calling streamlining amounts to nothing more than a gutting of environmental protections,” said Cullen. “The Conservatives are doing this at a time when one of the worst economic and environmental deals for Canada is in front of us.”
In past weeks there have been several statements by the Conservative ministers that the pipeline will go through despite constant opposition from those living along the route, environmental groups, economists and the First Nations communities.
“When will he finally respect the fact that when Canadians raise their voices in defence of their homes and their land, it does not make them radicals; it makes them Canadians,” insisted Cullen.
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
March 29, 2012
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Cullen attacks Conservatives for silencing tactics, stripping environmental protections
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 2012
OTTAWA – MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) demanded answers during question period yesterday in the House from the Conservatives about anticipated cuts to environmental protections and weakening of review processes.
“There’s a risk of the Conservatives changing the rules of the review process mid-stream to push this project through,” said Cullen.
Cullen attacked the Minister of Natural Resources, Joe Oliver, for having “brazenly undermined” the already weakened review process for the proposed Enbridge pipeline project.
“He is attacking Canadians who had the audacity to stand up for our home and our land, calling us radicals,” Cullen said.
A rigged review of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which had limited testimony from key stakeholders, and no systematic approach, was tabled this month. It included recommendations that will give more power to ministers to make decisions and weaken proposed project reviews.
“What the minister is calling streamlining amounts to nothing more than a gutting of environmental protections,” said Cullen. “The Conservatives are doing this at a time when one of the worst economic and environmental deals for Canada is in front of us.”
In past weeks there have been several statements by the Conservative ministers that the pipeline will go through despite constant opposition from those living along the route, environmental groups, economists and the First Nations communities.
“When will he finally respect the fact that when Canadians raise their voices in defence of their homes and their land, it does not make them radicals; it makes them Canadians,” insisted Cullen.
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
March 28, 2012
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Nathan asks why Conservatives continue to attack review process
Mr. Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Natural Resources has repeatedly and brazenly undermined the process reviewing the Northern Gateway pipeline project, actually attacking Canadians who had the audacity to stand up for our homes and our land, calling them radicals.
Now he is proposing a Republican-style rider in the budget that would further undermine the few environmental protections that Canadians have.
Is he planning to further undermine this process, change the rules mid-stream, or will he finally respect the fact that when Canadians raise their voices in defence of their homes and their land, it does not make them radicals; it makes them Canadians.
March 13, 2012
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Main Estimates slash spending in key areas for coastal environmental protection
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 13, 2012
OTTAWA – The 2012-13 Main Estimates released by the Conservative government outline provisional spending plans for the March 29 budget that forecasts a deep series of cuts to key departments for environmental protection.
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency can expect a $13 million cut, which is over 43% of their budget.
“We have a panel that is already undermined by industry and government pressure. Now there is a forecast to cut an agency that is central to the review process and would assist in keeping things safe,” said MP Nathan Cullen referring to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel.
Fisheries and Oceans would lose $156 million, and see a total elimination of aids to navigation. Transport Canada would lose $10 million of marine safety spending.
“How can people feel secure with oil-filled supertankers entering the unpredictable waters of the Douglas Channel for the first time in history with no navigation aids?”
Portions of the Douglas Channel are 1.35km wide, much narrower than the 10km wide passage where the Exxon Valdez disaster occurred.
“The Conservatives are planning to gut the services that offer protection against oil spills, which only undermines and already weakened process,” said Cullen.
The Main Estimates show the direction of the government’s spending plans for the upcoming fiscal year. It is provisional and can change significantly before the budget is tabled. However, it provides preliminary projections that assist the Official Opposition in holding the government to account for its fiscal decisions.
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca, 613-993-8662
March 12, 2012
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Majority of B.C. residents say no to pipeline
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 12, 2012
New poll also shows that most people understand long-term jobs will be shipped abroad.
OTTAWA – Results from a B.C. survey conducted by Mustel Group show that the majority of B.C. residents understand that the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project will not create long-term employment.
61% of respondents to the Mustel poll believe that “most jobs are short-term and many long-term jobs will be lost because unrefined oil is being shipped to other countries for refining.”
This result contradicts an earlier Ipsos Reid poll conducted in December 2011. In that poll, respondents cited employment and economic reasons to be the main benefit.
“People get that the project will not create permanent jobs,” said MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley). “We certainly want jobs in my riding, but people are not going to settle for short-term cash instead of long-term value-added jobs.”
It its initial submission to the Joint Review Panel, Enbridge states that the project will offer less than 80 direct permanent jobs in B.C.
“Most have understood that this project poses major risks to the environment. These poll results show that British Columbians see that there would be economic losses as well.”
The poll also showed that the majority of B.C. residents are aware of the proposed pipeline project, and that opposition outweighs support for the project.
A total of 87% are familiar with the proposal and have read or heard something about it. 46% oppose the construction of a pipeline in contrast to 37% who support it. The remaining 17% are undecided or do not have an opinion.
“The results convey what I’ve already heard on the ground,” said Cullen, who commissioned the survey. “There is simply too much at risk to push the project through.”
These findings also contradict the earlier Ipsos Reid poll where only 42% of respondents were somewhat or very familiar with the project. It also showed that only 32% opposed the pipeline.
“It appears that at the same time knowledge of the project is growing, so is opposition,” said Cullen.
The Mustel survey was based on 500 interviews completed by telephone (landlines and cellular) January 25 to February 8, 2012 with a margin of error of +/-4.4% at the 95% level of confidence.
A delegation of First Nations’ Leaders is in Ottawa today to discuss the impacts of this proposed project on their northern communities in B.C.
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
March 08, 2012
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International Women’s Day 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 8, 2012
Ending poverty still a priority
OTTAWA – As we celebrate the 101st International Women’s Day, we can both honour the achievements and reflect on the ongoing challenges facing women and girls in Canada today.
This year we can celebrate a long-awaited increase of women’s political participation in the House of Commons. The New Democrat Caucus, with 41% women, leads the way on this front.
“Parliament should reflect this country,” said Nathan Cullen (MP Skeena-Bulkley Valley), “and finally, we are starting to get there. The debate won’t be complete without women at the table.”
International Women’s Day is also a time to bring attention to the continued struggles for social justice that women and girls face every day. This year the United Nations has chosen hunger and poverty as its theme.
In Canada, 52.1 per cent of single mothers with children young children live in poverty. Women continue to earn 70% of what men make in full-time employment. In rural and remote regions in Canada, women make up 45% of the labour force but continue to face barriers related to work force participation and pay equity.
“This issue of women not earning equal pay for work of equal value has got to end,” said Cullen. “Women contribute in significant ways everyday and yet the numbers aren’t adding up.”
Other contributing factors for women who live in poverty include violence, racism and lack of equal opportunity. Among the hardest hit, are aboriginal women.
“Where there is violence, lack of access to high-quality education, lack of affordable and safe housing, there is poverty,” Cullen said. “It’s a shame that we must work together to change.”
30% of Skeena-Bulkley Valley’s population is Aboriginal. It can be difficult to break out of generations of poverty, especially in remote and rural areas where there can be a lack of access to critical resources.
In Ottawa, New Democrats introduced several bills today to promote gender equality.
There will be events across the riding to celebrate the achievements of and support the challenges of women and girls.
“Let’s join together and build a resilient Northwest.”
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
March 06, 2012
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Cullen salutes public teachers for upholding rights of students to quality education
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 6, 2012
SMITHERS/TERRACE – These remarks were delivered on Nathan’s behalf by staff at teacher rallies in Smithers and Terrace today.
*****
“Thank you for inviting me to speak on behalf of MP Nathan Cullen, who is on the leadership campaign trail in Newfoundland & Ontario today.
Nathan has asked me to express his appreciation to you for upholding the rights of BC public school students to a quality education
… an education that is not hamstrung by the impossible learning & teaching environment that exists in our public schools today.
These conditions do not lend themselves to learning or teaching success.
Nathan knows that you are fighting at the bargaining table for manageable class size, composition, and specialist support.
He knows it’s a fight worth fighting, so that teachers can better serve the needs of their students.
And he knows that Bill 22, the back-to-work legislation, is an attack on free collective bargaining.
Labour an essential force within civil society. Nathan is running for Leader of the Opposition and the next Prime Minister to protect and further the rights of Canadian workers.
He knows strong unions are essential to a healthy economy that reflects the social values of Canadians.
On behalf of Nathan, thank you for being here today and fighting for the rights of BC public school students to a quality education.”
Nathan
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Contact: Shelley Browne, cullen1@parl.gc.ca, or 250-877-4140 Francoise Godet, cullen2a@parl.gc.ca, or 250-615-5339
March 01, 2012
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Time to act on RCMP oversight: NDP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 1, 2012
Cullen says binding civilian oversight of the RCMP long overdue
OTTAWA – New Democrats are calling on the Conservatives to support civilian oversight and finally take action to fix serious problems in the RCMP. Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley), seconded by NDP Chief Whip Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain) introduced the Civilian Oversight Act in the House of Commons today.
“This bill would create a national body guaranteeing fully independent investigations and oversight of the RCMP that Canadians can count on,” said Cullen. “Binding civilian oversight is a critical first step towards restoring public confidence in the force. Systemic issues need to be fixed, including ending an internal culture that allows harassment and bullying.”
The current oversight agency cannot make binding recommendations to the RCMP commissioner, and primary investigations into incidents of death or serious bodily harm are contracted out to provincial or municipal police forces or still conducted by the RCMP themselves, rendering it effectively powerless.
New Democrat Public Safety Critic Jasbir Sandhu (Surrey North) joined in supporting the introduction of the bill.
“Conservative mismanagement of the RCMP and political interference in the operations of the force has eroded the public trust,” said Sandhu. “It is time the government finally move forward on ensuring proper civilian oversight to the RCMP.”
Along with public interest groups, civil rights advocates and RCMP officers themselves, the NDP has long-called for improved oversight of Canada’s national police force.
“Canada needs a fully accountable national police force to deal with the real issues of crime and gang-related violence in communities across the country,” said Sandhu.
Cullen first introduced the bill in 2009 after Ian Bush died in RCMP custody in Houston, B.C.
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For more information, please contact:
Devorah Kobluk, 613-993-8662, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca
February 28, 2012
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Alberta Government kills hope for value-added jobs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 28, 2012
OTTAWA – The announcement that the Government of Alberta will not be supporting the Alberta First Nations Energy Centre is a signal we’re moving in the wrong direction, says MP Nathan Cullen.
“Here’s a great example of a how First Nations could benefit economically from natural resource development, and the provincial government killed it,” said Cullen.
The proposed Teedrum’s First Nations Energy Centre, run by the Driftpile Cree First Nation and situated northwest of Edmonton, would have refined 125,000 barrels of bitumen each day.
“This project would have advanced the economy. When you create finished products like jet fuel and gasoline you have value-added jobs. These are the best paying, most secure jobs. They feed families,” said Cullen.
Instead, Energy Minister Ted Morton announced that be province will not be backing the project, which estimates show, would have contributed $100 billion to the Canadian economy.
“It’s another example of how poor use of our natural resources is becoming the norm in this country,” said Cullen. “We could export finished products to Asia, but instead, the Alberta Government is choosing to mimic Ottawa’s decisions to send raw resources out of the country and with it the best jobs.”
The proposal was part of the Bitumen Royalty-In Kind or BRIK program, which was created to assist with upgrading bitumen to “higher value products,” according to the Energy Alberta website.
“The fact that this kind of a project gets shot down makes no sense for resource development. It’s bad for local First Nations and bad for Canada,” argued Cullen.
In his efforts to fight against the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline proposal, Cullen has repeatedly pointed to, among other concerns, the economic foolishnesses of not upgrading and refining bitumen in Canada.
“You have to wonder who these decision makers are working for, because it certainly isn’t Canadians or Albertans.”
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca, 613-993-8662
February 28, 2012
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Cullen welcomes unanimous parliamentary support for increased funding to reserve schools
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 28, 2012
OTTAWA – Unanimous support in Parliament last night for an NDP motion calling for the federal government to fund reserve schools to the same level that provinces do public schools is welcome and overdue news, MP Nathan Cullen said today.
“Reserve schools are shockingly underfunded and far too many are simply unfit as places of learning and growth,” said Cullen, whose northern riding, one of the largest in Canada, is comprised of approximately 30% First Nations.
“A solid education is essential to a good start in life, to prepare students to enter the workforce, and for economic independence. It is immoral that so many reserve schools are unable to provide their students with a quality education because of severe and chronic underfunding.”
Monday’s NDP motion calls for the government to declare that First Nations students have an equal right to quality education, and to work with First Nations leaders to ensure students on reserves receive properly funded, culturally sensitive schooling.
The motion is non-binding but Cullen said it will be difficult for the Harper government to backtrack on the support it expressed last night. Improved education was a key topic at last month’s first-ever summit with the prime minister and First Nations chiefs. Stephen Harper has also spoken frequently recently about the need to dramatically improve education on reserves.
Cullen said the upcoming federal budget will be the first test of the government’s commitment to increased funding for reserve schools. He said the Official Opposition will also be watching closely to see this funding does not occur at the expense of others branches of First Nations learning, such as adult education.
Cullen praised the efforts of sixteen-year-old Chelsea Edwards, a Grade 11 student, for Parliament’s unanimous support of improved education on reserves. Edwards, whose elementary schooling occurred in chilly portables next to contaminated land on her reserve near James Bay, launched the Shannen’s Dream campaign to continue the work of her friend Shannen Koostachin, who died in a car accident in 2010 at the age of 15.
A recent federal-First Nations task force found at least 100 schools are unfit for learning and less than half of reserve students ever graduate from high school. On-reserve schools are funded at between $2,000 and $3,000 less per student per year than provincial schools.
The Assembly of First Nations estimates Ottawa would need to spend about $500 million a year more to bring reserve schools up to provincial standards.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, cullen1@parl.gc.ca or 250-877-4140
February 27, 2012
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Congratulations to 2012 Greater Vernon BC Winter Games Winners
Congratulations to all participants and to this year’s winners.
Angus Tweedie (Smithers) Biathlon, Junior Boys Individual, Sprint, Super Sprint Boys: Gold
Emily Dickson (Burns Lake) Biathlon, Junior Girls Individual, Sprint, Super Sprint Girls: Gold
David Walker (Smithers) Skiing, Cross Country-Individual Start Juvenile Boys 5km: Silver
Sarah Leach (Fort St. James) Speed Skating, T2T-A 400m, A 1500m Girls: Silver
Emily Sulyma (Fort St. James) Speed Skating, T2T-B 400m: Silver
Way to go to all those who participated.
February 24, 2012
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Cullen rejects Transport Canada report downplaying Enbridge risk
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
KITIMAT –Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen says he is not surprised but also not convinced at Transport Canada’s findings yesterday that oil supertankers can safely travel in and out of the port of Kitimat.
“We clearly have a different threshold for the acceptable level of ‘residual risk’ these tankers pose to the marine environment,” Cullen said today.
“As I told the Enbridge Joint Review Panel last week, how realistic is it to believe that 15,000 supertankers will be able to safely travel the narrow Douglas Channel, let alone the Hecate Strait and devastating open ocean storms, over the life of the project?
“Accidents will happen. While the risk may be small, the effects of a marine spill or leak are catastrophic, and are unacceptable to the people I represent and to 80% of British Columbians.
“Over 45,000 coastal jobs and dozens of rich northwest aboriginal cultures are at risk. Piping bitumen to port is risky enough, after which tankers have to run a gauntlet of potential human and mechanical error, challenging channels, and the wild North Pacific.”
Cullen pointed out the width of Douglas Channel where supertankers would sail is only 1.35-kilometres, far narrower than the 10-kilometre channel width at the site of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. He also pointed to research putting the number of marine vessel incidents along Canada’s Pacific Coast from 1999-2009 at 1,275.
“That’s over two per week, not what I or most people would call a residual risk,” Cullen said.
Cullen noted the value of BC commercial and recreational salmon fisheries and nature tourism is conservatively estimated at over $1 billion annually, an economy that no level of risk should be permitted to jeopardize.
Transport Canada yesterday filed its review of Enbridge’s proposed marine shipping routes to the regulatory panel weighing the $5.5-billion project, which would see Alberta crude shipped to the West Coast by pipeline and exported to Asian markets via a marine terminal at Kitimat. The report found no regulatory concerns for vessels, operations, proposed routes, navigability, other waterway users and the marine terminal operations associated with the project.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, cullen1@parl.gc.ca or 250-877-4140
February 24, 2012
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Enbridge’s Northern Gateway opens door to inflation
By Robyn Allan, Vancouver Sun February 23, 2012
It is regrettable that Gerry Angevine of the Fraser Institute didn’t do his homework and actually read the Enbridge documents submitted to the National Energy Board regarding the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline (Proposed pipeline to have no effect on gas prices, Issues & Ideas, Feb. 20).
If he had, he would be well aware that the increase of domestic crude oil prices arising from the pipeline is Enbridge’s assumption, not mine. He would also realize that Enbridge has applied this price increase to all oil produced whether it is sold to customers in the United States, Canada or Asia, not just oil marketed to Asia.
The only way Enbridge can build its benefits case is to raise the price of oil on all barrels produced in Canada, from the sweetest of synthetic to the heaviest of bitumen. If the assumption is unrealistic, as Angevine suggests, well, then Enbridge has no economic case for the project between the Alberta oilsands and Kitimat and should be forced to withdraw its application.
Although you have to dig to connect all the dots, Enbridge asserts in Volume 2, Appendix A, Table A-18 cross-referenced with Table A-1 and Appendix B of their filing, that Northern Gateway will bring about an increase in the price of every barrel of oil produced in Canada by $2-$3, every year, for 30 years, over and above what it would be without Northern Gateway. Since my report, An Economic Assessment of Northern Gate-way, was filed as evidence with the National Energy Board, Enbridge has confirmed that this is indeed their conclusion.
The purpose of my report was to take Enbridge’s case as detailed in their documents and assess the likely impact on the Canadian economy should their assumptions prove achievable. According to the Enbridge documents, the purpose of the Northern Gateway pipeline is to irrevocably place the Canadian economy on the Asian demand curve for crude oil in order to achieve higher international prices in our domestic economy.
When this occurs, prices for Canadian and U.S. refineries rise and are passed on to consumers and non-oil producing businesses. The impact of higher prices – given that real incomes for most Canadians have not increased in any meaningful way in over 30 years – is a transfer of income from consumers and non-oil producing businesses to oil producers. The impact of this transfer is of negative consequence since it will lead to a decline in domestic demand for other goods and services and lead to down-sizing and layoffs within Canada, not to mention the added pressure higher oil prices have on the competitiveness of Canada’s refining industry.
Most people are unaware that not only does Enbridge assume access to Asian markets will raise the price of all western crude production, their analysis also assumes the same supply of crude oil with or without the pipe-line. In order to meet Asian demand, the Enbridge case assumes crude oil must be redirected from eastern Canadian and U.S. markets; this is how Enbridge will get the crude oil to ship to Asia.
By limiting supply by about 20 per cent within Canada, and about 14 per cent in the U.S., North American refineries attempting to adjust to these supply restrictions will be forced to source foreign markets to meet their needs. This exacerbates Eastern Canada’s current heavy dependence on Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries countries for crude oil. Almost all the needs of Quebec and the Atlantic provinces are already sourced from vulnerable and uncertain international markets. The details of Enbridge’s supply restriction plan are clearly identified in Appendix A, Tables A9-A14 of their documents. The Canadian public should expect from professional economists – at the very least – a rigorous examination of filed documents before cavalier critique is advanced in support of a particular view.
For almost two years Enbridge, the oil industry, and federal and provincial politicians have aggressively advanced this pipeline project but have not mentioned its intent to increase crude oil prices in Canada, for all Canadians. The continued obfuscation of what this project means in terms of long-term economic growth and meaningful energy security for Canadians puts the public interest at serious risk.
Robyn Allan is an economist.
February 23, 2012
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C-19 FAQ
1. What is so different about this bill compared with other bills in the past?
The current bill removes mandatory licence verification in the case of non-restricted firearm transfer. Previous bills always had this provision. It balanced the interests of law-abiding gun owners and public safety.
2. Why does this matter?
Since it is no longer mandatory to check if a licence is valid, guns can get into the hands of individuals who should not have them more easily. This includes individuals under a prohibition order, with revoked licences, with fake licences or even criminals.
3. Is this bill the first time that the mandatory licence verification provision was taken out?
Yes. Even bill S-5 (December 2009), the government’s last bill to scrap the registry, required an authorization of the chief firearms officer for a transfer. The removal in C-19 signifies a major shift.
4. Are there other problems with the bill that could lead to increased crime?
Yes. Before the registry, police could track guns by checking the records of local gun dealers, who were required to keep records of sale. This is very useful if a gun is recovered in a crime. C-19 does not have this requirement and takes us back to pre-1977 situation in Canada. It will now be harder for police to solve crimes and easier for illegal trafficking of guns.
5. I’ve heard that there are problems with classification? What’s all the fuss about?
Hunting and sport shooting rifles don’t need to be registered. However some models should be reclassified to ensure public safety. There are several non-hunting rifles that will no longer be registered. Some of these were originally created for urban combat and war situations.
6. What did Nathan do about this?
Nathan worked with other New Democrats and put forward amendments at the Public Safety and National Security Committee to try to fix the bill. The amendments would have meant the registry was destroyed, but without forgetting public safety. The government refused to cooperate.
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February 22, 2012
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Integrative Cancer Care Comes To Terrace on March 1st and 2nd
InspireHealth provides patients with the knowledge and tools to address their overall health and well being during and after traditional cancer treatment. The foundations of health and healing include meditation, exercise, healthful nutrition, visualization, group sharing, decision-making, immune system support and vitamins and supplements.
InspireHealth has been operating in Vancouver since 1997, with a team of physicians and health care professionals that have provided integrative care to over 6,000 patients. They are also expanding with five new centres in Victoria, Kelowna, Abbotsford, Prince George, and online.
Historically, cancer care in rural and more remote areas of BC has faced challenges. Not the least of which is access to health services and treatment due to geographical limitations.
Until now.
InspireHealth’s new initiative, InspireLIFE BC officially launched in Terrace this February. InspireLIFE has been specifically designed to serve patients, families and communities in rural and remote parts of the province. These programs and services optimize recovery and survival, and actively engage patients to take charge of their own health. By doing so, research has shown that these patients do better and live longer and have a better quality of life.
Terrace Inspire Health committee is excited to announce that Inspire Health will be in Terrace on March 1st and 2nd. During the last three years local interest and fundraising initiatives in the Terrace community have allowed Terrace to be the Pilot Community for the new outreach version called ‘Inspire Life’. If this pilot project is a success Inspire Health sees the potential of this program to be scaled to a national level. This is real exciting news.
Doctors Teresa Clarke and Dana Hubler will be in Terrace to speak to cancer patients. To register, call 1-888-734-7125.
February 17, 2012
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Cullen delivers passionate defense of land at Enbridge JRP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 17, 2012
PRINCE RUPERT – Skeena-Bulkley Valley Member of Parliament Nathan Cullen delivered a passionate defense of the Northwest and its land and people in a 40-minute address to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel here today.
“We have a saying in the Northwest: “The land makes the people, the people don’t make the land,” Cullen said to sustained applause from the packed hearing room.
Cullen said he quickly learned powerful and lasting lessons of the “absolute interconnectivity” of land and people in his 300,000-square kilometre riding from the moment he drove off the Prince Rupert ferry in a battered 1986 Toyota Tercel almost 15 years ago.
“My most clear thought that day was that if we mess up the land and ocean in this place, there is no hope,” an emotional Cullen told the panel. “I’ve lived around the world and nowhere have I seen the interconnectivity of land and people like I have here in the Northwest.
“I’ve learned one consistent factor in feast halls across the north: the land supports us and we must support the land. It is the cultural fabric that holds us together and any threat to the land affects people at their core,” Cullen said.
Implicit threats that Enbridge’s proposed dual pipeline project pose to land and sea have already profoundly affected communities, especially First Nations, across the north, he said.
“Our very way of life, our many established salmon-based economies – all are being put at risk.”
Cullen said the risk that supertankers pose to the ocean environment is “second to none.” He told of a trip two years ago with elected officials that traced a portion of Enbridge’s proposed coastal route.
“We were in a 35-foot boat, making those tight turns out of Douglas Channel and into the open ocean, and I remember thinking, ‘Can 15,000 supertankers, some larger than the Empire State Building, sail this channel safely without making a mistake?’
“Because we can’t make a mistake, not even one, when it comes to our ocean environment.
“We have another saying, ‘When the tide goes out, the table is set.’ The ocean, and the land, are not just jobs or a meal for us, they are our life.” Cullen said. “The threat that the Enbridge pipeline poses to our lives and livelihoods is absolutely unacceptable.”
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
February 15, 2012
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Cullen attacks government for putting gun-owners and citizens at risk
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 15, 2012
Government refuses to listen to reason
Ottawa–Today’s vote that scrapped the gun registry marks the end to a divisive chapter that did little to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.
“The registry became a political football rather than a vehicle for effective public policy,” said MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley). “The changes we voted on today crossed a threshold and created fundamentally different legislation that I could not support.”
Cullen was referring to the fact that all previous Conservative bills to scrap the registry did so without throwing out the mandatory licence verification provision.
“This provision protected the seller and society,” said Cullen. “Why take it out? It makes no sense and the government offered absolutely no explanation.”
Without mandatory license verification, if an individual has a revoked license or is under prohibition, there is nothing to verify this and stop them from buying a gun.
Cullen appeared before the Public Safety committee last November to push for amendments that would consider the interests of law-abiding gun owners and maintain public safety. At that time, he warned that even his constituents and other Canadians who despise the long-gun registry don’t want Ottawa to ditch all controls.
“Let’s remember that this government is refusing to vote for amendments they supported a short eight months ago. What we put forward was in previous bills. The Conservatives are betraying their own advice and the safety of Canadians,” said Cullen.
“This arrogant and domineering approach to governing is not what Canadians voted for last May,” Cullen said. “I’m worried this government is causing harm. They are putting both gun-owners and citizens at risk.”
The long-gun registry was introduced in 1995 by the Jean Chrétien Liberals as a one-time investment of $2 million. Costs have since soared to more than $1 billion.
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca, 613-993-8662
February 14, 2012
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Nathan Cullen’s response to Northern Gateway’s request to limit speaking time
UPDATE: (9:26am, February 16, 2012): The Panel released a statement saying it will not set the time limit for oral evidence requested by Enbridge. The appropriateness of oral evidence will continue to be determined at the hearings on a case-by-case basis. Read the decision https://www.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/livelink.exe/fetch/2000/90464/90552/384192/620327/624909/790827/Panel-Commission_-_Letter_to_all_Parties_-_Response_to_Northern_Gateway_letter_re_Prince_Rupert_Community_Hearing_-_A2Q1Z9.pdf?nodeid=790828&vernum=0
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2012
Ottawa
It is my duty, and right, as Member of Parliament for Skeena-Bulkley Valley to express and defend the views and interests of my constituents. I have spoken with constituents across Northwest British Columbia and most residents in the riding have expressed concerns regarding the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. It is for this reason that I decided to participate in the review process.
When assessing how best to participate, I chose to act as an intervenor, in part, because it offered more than 10 minutes to address the Panel. I am sure the Panel can appreciate that Skeena-Bulkley Valley is one of the largest federal ridings in Canada with diverse communities. Sharing my personal knowledge and breadth of experiences from over seven years representing and working with these communities cannot be done in 10 minutes or in writing. I therefore requested, and was granted, 45 minutes for oral evidence.
It was with grave concern that I read the letter submitted February 13, 2012 – a mere five days before I will speak to the Panel – requesting that non-Aboriginal participants giving oral evidence have their time limited to 10 minutes. I am shocked at such attempts to change the rules mid-hearings.
The letter from Mr. Ken MacDonald speaks to two separate issues, which, I would like to point out, are not correlated. Mr. MacDonald is asking that non-Aboriginal participants presenting oral evidence not stray from the guidelines set out in Procedural Direction #4. Requesting that all presenters follow this directive is a fair request. However limiting speaking time neither guarantees nor is necessary to ensure that presenters follow the guidelines. I can therefore only read this request as an effort to silence, among others, elected officials.
The presenters must diligently ensure that their oral evidence is within the realms established by all Procedural Directions. I can assure you I have prepared my evidence with this in mind. The Panel has its set of tools that it can use to ensure that speakers do not stray from those directives and it should remain in the hands of the Panel to make such judgments.
I trust you will carefully consider my comments and request that you deny the request of Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Limited.
Nathan Cullen
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February 14, 2012
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Enbridge tries to muzzle democracy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2012
Cullen attacks sly effort to change rules mid-hearings
Ottawa– In a letter submitted to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel, Mr. Ken MacDonald, Vice President of the Northern Gateway Pipelines Limited Partnership has asked that non-Aboriginal participants have their time for oral evidence limited to 10 minutes.
“This letter came out the same week that the only Member of Parliament will be presenting to the panel,” said MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley). “It also happens to be the Member whose riding is most affected. The timing is suspicious and shameful.”
The original rules state that intervenors giving oral evidence have up to three hours to speak.
Along with Nathan Cullen, Mr. Gary Coons, provincial MLA (North Coast) will present this week in Prince Rupert at the Community Hearings.
“This letter is obviously an effort to silence elected officials,” said Cullen.
The pipeline would run through Cullen’s riding, and over 40 First Nations’ territories, ending at Kitimat, which would see an increase of over 220 supertankers off its coast.
“Enbridge and the Conservatives don’t want to hear the truth,” said Cullen. “The truth is that First Nations’ don’t want this pipeline. B.C. residents don’t want to see supertankers in coastal waters threatening the coastal economy with a potential spill. And Canadians don’t want us to ship value-added jobs to China, along with raw goods.”
The panel has been under a series of attacks by government, Enbridge and industry, with constant efforts to limit opponents from speaking.
“This panel was set up so that those most affected can be properly consulted and properly heard. Now just over a month into the hearings Enbridge is putting the muzzle on democratically elected officials who represent those people.”
This decision shouldn’t be in the hands of companies who want to make a buck,” said Cullen. “Those most affected and opponents will not be silenced.”
Just last night, Terrace City Council voted against the Northern Gateway Project.
The Joint Review Panel is expected to reply to Mr. MacDonald’s letter later today.
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
February 08, 2012
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Cullen: cuts to seniors’ benefits could affect affordability of northern retirement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 8, 2012
Smithers– Stephen Harper’s move to balance the Conservative deficit by cutting future Old Age Security (OAS) benefits to seniors could hit northern and rural communities particularly hard, Skeena-Bulkley Valley Member of Parliament Nathan Cullen said today.
“The cost of health-related travel is a fact of life here in the North and is especially felt by older people who have that many more health concerns,” Cullen noted. “Many seniors are living on tight budgets and an erosion of funds will make it unaffordable for some older people to live any distance from a major medical centre.”
Cullen pointed out that increasing numbers of older people are opting to stay in or move to northern communities for retirement. Accessibility of health care is carefully weighed in these decisions and he worries changes to OAS benefits may make northern retirement a less desirable option.
“Many of our northern seniors want to retire where they have raised families and established lifelong friendships,” Cullen said. “Taking money out of the pockets of our seniors will absolutely put many retirement options beyond the reach of many Canadians.”
Two weeks ago in Switzerland, Prime Minister Stephen Harper hinted at possible changes to OAS, including increasing the age of eligibility. Harper backtracked on those comments last week in Parliament, but earlier this week his Conservative majority defeated an Opposition motion aimed at protecting seniors benefits.
“I’m in Fort McMurray today, a place where the oil industry is making enormous profit,” Cullen said. “That profit is on the backs of seniors and everyday Canadians, thanks to the $1.3 billion in direct federal subsidies the Harper government has poured into oil and gas companies alone this year.
“If Stephen Harper wants to balance the budget, he should start by cutting these obscene subsidies — and leave Canadian seniors alone.”
The New Democrat Official Opposition today announced it is embarking on a cross-country tour to talk with people about changes to OAS planned by the Conservatives and promote practical options to ensure retirement security for all Canadians.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, cullen1@parl.gc.ca, 250-877-4140
February 08, 2012
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PM needs to stand up for Canadian energy security and jobs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 8, 2012
Ottawa – MP Nathan Cullen will be watching Mr. Harper closely during his trip to China this week to see if there are any unexpected announcements that will affect Canadians.
“He’s made announcements that affect us when abroad before. It shows complete disregard for this country and for anyone who shows opposition to the government’s position,” said Cullen.
At the top of the Prime Minister’s agenda while in China are Canada’s energy policy and the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline set to go through the riding Cullen represents.
“If Mr. Harper was less interested in a backroom deal, he’d let the National Energy Board finish its review before trying to seal the deal,” said Cullen. “Washington said no and now Mr. Harper’s is running to China. What will he offer there?”
The Joint Review Panel hearings began in January 2012. A decision is expected April 2013.
People living along the proposed route and across B.C. have been very vocal with their opposition to the project. Cullen says Mr. Harper refuses to listen.
“Folks in my riding have been fighting against Enbridge oil and the pipeline for years,” said Cullen.
The proposal involves shipping raw bitumen and the best value-added jobs to China.
“There’s only one way to describe it,” said Cullen. “It’s a bad deal for Canada.”
Cullen also stated that over 45,000 coastal economy jobs will be at risk if a single spill occurs from one of the 220 supertankers set to be in B.C.’s coastal waters.
“I’d also like to remind Mr. Harper of his 2008 promise to Canadians when he said he wouldn’t ship Canadian oil to countries with lower environmental standards, and that he’d protect our jobs,” said Cullen.
Facing international pressure for its environmental record, China has recently increased its investment on green innovation projects and has clearly outspent Canada in recent years.
“We’re going backwards,” said Cullen. “Instead of promoting the pipeline in China, maybe Mr. Harper can take notes on clean energy initiatives.”
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca, 613-993-8662
February 01, 2012
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Rio Tinto returns traditional lands to the Cheslatta Nation
Rio Tinto returns traditional lands to the Cheslatta NationAfter a decade of discussion, Rio Tinto Alcan completed the transfer of sixty-three district lots, just over 11,000 acres of land, to the Cheslatta Carrier Nation in January 2012. The land transfer marks the conclusion of a long-standing issue between the company and the Cheslatta, and the beginning of a new cooperative relationship between Rio Tinto and the Cheslatta Nation. It will bring mutual economic and societal benefits for many years to come.
The relationship between Cheslatta Carrier Nation and Rio Tinto began almost 60 years ago when the company purchased land from the federal government to create a reservoir for its hydro-electric project in Kemano. As a result of the purchase, the Cheslatta were forced to surrender their land when the company built a series of dams on the headwaters of the Nechako River. Their relationship has, over the decades, gone from non-existent to productive and cooperative.
“We are most grateful for the hard work and dedication of former Cheslatta leaders and we also thank Rio Tinto Alcan for being a modern and progressive corporation that understands the significance of the land to the Cheslatta people. We are fully committed to continue working together,” said Cheslatta Chief Richard Peters.
“I am proud of the respectful and effective relationship that we have developed with the Cheslatta Carrier Nation. I am also proud that both parties demonstrated great patience, support and commitment to this process that allows us to recognize the past while opening a new door to a brighter future,” said Paul Henning, vice president, Strategic Projects, Western Canada for Rio Tinto.
January 26, 2012
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Northern Lights Wildlife Society wins 2011 Aviva Community Fund
The Northern Lights Wildlife Society (NLWS) won $140,000 from the 2011 Aviva Community Fund. The Aviva Community Fund supports initiatives that have a positive impact on the community. 90 semi-finalists are chosen by popular vote, after which the top 30 finalists are evaluated by a panel of judges to determine 12 winners. Winners were announced on January 25, 2012.
NLWS is a Smithers-based volunteer-run non-profit registered charity that rehabilitates injured and orphaned juvenile wildlife back into the wild. The funding won by NLWS is going toward buying supplies to fence an additional 10,000 square feet to accommodate the rising numbers of cubs being admitted, and to furnish the area with shelter and activity opportunities. The manual labour will be performed by volunteers. The facility has been operating for 21 years without power or water on site, so funds will also go towards securing running water and electricity, as well as facility extensions and upgrades as funding permits.
The society covers all of British Columbia and promotes peaceful coexistence with wildlife through education programs for schools and groups, and consulting with industries. NLWS is often the only resource between juvenile wildlife and death. In its 20+ years of operation, NLWS has rescued over 220 bears, and launched the world’s first grizzly project in 2007. It also works with university students from around the world, offering unique study opportunities with the animals in care.
Congratulations!
Follow this link to read more.
January 24, 2012
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Announcement: Nathan Cullen to present at Joint Review Panel February 17 at 9am in Prince Rupert
Nathan is scheduled to present his oral evidence to the Panel on Friday, February 17 in Prince Rupert, BC at 9am.
The location for the Community Hearing is:
North Coast Meeting and Convention Centre
240 – 1st Avenue West
Nathan is your voice! If you have anything you want to say, let us know so Nathan can tell the Panel.
Come in person to watch the hearings or listen live at this link.
January 24, 2012
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Nathan Cullen’s community meeting statement regarding Burns Lake sawmill explosion
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 24, 2012
BURNS LAKE
Friends,
I am sorry I cannot be in Burns Lake personally during this very difficult time. Please know that I have been in close contact with First Nations and community leaders, and police, health and coroner’s authorities since Friday night.
You are constantly in my thoughts, as I know you are with residents of Skeena-Bulkley Valley, and all Canadians. This tragedy has shaken Canadians everywhere.
Opposition Leader Nycole Turmel has asked me to extend her very deepest sympathies.
She assures you that the Official Opposition will work alongside you and your leaders to secure all possible federal aid to help move forward from this terrible incident.
Disasters of this magnitude require the cooperation of all levels of government. There is absolutely a need for federal assistance and we will do everything we can to have Ottawa deliver promptly and fully on this responsibility.
Answers to this tragedy will come in due time. We need answers. That is part of the healing process. But right now, our energies are entirely focused on supporting the deceased, missing and injured and their families.
I would like to close by thanking the first responders who raced through a blizzard Friday night from across the North to help you here in Burns Lake.
Thank you to the workers who helped injured colleagues out of the burning mill.
We are hearing of so many selfless acts of bravery and compassion from people who set aside their own safety to help others.
Thanks also to the hundreds of volunteers who continue to provide comfort and assistance to families.
Burns Lake is a community in shock and mourning. Please know that I stand alongside you today to offer comfort.
And I will work with you in the days and weeks ahead for federal assistance to help your community recover economically from this devastating tragedy.
Nathan
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January 21, 2012
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Sawmill explosion devastating to entire North
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 21, 2012
“This is a horrific tragedy and it affects all residents of the Northwest,” Cullen said. “Northern communities are like a big extended family because of our isolation and the many unique challenges we share economically, geographically and culturally.
“Answers to this tragedy will come in due time. Right now, our energies are entirely focused on supporting the injured and missing and their families.”
Cullen said he is immensely proud of the acts of heroism that are starting to emerge in the hours following the sawmill tragedy.
“From workers forsaking their own safety to help injured colleagues, to volunteer emergency responders racing through hundreds of kilometres of blizzard conditions, we are hearing of selfless acts of bravery and commitment.”
Cullen was alerted to the industrial accident within minutes of the explosion and remains in close contact with community and First Nations leaders, emergency officials and residents.
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Contact: Françoise Godet, cullen2a@parl.gc.ca 250-615-7878
January 20, 2012
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Welcome to 65 new Canadians from 22 countries!
Our northern community welcomed 65 new Canadians, originally coming from 22 different countries, as they swore the Oath of Citizenship on January 19, 2012 in Muheim Elementary School. Judge George Gibaut presided over the citizenship ceremony that swore in new citizens coming in from Smithers, Telkwa, Burns Lake, Houston, New Hazelton, Terrace and the surrounding communities. Judge Gibaut noted that while it was freezing cold outside, it was also “a very warm day in all of our hearts.”
New citizens came from countries including India, Philippines, Russia, Uganda, and more. All the new citizens have been living in Canada for at least 3 years, and others, like Balihar and Baljinder Vinning, have lived in northern B.C. for 30 years.
Masters of the ceremony were grade 7 students Cassie Horning-Wandler and Ethan Bucher, also from Muheim Elementary. Smithers RCMP constables Ashley Vanleeuwen and Adam Moleski were also in attendance and participated in the citizenship ceremony.
“Days like this are special days in life in Canada,” said Judge Gibault during the joyous ceremony. “Right here, right now, we are part of a great tradition—the tradition of building Canada with newcomers from every part of the world.”
January 18, 2012
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Foreign oil money the real threat to truth and nationalism at Enbridge hearings
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 18, 2012
Cullen blasts pipeline supporters for distorting facts and derailing democracy
Ottawa – “It’s unethical. It isn’t factual. It’s not going to work,” says MP Nathan Cullen about the recent smear campaign calling opponents of the proposed Enbridge pipeline “radical.”
“These accusations are just a distraction from the issue at hand, which is the environmental risk of the proposed pipeline and the right for people to voice their concerns,” said Cullen. “We’re not going to be bullied into silence by foreign oil money.”
Days before hearings for the Joint Review Panel (JRP) for the Northern Gateway began in Kitimat last week, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver and Ethical Oil attacked environmental organizations in Canada for receiving foreign donations.
Not so, said Cullen, pointing out that fully 79% of Enbridge JRP participants are from BC, with less than 20 presenters from the US. However, of the 16 oil companies that will speak, 10 are housed in foreign countries.
“The foreign representation is clearly on the side of big oil companies,” said Cullen. “And this amounts to foreign control of our natural resources.”
He noted an April 2011 poll by Strategic Communications shows 75% of British Columbians are worried about foreign companies dumping their money into Canadian natural resources.
“I doubt Sinopec (the Chinese company that has partnered with Enbridge) really cares about the way of life of more than 40 First Nations in Skeena-Bulkley Valley,” said Cullen.
Political scientist George Hoberg of UBC’s forestry department has also addressed the threat of foreign control of natural resources.
“I think it’s absurd to focus on foreign foundation funding of Canadian environmentalists without focusing on foreign ownership of Canadian energy companies,” said Hoberg.
JRP hearings are expected to take until April 2013 due to the unprecedented number of people wishing to speak. Cullen says this participation, far from being ‘radical,’ is part of democracy.
“Throwing around labels and pressuring the panel to speed up the process amounts to bullying. And we are not going to be bullied.”
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca, 613-993-8662
January 18, 2012
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Keystone rejection must inform Enbridge process, says Cullen
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 18, 2012
A victory for the environment and due process
Ottawa – Today’s rejection by the US government of the Keystone XL pipeline project is a victory for the environment and sends a clear signal to Stephen Harper that Enbridge must be vetted via a full and unfettered assessment process, says MP Nathan Cullen.
“The Keystone decision is a victory for the environment, for Canadians, and for the democratic process,” said MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley). “The Obama administration cited the rushed deadline imposed by Republicans that made a full assessment of Keystone impossible, as the main reason for the rejection.”
Today’s Keystone decision occurs just one week after the Canadian government publicly attacked opponents of the Northern Gateway Pipeline and pressured the National Energy Board’s Joint Review Panel to speed up the hearing process.
“We see in the Keystone decision an affirmation of the need for the public to be consulted and concerned citizens to be heard,” Cullen said.
“We can’t just push these projects through. There are too many environmental and economic considerations.”
Cullen pointed to how the Keystone decision is good news for the Canadian economy as well.
“18,000 of the best refining value-added jobs would have been shipped to Texas with this project. This is a victory for those Canadians who want secure employment.”
TransCanada must now decide if it wants to put forward another application.
Oilsands advocates will be turning all their attention to the Northern Gateway Pipeline, which runs through Cullen’s riding. Cullen will appear before the Joint Review Panel, which began hearings on Enbridge last week, next month.
“We’ve got one victory with Keystone. Now let’s move on to the next,” Cullen said.
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca, 613-993-8662
January 10, 2012
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Joint Review Panel Hearings Broadcasts. Listen live!
The Enbridge Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel Hearings began on January 10, 2012. You can listen live to the hearings, and read transcripts online.
Follow this link for hearing dates, live broadcasts, and transcripts.
Stay tuned for the announcement of the date and time of Nathan’s intervention.
Nathan is your voice! If you have anything you want to say, let us know so Nathan can tell the Panel.
December 14, 2011
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Cullen says Conservatives have no strategy for environmental compliance, emergency response
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 14, 2011
Cullen asks how Enbridge pipeline can go through in light of Environment Commissioner findings
OTTAWA – The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development tabled his report yesterday, and findings were not good. Scott Vaughan pointed to major problems with compliance verification, enforcement and emergency response procedures.
“We have several pipeline proposals in front of us and a government that is failing to ensure that pipelines are safe for the environment and Canadians,” said NDP MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley). “How can any of these projects get approved under these conditions?”
One of the proposals, the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, would carry unrefined oil from Alberta’s tar sands through Cullen’s riding. At Kitimat, the goods would transfer to super tankers for transport to Asia.
Enbridge faces fierce opposition from locals, including 130 First Nations. Last week, Cullen met with Gitxsan hereditary chiefs days after they promptly overturned treaty negotiator Elmer Derrick’s unexpected agreement with Enbridge for a $7-million stake in the project. The community remains divided.
“We’ve already seen how Enbridge is willing to tear communities apart,” said Cullen. “Now the report tells us that this government has no strategy for issues of environmental concern.”
Problems mentioned were risks of leaking and bursting pipes, no follow-up on safety deficiencies and the absence of a clear plan of action for emergency response when accidents happen.
“These pipelines are transporting dangerous goods,” said Cullen. “In light of this report, I have zero confidence in this government’s ability to force companies like Enbridge to protect the salmon fishery, the water supply, and First Nations’ land.”
Cullen will appear as an intervenor at the project’s Joint Review Panel in 2012.
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca, 613-993-8662
December 09, 2011
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CULLEN SUPPORTS GITXSAN CHIEFS’ ACTION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2011
Opposition to Pipeline Remains Strong Throughout the Northwest
HAZELTON – MP Nathan Cullen was in the riding this week to stand in solidarity with the Gitxsan people. The membership re-affirmed its opposition to Enbridge following last Friday’s surprise endorsement of the project by some Gitxsan negotiators.
“It is very important to me to stand shoulder to shoulder with the hereditary chiefs and the Nation, virtually all of whom clearly do not support the false promises of environmental protection and economic development that Enbridge is selling to northerners,” Cullen said yesterday.
Cullen met Wednesday at Gitanmaax Hall with the task force of hereditary chiefs that formed last week on the heels of Elmer Derrick’s announcement the Gitxsan Nation had reached an agreement with Enbridge for an equity stake in the project. The deal was swiftly renounced by hereditary chiefs, who said the Nation had not sanctioned it.
“It’s unbelievable that Enbridge would try to pull such a stunt,” said Cullen, who has been working closely with Gitxsan hereditary chiefs to resolve the impasse since last week. “The Gitxsan responded exactly as they should have.”
Cullen congratulated the rapid and principled decision from the Gitxsan chiefs and clans to the unauthorized agreement.
“Enbridge is obviously a company that will throw around money to push this pipeline through. This deal almost tore a community apart,” attacked Cullen. “It’s deplorable. Clearly this kind of conquer and divide approach is not going to work.”
Within 48 hours Gitxsan Clans met to take action to reverse the agreement with Enbridge.
Simogyet Delgamuukw, spokesperson for the Gitxsan, stated that traditional protocols had not been followed to ensure proper consultation and consent from the people.
This reversal means the Gitxsan join the 130 Nations that affirmed their opposition to the proposed pipeline a day before Elmer Derrick’s unexpected announcement.
“The one piece of good news,” said Cullen, “is that the Gitxsan have clearly shown that they won’t be bought.”
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca, 613-993-8662
December 06, 2011
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National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 6, 2011
Cullen calls for communities to work together to end tragedies
OTTAWA – Today marks the 20th anniversary of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. December 6 has become a day to reflect on the many forms of violence that women experience across Canada, and a chance to take renewed action to stop it.
“My riding is no exception to this tragedy just because we are a collection of small, remote communities,” said Nathan Cullen (MP Skeena-Bulkley Valley).
He noted that at least 30 women have gone missing or been murdered while travelling along the so-called Highway of Tears, which runs right through the riding.
“We remain ever vigilant of the horrific dangers that young women in the Northwest face along the Highway of Tears.”
Most of the murdered and missing women in the Highway of Tears cases are aboriginal. Across Canada even more aboriginal women have gone missing and been murdered. The Sisters In Spirit Campaign of the Native Women’s Association of Canada puts the number of victims at 582.
“Violence against women has to stop,” said Cullen. “It absolutely has to stop.
Cullen noted December 6 is also a sombre reminder to northerners of the tragic 2010 murder of 15-year-old Loren Donn Leslie of Fraser Lake. The 21-year-old male suspect in her case has been since charged with three other counts of first-degree murder of young women in the Prince George area. In an unrelated case that has gripped the North, police and family members continue to search for 20-year-old Madison Scott, who disappeared 25 kilometres south of Vanderhoof without explanation last May.
“Women and girls simply cannot become the best they can be and cannot be full contributing members of society when their basic rights are violated and they are subject to repeated violence,” said Cullen.
Cullen pointed out that it takes full participation of everyone in the community to make change.
“As much as today is a day or remembrance for missing and murdered women, it is also a call to action,” Cullen said.
“We must all work together to put an end to violence against women.”
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca, 613-993-8662
December 01, 2011
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Rio Tinto Alcan Smelter: Good News for Kitimat
Kitimat had some great news in early December with the announcement that Rio Tinto Alcan is going to modernize the aluminum smelter. The project will add an additional investment of $2.7 billion, bringing the total investment to US$3.3 billion. It should be completed by 2014.
This is as an opportunity to rebuild the community. Kitimat has seen some hard times since the West Fraser Timber Co. shut down the paper mill in 2009. At that time we saw more than 500 people out of work. The closure of the mill impacted families and some even had to pick up and leave town after spending their entire lives in Kitimat. It was a very tough time.
The modernization project will mean an increase of production by almost 50%. This increase will bring in 1000 stable jobs and additional 1500 during the peak construction phase.
It’s good to know we’ve weathered the storm and there will be a return of a stable economic base for the community. We’ve come through a tough period and can now look forward to a period of positive investment and growth.
The fact that this smelter is going to be one of the cleanest, most efficient plants in the world is also good news. It will be hydro powered and with new technology installed during the modernization, will cut carbon emissions in half.
This is the direction we need to go. Stable jobs and greener jobs are good news for the Northwest and great news for Kitimat.
December 01, 2011
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Guns for criminals isn’t what law-abiding gun owners want: Cullen pushes for amendments
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 1, 2011
Nathan Cullen pushes for amendments on a bill that has “gone too far”
OTTAWA – Refusal of the Conservative-dominated Commons public safety committee to amend the government’s sledgehammer approach to abolishing the long-gun registry has created a bill that has “gone too far,” Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen said today.
“The Conservatives have crossed a line with the current bill,” a frustrated Cullen said after a meeting of the committee earlier this week.”They’ve taken unprecedented and irresponsible steps, and it is hunters and recreational sports shooters in my riding and right across Canada who will pay the price.”
“This isn’t what law-abiding gun owners asked for and these arrogant tactics are not the mandate Canadians gave this government last May.”
Cullen appeared at committee to push for amendments that would balance the interests of rural and urban Canadians. He warned that even his constituents and other Canadians who despise the long-gun registry don’t want Ottawa to ditch all controls.
Cullen attacked the Conservatives at length for failing to fix the broken and inadequate classification system. “Dangerous weapons are currently clumped in with legitimate hunting rifles and our amendment would clean this up,” he said.
Among these weapons are the Steyr HS. 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle, meant to pierce light armoured vehicles from over a kilometre away. The Swiss Arms Black Special, an assault rifle, uses the same lightweight ammunition found in an M-16 military rifle. The Tavor TAR 21 was originally conceptualized for urban warfare.
“Hunters in my riding are responsible people. They don’t shoot a moose from over a kilometre away, or a duck with an urban assault rifle,” Cullen said.
“These are military guns. The Conservatives’ refusal to accept our amendments shows this government isn’t interested in using reason. They’re being radical, arrogant and ideological.
“This is a very different bill than I have supported in the past.
“This bill makes it easier for criminals to access military-style guns. It’s not serving my constituents. It’s not serving Canadians.
“This is a bill that has gone too far.”
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca, 613-993-8662
November 24, 2011
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Congratulations to Kathleen Ruff
On November 23, 2011, Kathleen Ruff of Smithers, BC, received the Rideau Institute Leadership Award in Ottawa. The award, first presented in 2010, is given to a person or group who has made “an outstanding contribution to a progressive vision of Canada.” Kathleen has been a consistently vocal and tireless advocate against asbestos. Nathan has had the privilege to work with Kathleen on this issue for years.
Each year Canada exports nearly 200,000 tonnes of asbestos to poor and developing nations. The majority of these exports go to India, where labourers use it without masks, or proper safety instruction. Asbestos causes thousands of unnecessary deaths each year.
Recognizing this injustice, Kathleen has written a book on the topic, Exporting Harm: How Canada Markets Asbestos to the Developing World and works as Coordinator of the Rotterdam Convention Alliance. The Rotterdam Convention is in place to encourage joint responsibility with importing and exporting hazardous materials such as asbestos.
Kathleen’s efforts have touched several people, including a group of Grade 10 students who won our first Create Your Canada contest in 2009. They were inspired to submit proposals for new federal legislation after Kathleen spoke at their school.
The outcome of that contest was the introduction of Nathan’s Private Member’s Bill in 2009 to ban asbestos. He re-introduced it in 2010 and will be re-introducing it again in 2012.
None of this may have happened without Kathleen’s tremendous efforts and inspiring work. It just goes to show that one person can make a difference.
Congratulations Kathleen!
November 23, 2011
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WHEAT BOARD ATTACK SHAMEFUL ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY
NDP Stands with Canadian farmers as Conservatives push to dismantle institution.
OTTAWA – With today’s vote in the House of Commons, the Conservatives are one step closer to dismantling a critical and valued institution for Canadian farmers. “It is yet another example of this government acting against the best interests of Canadians,” said Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley).
The bill will dismantle the Canada Wheat Board and without it, farmers will struggle to survive. Smaller scale and family farmers are particularly at risk of being swallowed up by larger corporations like Cargill.
Most frustrating is the refusal of the Conservatives to consult fully with those most affected – the farmers. Cullen blasted the conservatives for this anti-democratic move.
“We’ve seen this before and unfortunately, I don’t think this is the last time we’re going to see this government ignoring Canadians. The majority of farmers clearly support the Wheat Board and are against its closure. The question is why won’t the government listen?”
Under current legislation, the government must consult through a democratic vote with both the Wheat Board and farmers. Their failure to do so amounts to breaking the law.
The NDP criticised the conservatives for excluding farmers from deciding their future and leaving it to ministerial discretion. “There’s no other way to put it. It’s a shameful assault on the democratic process,” said Cullen.
With the bill in third reading in the House, all that remains is the unelected Senate’s rubber stamp, before it becomes law.
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Contact: Devorah Kobluk, nathan.cullen.a1@parl.gc.ca, 613-993-8662
November 01, 2011
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Conservatives must halt deadly asbestos exports
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
Harper must allow his MPs to do the right thing: Turmel
OTTAWA – New Democrat Leader Nycole Turmel is challenging Stephen Harper on his deadly stance on asbestos. In a motion to be voted on this evening, the Official Opposition is calling out the Conservatives for their dangerous inaction on the cancer-causing material, and demanding the government halt asbestos exports once and for all.
“The Conservatives are so preoccupied with rewarding their friends in the asbestos lobby that they’ve lost sight of what’s right,” said New Democrat Leader Nycole Turmel.
“Canadian doctors say it’s wrong, the UN says it’s wrong – even current and former Conservative caucus members say it’s wrong. But this out-of-touch government refuses to act. The Prime Minister must allow his MPs to vote freely and support this important motion.”
Despite knowledge that asbestos can cause deadly forms of cancer, the Conservative government still wants to ship tons of asbestos to developing countries. Exporting the deadly material is so unconscionable it has even caused sitting Conservative MPs and past cabinet ministers to break ranks with the party line.
“Right now, Parliament is spending millions to remove asbestos from it walls – yet the Conservatives still insist the product is safe. The Conservatives need to stop tying themselves in knots trying to justify its position on asbestos. Today, they’ll have a chance to do the right thing,” said Turmel.
The motion, put forward by NDP MP Claude Gravelle (Sudbury-Nickel Belt), would see that the government ban the use and export of asbestos; support international efforts to add chrysotile asbestos to the list of hazardous chemical products under the Rotterdam Convention; assist affected workers by developing a transition strategy; introduce measures dedicated to affected older workers; and invest in economic diversification in asbestos-producing regions.
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September 20, 2011
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Seeking scenics and sayings for 2012 MP calendar
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 20, 2011
SMITHERS – We are assembling our annual calendar featuring beautiful Northwest scenery and are again inviting constituents to send us their favourite photographs for consideration.
Eight images are featured in our calendar. Horizontal images are best suited to the design. Color images are acceptable, although the calendar is printed in black and white. Photographs should depict the natural beauty of BC’s Northwest, highlight distinctive regional cultures, or showcase the special outdoor activities available in our area.
Photographers are asked to submit high resolution JPEG or TIFF files. Please be sure to note where the shot was taken, and your name for photo credit.
This year, we are also asking you to send in your favorite inspirational quotation, either your own words or those of others. We’ll select a quote to accompany each picture, matching the spoken word as closely as possible to the featured photograph. Please submit quotes under 35 words, or quotations that can be edited for length. Remember to include the names of both the author and yourself.
Images and quotations must be sent to Cullen@parl.gc.ca by October 14. The calendar will be mailed to all households in our 300,000-square kilometer riding in late December.
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For more information: Shelley Browne (250) 877-4140, or cullen@parl.gc.ca
September 09, 2011
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Don’t sell out ocean management to oil interests, Opposition says
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 9, 2011
SMITHERS/VANCOUVER – Official Opposition New Democrats today accused the Conservative government of sabotaging a comprehensive ocean management plan to protect the environment and economic needs of the Pacific North Coast. The political decision, based on pressure from large oil and gas corporations, will put the marine planning process – and the Pacific coast – at risk.
The Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA) planning process has been a joint effort by the federal, provincial and First Nations governments to obtain input from residents and stakeholders on a plan to protect the cultural, economic, and ecological health of the Pacific North Coast.
New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) said the federal government’s sudden and unilateral withdrawal from the funding agreement smacks of political interference.
“Everybody has been in favor of this process. The provincial government wants it, First Nations want it – even the Department of Fisheries and Oceans wanted to continue. But the Prime Minister has put big oil company interests ahead of good policy and scuttled the plan.”
“It’s outrageous that the federal government is withdrawing from PNCIMA,” said New Democrat Fisheries and Oceans critic Fin Donnelly.
“This management process will help determine where economic activity should and should not occur along BC’s sensitive coast. It will also help protect ecologically sensitive areas of the ocean and our fisheries. Canada has made an international commitment to establish marine protected areas by 2012, and its highly political decision to withdraw from PNCIMA puts this at risk.”
“They’re clearly throwing a bone to their oil patch buddies and to Enbridge – trying to help them build a pipeline that nobody wants through one of the most beautiful and ecologically diverse places in Canada,” said Cullen. “The government should immediately reverse its decision and come back to the table.”
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For more information, please contact:
Tim Howlett, Assistant to Nathan Cullen, 613-889-4055 or
Melissa Sanderson, Assistant to Finn Donnelly, 613-220-7553
September 01, 2011
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MLA Gary Coons and MP Nathan Cullen encourage communities to support local Olympic qualifier
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2011
PRINCE RUPERT, BC: MLA Gary Coons and MP Nathan Cullen would like to congratulate Adrian Liu, on being eligible to compete in the 2012 summer Olympics.
“Adrian has been a dedicated athlete for many years,” said Coons.”Since the age of 12, he has been playing badminton and loved every minute of it. Now he has the opportunity to not only represent Canada at the highest level of competition, but to also represent our fair city at the Olympics.”
Born and raised in Prince Rupert and a graduate of PRSS, Adrian’s parents instilled the belief that everything is possible with hard work, dedication, talent and passion. Such beliefs have driven him to excel in badminton and have evidently paid off.
Adrian has consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally. Badminton Canada has extended invitations to British Columbian athletes Derrick Ng and Adrian Liu to compete at the 2011 Pan American Games. The 2011 Pan Am Games will be taking place in Guadalajara, Mexico from October 13th-30th, 2011. Ng and Liu have been selected to represent Canada due to being ranked Canada’s #1 Men’s Doubles team by the Badminton World Federation and #31 in the World.
“We have seen other talented athletes from the North before” said Cullen, “Carol Hunyh from Hazelton won medals in the Pan American Games and world championships before she brought home a Gold Medal in the 2008 summer Olympics. Hunyh and Liu are both models for aspiring athletes as well as those of us in the political arena. They remind us that when given the opportunity, they will work with admirable determination to reinforce their reputation amongst the international community.”
Liu and Ng also just returned from competing in the Badminton World Championships in London, and in January his partner and he took home the Men’s Doubles Championship title at the Yonex Canadian senior National Championships. Adrian has been competing in a number of international tournaments and his success in these tournaments determines his ranking, a ranking that now presents an opportunity of a lifetime. The only barriers that remain are the immense costs that come along with the dream.
“It is nearly impossible to maintain your ranking with no financial support from federal or provincial organizations,” said Coons.” The travel and training is so onerous that even maintaining a part-time job is not practical.”
Liu hopes to share his love and passion for badminton with youth and adults and to inspire others to take up the sport that has been central to so many significant aspects of his own life. He hopes that community organizations and corporations will consider sponsoring him, helping to make his dream real.
Community organizations, corporations and individuals interested in sponsoring Adrian can contact him at Adrian.liu38@gmail.com or contact 250-627-8208.
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Contact: Anna Lamb-Yorski, Email. Nathan.cullen.c2@parl.gc.ca or Tel. 250-622-2413
August 22, 2011
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A letter to Canadians from the Honorable Jack Layton
August 20, 2011
Toronto, Ontario
Dear Friends,
Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.
Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.
I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.
I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.
A few additional thoughts:
To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.
To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.
To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election.
To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.
To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.
And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.
All my very best,
Jack Layton
July 27, 2011
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NDP caucus solid and united, ready to carry on in leader’s absence
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 27, 2011
OTTAWA – NDP MPs emerged from today’s caucus meeting in Ottawa buoyed by their collective strength and solidly united as the Official Opposition moves forward without cancer-stricken Leader Jack Layton at the helm, says MP Nathan Cullen.
“We knew going in that today’s meeting would be very emotional because we’re a close-knit, extended family and we’re grieving the serious health issues of one of our own,” Cullen said after today’s caucus session.
“But, like any family, we circled our wagons and leaned on each other, and we’ve come away even stronger and more united in the face of new challenges. We are even more determined to work for the priorities of Canadians as Jack takes time away to focus on his treatment and recovery.
“Jack is a dear, dear friend and I, along with the people of Skeena-Bulkley Valley and all Canadians, are holding him close in our hearts as he faces new health concerns.”
Cullen arrived in Ottawa yesterday from Bella Bella after completing a week-long tour of midcoast communities. As required by party constitution, the NDP Caucus and the party’s Federal Council have gathered in Ottawa to appoint an Interim Leader of the Opposition, who is expected to be in place by Friday.
Layton has recommended that respected New Democrat Caucus Chair Nycole Turmel, MP for Hull-Aylmer, serve as Interim Leader until his return. Cullen said Layton’s recommendation was solidly supported in today’s caucus meeting.
Layton was diagnosed with prostate cancer in late 2009 and underwent treatment while continuing to work. He had surgery for a hip fracture last winter and launched into the election campaign a few weeks later. A second cancer diagnosis he revealed Monday is unrelated to his prostate cancer, which has responded well to treatment.
“Jack’s warmth and intelligence, and his honesty and connection with Canadians, have been incredibly important in moving our party forward to become the Official Opposition and all Canadians look forward to Jack’s return to the House of Commons,” Cullen said.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, cullen1@parl.gc.ca or 250-877-4140
July 26, 2011
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Cullen: whole country behind Layton as leader battles new cancer
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 26, 2011
OTTAWA – Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen says he knows the thoughts and prayers of all Northwest residents are with Jack Layton as the Leader of the Official Opposition takes a temporary leave from his parliamentary duties to battle a second, recently diagnosed cancer.
“Jack is a dear, dear friend and I, along with the people of Skeena-Bulkley Valley and all Canadians, are holding him close in our hearts as he faces this new health challenge.”
Cullen said the 103-member NDP Caucus is solidly behind Layton’s decision to take a medical leave of absence to focus solely on his health so that he can return to Parliament to work on the priorities of the people who elected him.
“This is life. Cancer strikes people in every workplace and all walks of life. We will support our friend and colleague and continue to get things done for Canadian families while Jack works flat out on his treatment and recovery.
“Jack is a fighter and he is incredibly strong both emotionally and physically.”
Cullen spoke this morning from the Vancouver airport, where he is enroute to Ottawa after completing a week-long tour of midcoast communities. The NDP Caucus and the party’s Federal Council are meeting in Ottawa this week to appoint an Interim Leader of the Opposition, who is expected to be in place by Friday.
Layton has recommended that respected New Democrat Caucus Chair Nycole Turmel, MP for Hull-Aylmer, serve as Interim Leader until his return.
Layton was diagnosed with prostate cancer in late 2009 and underwent treatment while continuing to work. He had surgery for a hip fracture last winter and launched into the election campaign a few weeks later. The cancer he revealed yesterday is unrelated to his prostate cancer, which has responded extremely well to treatment.
“Jack’s warmth and intelligence, and his honesty and connection with Canadians, have been incredibly important in moving our party forward to become the Official Opposition and all Canadians look forward to Jack’s return to the House of Commons,” Cullen said.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, cullen1@parl.gc.ca or 250-877-4140
July 19, 2011
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Conservatives must stop shilling for Enbridge Pipeline says Cullen
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2011
MASSETT – The Conservative’s support of Enbridge’s controversial Northern Gateway pipeline shows again how the government is out of touch with British Columbians and raises questions about whose interests they are serving, according to New Democrat Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen.
“It’s troubling to see a federal minister promoting a project that’s currently under review,” said Cullen. “You would think that Enbridge has enough lobbyists; they don’t need the Minister of Natural Resources shilling for them too.”
Minister Oliver made the comments in Kananaskis Alberta at an oil industry-sponsored meeting of provincial energy Ministers to discuss a national energy strategy.
“With eighty percent of British Columbians saying no to tankers off our north coast, I’m not sure what the Minister is thinking when he says the pipeline is in the ‘national interest’,” said Cullen. “Many of B.C. communities depend on river and marine resources for their livelihoods. And First Nations have clearly said no to the pipeline passing through their traditional territory.”
“The only interests the Minister seems to be thinking about are those of the oil company.”
The proposed Enbridge pipeline, slated to run from the Alberta tar sands to the BC coast, would bring more than 225 oil supertankers yearly through to the dangerous and remote northern BC coast, placing this diverse and fragile ecosystem at risk.
The proposal has been referred to a Joint Review Panel that will report to the Ministers of the Environment and of Natural Resources.
“I don’t know how people are supposed to put their trust in a review process when the Minister in charge is already saying he wants to build the pipeline,” said Cullen. “This Government’s blind support for the oil industry could make one wonder if the fix is in – but I’m also familiar with the determination of the people of the Northwest. They don’t take kindly to being walked over”
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For further information please contact:
Tim Howlett, 613-889-4055; cullen0@parl.gc.ca
July 15, 2011
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CCSJ student earns Jeff Marvin Memorial Award
TERRACE – A Northwest Community College (NWCC) student who recently blogged about her criminology practicum experience at the Terrace Transition House has been awarded the Jeff Marvin Memorial Award.
Nicole Halbauer, who just completed the Community, Crime & Social Justice (CCSJ) certificate program, received the award that was established to provide a continuing memorial to Jeff Marvin’s dedication in providing post secondary education to meet the needs of First Nations people in Northwest British Columbia.
“I chose criminology as a field of study initially to understand the over criminalization of Canada’s First Nations people,” said Halbauer, who is a member of the Tsimshian Nation belonging to the Ganhada (Raven) clan of Kitsumkalum. “Now it is my desire to pursue a law degree and eventually work to change policies and systems to improve the conditions of Aboriginal women and children.”
Criminology professor Michael Brandt says Halbauer is one of the top students in NWCC’s Criminology program and is one of those students that make teaching worthwhile.
“When I learned that she had won, I was extremely pleased,” said Brandt. “As one of her instructors, I am very proud of her accomplishments and have no hesitation in making a prediction – Nicole will become a leader in her community. She’s lived experiences, coupled with her achievements in the classroom, position her for a very bright future.”
Halbauer, who intends to return to NWCC this fall in pursuit of an Associate Degree in Arts – Criminology Specialization, is ready to prove her instructor right.
“I believe that every person is a leader in their community,” says Halbauer. “My mother taught me to lead by example and my hope is to be an example of hard work and positive change to my children. It is also my desire to serve my community in any capacity they feel I am qualified to fill.”
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Kristine Kofoed
Director of Communications and College Advancement
Northwest Community College
Phone: 250.638.5470
Toll-Free: 1.877.277.2288
Email: kkofoed@nwcc.bc.ca
To learn more about the exciting events and programs happening at NWCC visit us at nwcc.bc.ca
Northwest Community College is an accredited post-secondary education institution that offers a range of comprehensive courses and programs to the northwest region of British Columbia. It serves this area through campuses in Haida Gwaii (Kaay Llnagaay, Masset, Village of Queen Charlotte), Hazelton, Houston, Kitimat, Prince Rupert, Smithers and Terrace. NWCC celebrates the diversity of its northern and First Nations populations and reflects this diversity in its programs, services and workforce.
July 06, 2011
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High School students invited to Test Drive NWCC
Northwest Community College (NWCC) is excited to announce our new Test Drive NWCC event at the Terrace campus for grade 11 and 12 students and recent high school graduates on July 12-14, 2011.
Test Drive NWCC gives prospective students the opportunity to experience first-hand what NWCC’s programs are all about. Participants will take part in classes, meet instructors, and have fun by taking part in social activities and events on campus.
During this two day event, prospective students will be introduced to a variety of subjects which may include Ecology, Trades, Anthropology, Business Administration, University Writing, Geology, and Health Sciences. Students will attend workshops on Student Success and Financial Aid and will also earn one
Continuing Education certificate.
Student life is a big part of Test Drive NWCC and participants will stay in NWCC’s residences for two nights, eat in the cafeteria and take part in social activities and interactive events.
The cost for Test Drive NWCC is $150 per person and covers all meals, two nights’ accommodation and one Continuing Education certificate course. Space is limited so please register by contacting Leona Wells at (250)-638-5421.
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For more information contact:
Kristine Kofoed
Director of Communications and College Advancement
Northwest Community College
Phone: 250.638.5470
Toll-Free: 1.877.277.2288
Email: kkofoed@nwcc.bc.ca
To learn more about the exciting events and programs happening at NWCC visit us at nwcc.bc.ca
Northwest Community College is an accredited post-secondary education institution that offers a range of comprehensive courses and programs to the northwest region of British Columbia. It serves this area through campuses in Haida Gwaii (Kaay Llnagaay, Masset, Village of Queen Charlotte), Hazelton, Houston, Kitimat, Nass Valley, Prince Rupert, Smithers and Terrace. NWCC celebrates the diversity of its northern and First Nations populations and reflects this diversity in its programs, services and workforce.
June 24, 2011
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Nathan speaks in defense of workers rights and the Canada Post lockout
BACKGROUND: Following the decision of management at Canada Post to lockout workers, the Conservative Government immediately introduced ‘Back-to-Work’ legislation that infringed on the collective bargaining process and attacked workers’ rights – mandating wages that were actually lower than what management had offered.
In response, the New Democrats mounted a spirited defense of workers’ rights – debating the legislation around the clock for more than 58 consecutive hours. The debate highlighted the Government’s attack on workers and made space for continued talks between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
(11:05pm)
Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join in this conversation, having listened to so many of my colleagues illustrate not only the history of workers’ rights in Canada but the clear and present danger the government, in its treatment of postal workers, represents to all working people across this country.
This is a proud moment, not only for me personally but for New Democrats across the country and for the four and a half million people who gave us a clear and solid mandate to stand up for working people. I invite the Conservative majority to see what it looks like when there is a stable, solid, dedicated New Democratic opposition when things go wrong. Gone are the days of having the red-flag-waving surrender monkeys sitting in these benches. One “boo” and they were gone to their weekends. We now have an opposition that is dedicated to standing up for what is right in this country.
I am also quite encouraged to join with many of my new colleagues, whom I have been most moved and inspired by. One would think that after many hours of debate, some of our newer members, and maybe some of our older members, might be feeling some fatigue. Yet every time I tune in, and every time I come by the House, not only are we not fatigued, we are gaining in our energy and enthusiasm.
This must be so difficult for my Conservative friends as we sit through this debate. I almost want to put quotation marks around the word debate, because debates are usually judged on the merits of logic and intelligence. This is not a fair fight we have going on here. Time and time again we have Conservative members standing up with so-called questions, which are more like diatribes. They ask why, if the economy is so important, we cannot get these workers back to work. They know full well that the power rests in their own hands. Rather than deal with the situation, the Prime Minister has gone off to barbecues.
If the economy were so important and so sacred, if it was so necessary, given all the quotations from their local citizens, business owners, pensioners, and charitable groups that are worried about not getting their mail, if all of that were so important to the government, one would think that this government would bother to pick up the phone and tell the head of Canada Post that rather than lock out the workers, which has been done, the corporation should open the doors, get the mail moving, and return to the bargaining table for what has been established, in the highest court of the land, as a proper and fair collective bargaining agreement and arrangement. That has not been established by any measure of Parliament alone. It has been established by the blood, sweat, and tears of working people across this country, year after year, who have fought for the basic right to collectively come together and together rebalance the equation between employer and employee. When the employer does not offer a fair term of work, those people can come together and exercise a democratic right, have a vote, and bargain in what we call good faith.
Does this sound familiar to anybody else? A company comes into a negotiation for a new contract and begins an exaggeration process, a public posture, saying that things are not so good at the corporation. The company says that it is not making much money anymore. Times are tight. Things have changed. People are not, in this case, sending letters anymore. The company begins to amp up the rhetoric and begins to set the stage for what it knows is coming, which is a downgrade of the opportunity it will offer its employees, who are, ironically, the very employees who built the company to its current state of prosperity. The company knows that in its back pocket it has a very powerful and willing accomplice that is waiting for an opportunity as the company sits at the bargaining table, week after week and month after month, not bargaining in good faith or offering a give-and-take situation. It is more a take situation.
The company knows all that time that it has a hotline to the Prime Minister to say that it is going to lock these guys out and to get legislation ready, which is what was done. The legislation was ready before the lockout even started. When the company does not bargain with its employees in good faith, the government can come in and simply force them back to work under terms that are worse than the terms the company just offered.
Does that sound familiar or ironic at all? The reason it sounds familiar is that there is a sad and sordid tale of business relations with working people in this country. Businesses do this time and time again, but it only works if they have a willing accomplice in government.
It only works if they have a government in their pocket that is ready to operate on their behalf and is ready to side with them.
As the Minister of Labour—that has to be in quotations—said the other day, “...there are in fact 45,000 members of the union and in reality there are 33 million Canadians”, as if somehow those Canada Post workers, when they went to work that day, gave up their rights as Canadian citizens. How dare a labour minister stand in the House of Commons and take one group of Canadians and exclude those people from our society because they are doing what? They are standing up for their rights.
We hear constantly from the government that it somehow believes that it has a majority mandate from Canadians, that 40% of the vote somehow equates to 100% of a tyrannical majority, and that this is justifiable in all cases. I welcome the Conservatives to a new reality. I hope this gives them pause the next time they try this, because believe me, my friends, there will be a next time. There will be another dispute. There will be another transgression the Conservatives do not like and their friends on Bay Street do not feel comfortable with. The Conservatives say, “Never mind. Never worry. We have a majority in Parliament. That gives us 100% of the power. We will just steamroll over any other democratic institutions we feel are in our way”.
Note that this is a pattern with the government. There are the so-called arm’s-length watchdogs. My friends laugh, but we all remember the case of the nuclear safety watchdog in this country who raised concerns about a certain reactor nearby. When the government did not like what she was saying, it fired her. Lo and behold, a few months later, the reactor went offline. Why? It was because of the very things she pointed out.
The government must understand that when people stand in opposition to its ideas, that is not a bad thing. Those people do not need to be shut down, cut off, or fired. They do not need to be locked out or forced back to work. Their issues need to be debated and entertained in this place and in the broader dialogue in this country of Canada, because it is through that dialogue that we come to better resolutions.
New Democrats do not believe that we have all the answers, but we know that these guys do not. It is time for them to get a little humility.
It has been clearly said by many of my colleagues that this goes well beyond the particular interests of the workers of CUPW in the Canada Post dispute. This speaks to something much larger. It is a much larger struggle for people around the world and in this country who for many decades did not have any rights. It was okay for employers to send kids to work. It was okay for employees to die while on the job. It was okay for employers not to pay employees a fair wage for a fair day’s work. Those things, through struggle and time and sometimes blood, were established as wrong. It was confirmed that an evolved and advanced society understands that for the good of the economy, for goodness’ sake, you ought to pay your workers a fair wage. How radical an argument is that?
The NDP is saying that fair pensions are good for the Canadian economy, and the government argues otherwise. The NDP says that a fair wage and safe working conditions are good not just for the workers but for the Canadian economy. The government argues otherwise.
Time and again we see excuses thrown up by the government that suggest that Canadians are not on our side. A friend of mine sent me an e-mail from a person I don’t know who lives in my riding that said,
Keep on with the good work on behalf of the workers at Canada Post. This proposed legislation punishes the workers for being locked out while they were exercising their right to strike (in a manner that provided minimal interruption of the postal service)...and strangely enough, rewards the employer for the action of locking their workers out (whereby the employer shut the whole postal service down).... SHAME!
That is absolutely right.
We are getting many e-mails from members in Conservative ridings, which I quite enjoy reading, that say that they have sent their members of Parliament, their voices in this place, much correspondence on this issue saying that they are wrong, but the members will not read them out. The government somehow will not express that there may be dissent in this country over the idea of locking out employees and bringing in a sledgehammer to force them back to work.
I ask my friends on the government benches to be amenable to the changes the NDP is proposing. Be amenable to the idea that it is not always right. Be very much open to the idea that the arrogance that can come with a majority government can be overplayed and overstated. If the Conservatives continue to do that, New Democrats will be in our seats day after day, pushing them back.
June 24, 2011
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NDP stands strong against “shameful” postal legislation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 24, 2011
OTTAWA – The outcome of debate that began last night in Parliament to force Canada Post employees back to work has far-reaching implications for both workers’ rights and federal services across Canada, MP Nathan Cullen said during a brief break from the House of Commons this morning.
“The shameful legislation the government tried to ram through in just one day paves the way to gutting the collective bargaining process, and is a call to action to workers across the country of the contempt this government has for a functional and respectful bargaining process.”
Cullen said Conservative arrogance in attempting to force postal employees back to work for less money than had been offered at the bargaining table also bodes poorly for the future of public services in Canada.
“This government is clearly bent on reducing and privatizing critical government services.
“Canadians expect and deserve better.”
The NDP is leading opposition to Bill C-6 to make room for a negotiated settlement. The Official Opposition is using a variety of procedural tactics to prevent pushing the bill through quickly instead of the normal three stages of readings and committee hearings that can take weeks.
If passed, the bill would end the Crown corporation’s lockout. The union began rotational strikes June 3 and were locked out completely on June 15.
The House of Commons won’t rise for the summer until legislation passes.
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Contact: Tim Howlett, cullen0@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
June 23, 2011
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Canada to block listing asbestos as a ‘hazardous’ material
By Sarah Schmidt, Postmedia News June 23, 2011
Canada told the world Wednesday it opposes placing limits on the export of chrysotile asbestos — a “bombshell” expected to derail international efforts to list the mineral as hazardous.
The head of the Canadian delegation at a United Nations summit in Geneva made the statement late Wednesday after a consensus was emerging to label the known carcinogen mined in Quebec as hazardous.
If chrysotile asbestos is listed on Annex III of the United Nations’ Rotterdam Convention, “Prior Informed Consent” would be required before countries could export the mineral. After being informed of the hazards, developing countries that import asbestos could refuse to accept the potentially cancer-causing material if they believe they could not handle it safely.
Until Wednesday’s declaration, the Canadian delegation had remained silent — fuelling speculation from anti-asbestos campaigners that Canada was letting a handful of other countries do its “dirty work.”
The stunning development — confirmed by the UN Environment Program and characterized by the Montreal-based Chrysotile Institute as a “bombshell” — appeared to contradict statements made by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver just a day earlier, when he told reporters in Ottawa that the question of Canada’s position was “moot” because four other countries — Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine — had already spoken up against the listing.
Under convention protocol, unless consensus among countries is achieved, chrysotile asbestos remains off Annex III. The UN meeting ends Friday.
When pressed by reporters about the possibility of a consensus emerging in the face of Canada’s silence, Oliver also suggested Tuesday that the federal government would accept the listing. “If they want it to be listed, then it will be listed,” he said.
But on Wednesday, India, a major importer of Quebec asbestos, announced it would support the listing after remaining quiet.
As with Canada at past meetings, India either opposed the listing or remained silent, despite a long-standing recommendation of the convention’s expert scientific committee that chrysotile asbestos, already banned in many countries, be placed on the list.
Then, Ukraine indicated it could accept the hazardous listing.
Following this development, the head of the Canadian delegation, David Sproule of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, intervened to pronounce Canada’s objection.
Madhu Dutta, an anti-asbestos campaigner from India who is in Geneva to observe the UN proceedings, said Canada’s manoeuvre on Wednesday was outrageous.
“Canada was hiding behind the smokescreen of dissenting voices of smaller exporting countries and a ‘non-consensus’ excuse, but when it sensed that there might be a consensus and chrysotile will be listed, it broke its sinister silence and said no,” Dutta told Postmedia News from Geneva.
Guy Versailles, a spokesman for the Chrysotile Institute who is also attending the UN summit, also said it looked like Canada broke its silence only after it appeared a consensus was emerging.
Versailles called Ukraine and its partner, Russia, “heavyweights” at the negotiation table that “could carry the day, but I’m not sure Vietnam could have.
“So when they reversed their position, or were appearing to reverse their position, Canada spoke up,” Versailles told Postmedia News.
The Chrysotile Institute, a government-funded organization that promotes the safe use of chrysotile asbestos, opposes the listing of the mineral on Annex III.
Versailles said the listing would likely result in a de facto ban of exports of chrysotile asbestos, which is now exported to developing countries after the Western countries shut their borders to the mineral a generation ago.
Between 1979 and 1984, a worldwide recession and a growing scientific consensus linking asbestos exposure to cancer led to a dramatic reduction in industry revenues — to $400 million a year from about $800 million — and a drop in Canadian jobs to 4,000 from about 8,000.
Today, there are between 450 and 500 asbestos mining jobs left in Quebec, although that number could increase if a planned expansion of the Jeffrey mine proceeds, Versailles said, adding that half of the additional production of the expanded mine is slated to go to India.
“It’s Canada’s hypocrisy. We were hoping other countries were going to do our dirty work by allowing them to stand in the way of listing asbestos as a dangerous substance, which everyone knows it is. India, in particular, backed away, and Canada was left on the hook, so Canada had to go to the mic and prove the minister a liar,” said NDP MP Nathan Cullen.
Oliver released a statement Wednesday offering a different perspective.
“I have been clear that our government promotes the safe and controlled use of chrysotile, both domestically and internationally. Our position at Rotterdam clearly reflects the government’s policy of the past 30 years.”
June 23, 2011
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Nathan asks why the Government is interfering with collective bargaining rights
BACKGROUND: Following the decision of management at Canada Post to lockout workers, the Conservative Government immediately introduced ‘Back-to-Work’ legislation that infringed on the collective bargaining process and attacked workers’ rights – mandating wages that were actually lower than what management had offered.
In response, the New Democrats mounted a spirited defense of workers’ rights – debating the legislation around the clock for more than 58 consecutive hours. The debate highlighted the Government’s attack on workers and made space for continued talks between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP): Madam Speaker, while we are dealing with a very specific labour dispute between Canada Post, the workers and the management, and this government’s intervention, are we not also dealing with the more fundamental principle of how the government treats the legislative process that exists in law in Canada that has been supported by constitutional experts and in fact the Supreme Court that says that when workers have a dispute with management if they are in a union they can go and freely and fairly bargain with those that employ them?
For a government to intervene and impose a wage settlement, as it has done here, I am trying to find a precedent for a government having done that with an arm’s-length institution like Canada Post before, intervening on the actual settlement, not even allowing an arbitrator or mediator to work out the details. Is there not a fundamental principle for which the NDP members are standing in our places for time and time again today and potentially tonight and tomorrow?
Jack Harris (St. John’s East, NDP): Madam Speaker, I will be brief. The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized that the fundamental right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the right to organize and to bargain collectively is part of the freedom of association. There is a case in B.C. where legislation that imposed restrictions on collective bargaining was struck down.
It is a very high level of right protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The government is attacking those rights in this legislation and that is one of the many reasons why we are opposing it.
[. . .]
(10:05pm)
Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to my friend from Cape Breton and I have also been listening to the comments coming from the Conservative benches, in particular the Minister of Labour, who somehow managed on three occasions in her speech to misconstrue the entire situation by calling it a strike rather than what it is, which is a lockout. I do not know if that was wilful ignorance or a lack of experience in dealing with these kinds of things. We here on the New Democratic benches have a lot of experience in this.
Is the very reason that we have these labour laws in place not because some time ago when there were many strikes and many disruptions employers asked for some sort of fair negotiating practice alongside working people? To undermine this process takes us back to a time when we had more strikes, more disruption of services and they destabilized the very economy that Conservatives seem to care so much about but do so little about.
Read the full debate in Hansard
June 23, 2011
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Nathan asks why Canada wont join global consensus on Asbestos
Mr. Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP): Mr. Speaker, former Conservative cabinet minister Chuck Strahl recently said that it was “logical and right” to list asbestos as dangerous.
Tuesday, the minister stood and told Canadians that there was no need for Canada to get up in opposition to the listing because other countries would do our dirty work for us. However, when India and Ukraine stepped away, Canada was left alone in the spotlight, defending what the world knows to be wrong.
Will the minister stop defending the asbestos lobby and realize that the time has come to do the right thing, to list asbestos as dangerous, as the world has come to agree?
L’hon. Christian Paradis (ministre de l’Industrie et ministre d‘État (Agriculture), PCC): Mr. Speaker, the International Trade Union Movement For Chrysotile* represents hundreds of thousands of workers who have taken a position in favour of the safe use of chrysotile because they know recent scientific studies show that chrysotile can be used safely in a controlled environment.
* refers to a dubious Russian organization that alleges the movement to control asbestos harms is controlled by secretive asbestos liability lawyers here
June 23, 2011
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Tory Talking Points on Asbestos Ignore the Science
How does the Conservative Government justify their continued support for hiding the dangers of the worlds worst industrial killer?
Not very creatively – but I suppose it is hard to find arguments to defend a position that the WHO, the ILO, all medical health professionals, overwhelming scientific evidence, and nearly every other country in the world oppose.
Check out their attempts in the House of Commons when pressed by New Democrat MPs
Talking Point #1 ignores the fact that Canada is alone in this lunatic assertion. Most of Canada’s asbestos is exported to developing countries where workers have little to no protection from the killer substance – as an excellent CBC documentary shows here
Talking Point #2 is patently false. Every legitimate, peer-reviewed scientific study confirms that chrysotile asbestos causes cancer and other diseases – as an excellent Maclean’s story indicates here
Talking Point #3 refers to a dubious Russian organization that alleges the movement to control asbestos harms is controlled by secretive asbestos liability lawyers here
Hansard – 8 (2011/06/14)
Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Canada has spent more than a decade trying to stop asbestos from being placed on the Rotterdam Convention list of hazardous materials. We have now learned that Health Canada informed the government of the dangers associated with asbestos and recommended that this product be added to the list. The Conservatives ignored this advice.
Will this government reconsider and allow asbestos to be added to the Rotterdam Convention list?
Hon. Christian Paradis (Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture), CPC): Mr. Speaker, for more than 30 years, Canada has promoted the safe and controlled use of chrysotile at home and abroad. In addition, scientific publications show that chrysotile can be used safely under controlled conditions.
Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, that is not true.
[English]
This is a simple issue. This is about protecting lives. This is about ensuring materials are used safely.
The Conservatives allowed the exportation of 750,000 tonnes of asbestos in 2006, particularly to the developing world where workers are least protected. One hundred thousand people a year are killed from asbestos.
Will the government finally put lives ahead of politics and allow this deadly product to be listed under the UN’s Rotterdam Convention?
[Translation]
Hon. Christian Paradis (Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture), CPC): Mr. Speaker, once again, for more than 30 years, Canada has promoted the safe and controlled use of chrysotile at home and abroad. The premier of Quebec himself said, “The government has not changed its mind. It will continue to defend the safe use of chrysotile, a policy that should be defended.”
Earlier, he said, “Quebec promotes the safe use of chrysotile. That is what we do at home and that is what is encouraged throughout the world.”
Hansard – 10 (2011/06/16)
Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, every day, work is underway in the House of Commons to decontaminate members’ offices that contain asbestos. The offices are being decontaminated because asbestos is carcinogenic and harmful to human health.
Could the member for Mégantic—L‘Érable, who is so proud of chrysotile, tell this House whether he wants the asbestos in his colleagues’s offices to be replaced with chrysotile, which is allegedly less carcinogenic, or would he rather continue to export his hypocrisy to third-world countries?
Hon. Christian Paradis (Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture), CPC): Mr. Speaker, I want to clear some things up. For 30 years, Canada has been promoting the safe and controlled use of chrysotile nationally and internationally, and all recent scientific journals report that chrysotile can be used safely in a controlled environment. That is not at all what the member on the other side of the House is talking about.
[English]
Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Conservative support for the asbestos industry is indefensible. Quebeckers and communities alike want their miners to be safe and do not want to be global exporters of asbestos into the developing world.
Unions, doctors and even Health Canada agree asbestos causes cancer. When will the minister stand up for what is right and agree to put chrysotile asbestos on the UN’s list of hazardous materials?
[Translation]
Hon. Christian Paradis (Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture), CPC): Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada has been promoting the safe use of chrysotile nationally and internationally for 30 years. Scientific journals report that chrysotile can be used safely in a controlled environment.
Hansard – 11 (2011/06/20)
Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the Rotterdam convention meeting on hazardous material starts today in Geneva.
In 2006 and 2008, the government blocked chrysotile asbestos from being added to the list against Health Canada’s recommendations. Now the eyes of the world are back on the government to see if Canada will finally do the right thing.
I have a simple question. Will the government allow chrysotile asbestos to be added to the Rotterdam convention, yes or no?
Hon. Joe Oliver (Minister of Natural Resources, CPC): Mr. Speaker, our position at Rotterdam will be the same as in Canada. For over 30 years the Government of Canada has promoted the safe and controlled use of chrysotile, both domestically and internationally. All scientific reviews clearly confirm that chrysotile fibres can be used safely under controlled conditions.
[Translation]
Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the member does not seem to understand that the Rotterdam Convention specifies that countries must ensure that hazardous material is handled safely. By opposing this classification, the Conservatives are putting the lives of many workers around the world in danger. Even former Conservative minister Chuck Strahl has denounced this position. He had the courage to take a stand.
Will the current Conservative members do the same and agree that asbestos should be classified as a hazardous material?
Hon. Joe Oliver (Minister of Natural Resources, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the Chrysotile Institute is mandated by the federal government, the Government of Quebec and chrysotile workers’ unions to promote the safe and controlled use of chrysotile here in Canada and internationally.
Hansard – 14 (2011/06/21)
Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Canada’s position on asbestos is morally and ethically reprehensible, and even as we speak, teams of Department of Justice lawyers have been dispatched to Geneva to sabotage the Rotterdam Convention once again, the list of hazardous chemicals that require prior informed consent to trade.
Canada is already an international pariah for its policy on asbestos, for dumping it into the third world when we will not use it ourselves.
How can we in all good conscience block efforts to put labels on asbestos to warn its recipients to take health and safety protections against this class A carcinogen? What kind of country are we?
Hon. Joe Oliver (Minister of Natural Resources, CPC): Mr. Speaker, for over 30 years the Government of Canada has promoted the safe and controlled use of chrysotile, both domestically and internationally.
Our position at Rotterdam is the same as it is in Canada. All scientific reviews clearly confirm that chrysotile fibres can be used safely under controlled situations.
[Translation]
Ms. Hélène Laverdière (Laurier-Sainte-Marie, NDP): Mr. Speaker, public health experts and occupational health experts the world over agree that there is no safe way to use asbestos.
Not a single reliable study in the world shows that asbestos can be used safely, as the Minister of Natural Resources contends.
Asbestos should be added to the Rotterdam Convention.
How can the minister continue to defend the indefensible?
Hon. Joe Oliver (Minister of Natural Resources, CPC): Mr. Speaker, as I said, all the recent scientific reviews show that chrysotile can be used in a safe and controlled manner. The Chrysotile Institute is mandated by the federal government, the Government of Quebec and the chrysotile workers unions to support the attempts to promote the safe and controlled use of chrysotile in Canada and around the world.
Hansard – 12 (2011/06/23)
M. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NPD): Monsieur le Président, le Canada est maintenant pointé du doigt à cause de sa position indéfendable à la Convention de Rotterdam.
Il y a deux jours le ministre expliquait que la position du Canada était justifiable compte tenu que d’autres pays empêchaient l’amiante chrysotile d‘être inscrit sur la liste. Pourtant, plusieurs de ces pays ont maintenant changé d’avis et maintenant le Canada est encore isolé.
Ce gouvernement va-t-il enfin expliquer pourquoi il s’entête à refuser d’ajouter le chrysotile à la Convention de Rotterdam?
L’hon. Christian Paradis (ministre de l’Industrie et ministre d‘État (Agriculture), PCC): Monsieur le Président, on sait que depuis plus de 30 ans, le gouvernement du Canada prône une utilisation sécuritaire et contrôlée du chrysotile sur les scènes internationales et nationales. En outre, les études scientifiques récentes confirment clairement que les fibres peuvent utilisées de façon sécuritaire dans un environnement contrôlé. Notre position à la Convention reflète celle adoptée au Canada.
Mr. Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP): Mr. Speaker, former Conservative cabinet minister Chuck Strahl recently said that it was “logical and right” to list asbestos as dangerous.
Tuesday, the minister stood and told Canadians that there was no need for Canada to get up in opposition to the listing because other countries would do our dirty work for us. However, when India and Ukraine stepped away, Canada was left alone in the spotlight, defending what the world knows to be wrong.
Will the minister stop defending the asbestos lobby and realize that the time has come to do the right thing, to list asbestos as dangerous, as the world has come to agree?
L’hon. Christian Paradis (ministre de l’Industrie et ministre d‘État (Agriculture), PCC): Monsieur le Président, le syndicat international appelé le International Trade-union Movement For Chrysotile représente des centaines de milliers de travailleurs qui ont justement pris position en faveur d’une utilisation sécuritaire, parce que des études scientifiques récentes démontrent que l’utilisation du chrysotile peut être faite de façon sécuritaire dans un environnement contrôlé.
M. François Lapointe (Montmagny—L’Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, NPD): Monsieur le Président, l’Inde, qui est le principal importateur d’amiante en provenance du Canada, a donné son appui pour que l’amiante chrysotile soit ajoutée à la liste de la Convention de Rotterdam. L’Inde pourrait ainsi contrôler les effets néfastes de l’amiante, en plus de garantir que les risques associés à l’utilisation de ce produit soient clairement identifiés.
Pourquoi ce gouvernement met ses énergies à s’opposer à une convention qui pourrait sauver des vies plutôt que de mettre en place un plan qui permettrait aux travailleurs de l’amiante de se diriger vers des industries d’avenir?
L’hon. Christian Paradis (ministre de l’Industrie et ministre d‘État (Agriculture), PCC): Monsieur le Président, depuis plus de 30 ans, le gouvernement du Canada prône une utilisation sécuritaire et contrôlée du chrysotile. Cela peut être fait dans un environnement contrôlé, et c’est ce que les études scientifiques récentes démontrent. La position du Canada à la convention reflète celle qui est adoptée ici au pays.
Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP): Mr. Speaker, asbestos is the greatest industrial killer the world has ever known. More people die from asbestos than from all other industrial causes combined, yet Canada continues to be one of the largest producers and exporters in the world.
Without exaggeration, we are exporting human misery on a monumental scale and yet we are taking active steps to ensure that companies do not even warn their customers, the third world and developing nations, where we are dumping hundreds of thousands of tonnes asbestos. Conservatives do not think it should even have a warning label on it.
Our position is morally and ethically reprehensible. Do they not realize the black eye they are giving our country—
L’hon. Christian Paradis (ministre de l’Industrie et ministre d‘État (Agriculture), PCC): Monsieur le Président, on sait que les études scientifiques récentes démontrent clairement que les fibres de chrysotile peuvent être utilisées dans un environnement contrôlé de façon sécuritaire. D’ailleurs, aujourd’hui, le International Trade-union Movement For Chrysotile, qui représente des centaines de milliers de travailleurs, a réitéré cette position en appui à l’utilisation sécuritaire et contrôlée du chrysotile.
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June 22, 2011
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Nathan introduces a petition calling for a ban on deadly asbestos exports
Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP):
Madam Speaker, the last petition is quite timely. Today Canada shamefully took its place on the world stage refusing the consensus to list chrysotile asbestos as a dangerous substance in the international convention.
Petitioners from across Canada call for an outright ban of the export of this most dangerous element as it is the world’s leading industrial killer. It is a known cause of cancer for many years now. Yet the Conservative government somehow feels comfortable being utterly complicit in the support and promotion of asbestos around the world.
Finally, today in Copenhagen, India came on board and said that asbestos must be listed as a dangerous substance, and these petitioners back that up.
June 22, 2011
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Doors open at revitalized NWCC Smithers Campus
SMITHERS – An official celebration to unveil the brand new Northwest Community College (NWCC) Smithers Campus will take place later this summer but the state-of-the-art facility is already open for business. The campus at 3966 2nd Avenue opened earlier this spring after an 18-month, two-phase renewal and expansion project.
The renovated Smithers Campus is wheelchair accessible, with expanded learning facilities and improved video conferencing and distance education capabilities. The building now has additional classroom space, wet and dry science labs, a multi-purpose shop for trades programs, an expanded library and a computer lab.
NWCC Smithers offered a selection of Spring/Summer courses in the new facility, which have all wrapped up. Visitors will find the campus is open, however, with College Student Services staff available to answer questions regarding upcoming courses and programs in Smithers. Until regular hours resume on Sept. 6, the campus hours of operation during the summer are: Monday – Friday 9am – 3:30pm, closed 1pm – 1:30pm for lunch.
NWCC will soon announce a date for the official opening when a 28-foot red cedar pole, which is being carved by local artists Ron Austin and James Madam, will be raised. NWCC staff have been documenting the pole’s carving on the College’s blog.
The $16.7-million project is one of 40 Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP) projects at post-secondary institutions across the province, jointly funded by the provincial and the federal governments. This project is also part of an overall $14-billion capital infrastructure program supported by the Province that will create up to 88,000 jobs and help build vital public infrastructure in every region of B.C.
For more information on the provincial government’s three-year job creation plan, visit http://www.gov.bc.ca/infrastructure. For more information about the federal Knowledge Infrastructure Program visit www.ic.gc.ca/knowledge-infrastructure.
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For more information contact:
Kristine Kofoed
Director of Communications and College Advancement
Northwest Community College
Phone: 250.638.5470
Toll-Free: 1.877.277.2288
Email: kkofoed@nwcc.bc.ca
To learn more about the exciting events and programs happening at NWCC visit us at nwcc.bc.ca
June 14, 2011
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Harper must put lives before politics on asbestos: NDP
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 14, 2011
OTTAWA – Asbestos is the greatest industrial killer the world has ever known and the Harper government must support international efforts in Switzerland next week to finally list the toxic material as a hazardous substance, MP and asbestos activist Nathan Cullen told reporters in Ottawa this morning.
Cullen and New Democrats held a press conference in advance of the UN’s Rotterdam Convention on hazardous material in Geneva June 20-24, calling on Conservatives to stop ignoring Health Canada’s warnings of the risks of chrysotile asbestos.
Cullen introduced a private member’s bill in 2009 calling for a ban on the mining and export of Canadian asbestos. The bill was that year’s winning senior entry in Cullen’s Create Your Canada contest and was proposed by Smithers Grade 10 students Hayley McDermid, Claire Hinchliffe and Chloe Staiger.
“Conservatives must stop trying to hide the health effects of this toxic material,” said New Democrat Natural Resources Critic Romeo Saganash. “It’s time they acknowledge that chrysotile asbestos is dangerous, and stop sabotaging international efforts to label it as such.”
Internal documents reveal that as far back as 2006, Health Canada officials refuted the Conservatives’ claim that chrysotile asbestos is safe. The Director General of the Safe Environments Programme noted he cannot say chrysotile asbestos is safe and Health Canada’s “preferred position would be to list – as this is consistent with controlled use.”
Pat Martin (Winnipeg-Centre) charged Canada has dumped 750,000 tonnes of the asbestos on world markets since ignoring Health Canada’s advice. He criticized the Canadian government for continuing to heavily subsidize the Quebec asbestos industry, despite the fact that asbestos kills over 100,000 workers around the globe every year.
“We don’t use asbestos any more ourselves, because we know it is deadly,” said Kathleen Ruff, Smithers-based human rights activist and co-ordinator of the Rotterdam Convention Alliance.
“By preventing people overseas from knowing that asbestos is hazardous, we are endangering their lives. This is not the role Canadians want to play in the world. We want to help people in developing countries, not harm them.”
“Harper can begin to fix this next week by publicly directing our delegation to support the adding of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance,” Cullen said.
New Democrats are being supported by health professionals, trade unions, the Canadian Cancer Society and other groups who have signed a joint letter urging Stephen Harper to stop blocking international efforts to control chrysotile asbestos use.
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For more information, please contact: Tim Howlett, cullen0@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
June 13, 2011
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Canada Causes Cancer campaign tells Harper to ban asbestos or put it back in his home
Asbestos causes cancer and other deadly lung diseases.
That’s why asbestos has been banned in 52 nations, including the European Union.
Not to mention, the Canadian government removed it from parliament and the Prime Minister’s home.
Despite all this, Canada is still a leading exporter of asbestos to developing countries. Stephen Harper should ban it, or put it back in his home.
Check out this campaign at CanadaCausesCancer.com
June 08, 2011
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Nathan responds to the introduction of Federal Budget 2011-2012
Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP):
As it is my first time rising in the House, I wish to thank the good people of Skeena—Bulkley Valley in the northwest of British Columbia, an area a little larger than the country of Poland and stunning in its beauty and diversity. I am speaking not just about the natural environment, which is most impressive for any who have been to British Columbia, and people are most welcome at any time to the northwestern part of B.C. where residents know how to lay out a good table and roll out the invitation mat to all, but it is also a place diverse in its views, a place that has relied on the natural resources and wealth of our country to create economies generation after generation.
About 35% of my riding consists of first nations, representing some of the strongest and longest historical occupation of North America, more than 15,000 years, and since time immemorial for some, the Haida, the Haisla, the Tlingit, the Taku River, the Tlingit, the Tsimshian, proud nations that have learned over multiple generations to work in harmony with the environment, to produce an economy that sustains them, and in fact restores and replenishes that environment which we rely upon.
That is one of the things that comes first to attention and notice when looking through this budget. This is obviously one of the largest opportunities the federal government has to affect the lives of Canadians. It is one of the largest expenditures by any source, if not the largest in the country. Every year some $280-odd billion goes out the door. The lack of accountability of the government in taking care of some of the most fundamental concerns of Canadians is somewhat breathtaking.
Having so recently gone through an election and having met with constituents from across the country who presented concerns to members on the economy, the environment, pensions, and the public safety net that has been so eroded over the years, it is surprising to me what a missed opportunity this budget now represents to Canadians and to the government. One would have thought that rather than rehash the document from 60 days ago, the government would have reflected on what it heard from Canadians, if it was listening at all.
That brings to mind that the Prime Minister never actually took any real questions from real Canadians during the election, that the entire scripted process led to some sort of preordained public event that was meant to look like a campaign but was in fact nothing more than a public relations exercise. The failed opportunity in that was that Canadians were trying to express something to the Prime Minister and his party, suggesting that there is a need to balance the views they hold, that no one party or ideology in this place has all the answers available to us, and that we have to take from different pieces.
The helmets to hardhats is a good example of a program that was initiated by all parties, seeking a way for our veterans land in good, sustainable jobs, but it is a small piece and there are many more pieces available that we could have grasped on to. There has been much mention within the ranks of the 103 New Democrats sitting as the official opposition that four and a half million Canadians responded to the message we offered them, saying we wanted a government that was a little more caring and balanced, and that looked at the books of our economy.
The government is running two deficits now. It is not just running the fiscal deficit, it is running a social deficit as well. These programs are very quick and easy to tear down. The finance minister has contemplated a staff reduction in the federal government by as much as 30%. Cutting and slashing is easy to do. It is much more difficult to build efficiency and proper services to Canadians who are in fact paying for them.
When we look at the other side of the ledger, we see the government willy-nilly cutting the corporate tax rate another couple of points and saying this will obviously bring jobs to the economy when we compare it to the U.S., as one of my colleagues did. We are sitting below half of the corporate tax rate that the Americans are enjoying right now. There is such a thing as a law of diminishing returns. If the tax rate were 50% and we lowered it to 40%, we would see some results. If we were to lower it to 30%, we would see a few more but less. If we were to lower it to 20%, 15% or 14%, we would see less and less, to the point where we would see nothing at all.
The leader of the official opposition today, the member for Toronto—Danforth, asked a direct question of the Prime Minister about $100 million to one oil company alone in the last budget. That is a lot of money. He asked the Prime Minister a simple question: Has the finance department done any assessment at all as to what kind of return we got back for $100 million?
I know what kind of return we could get back for $100 million to help seniors get out of poverty. I know what kind of return we could get back to help Canadians create the green economy that they have been so desperately looking for. We in the NDP know those facts and figures because we have done the research. If the government were to do nothing else, it should build its policies based on actual evidence as opposed to mere rhetoric.
We asked the government to assess the cost of its crime agenda, a very simple question. In fact, it is the same question the government put to us when we pushed for climate change legislation. It asked, “What’s the program cost? Can you give us the dollar figures?”
We proposed a bill that said that the Government of Canada, every five years, should declare its intention on climate change initiatives, what it planned to do, and every five years should report back on the successes and failures of the previous five years. That is what we asked for.
The government went ballistic saying that the costs would be insane to have such an open and transparent government, as if somehow there would be a cost for being honest with the Canadian people.
Now let us reverse the tables for a moment and talk about crime. It says it is going to increase the prison population by this much. The Parliamentary Budget Officer and others have come forward to say this. We can do the math, but when we ask the government to actually put some figures forward, as to the efficacy of its crime agenda, as to the actual costs, it says that if one victim is saved then the cost is worth it. What simple-minded rhetoric.
We can do better in this place. We can bring forward evidence when making policies. When we look to this budget and ask the government to justify a further two point reduction in the corporate tax rate, it should justify it and show us the evidence or some research. There are all these folks working around the Hill and all over Parliament who are very bright. There are some folks in the finance department who are extremely accomplished. I am sure they could punch a few numbers into a calculator and then tell us what two points more gets us in terms of job creation in this country.
We can do the math quickly because in the law of diminishing returns it gets us nothing. We do not get any more if we are half of what our closest competitor is charging for business and corporate taxes. It does not pay off. For American companies working in Canada, they have to declare their profits in the United States anyway. We know this. We have been through this. We have seen governments around the world try the same mantra, replacing good politics with rhetoric.
The results are that the public sector will be starved to the point where people will seek it through the private sector. It is privatization through starvation. If the government runs down the public sector enough, when Canadians still need the services, roads, hospitals and schools, they will start to seek the private solution more and more. They are being handed this carrot that it will be better in this Shangri-La private world, that the public sector cannot deliver these things.
The whole fundamental and basic concept of governance is to come together collectively to do what we cannot do individually. I cannot pave the road in front of my house, nor can my neighbours slap the money together to do it. We do it collectively and we see priorities from one to the other.
My kids are not in school yet, but I fund the local school in my region because I understand the value that education is expensive, but ignorance is much more expensive.
There is a fundamental concern I have when the budget is presented like this. We have a crisis in the northwest with the fishing sector. We are going to go into one of the worst fishing seasons on record. There is nothing with regard to employment insurance, which I know my friend from Acadie—Bathurst will talk about.
Instead, the Conservatives are going to cut $57 million out of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, rather than monitoring or assisting the fishermen who are going to go broke this summer. The solution from the Conservatives is to cut another $57 million out of a department that is already starved.
This is not a solution. This is not a practical result. We in the official opposition seek not just to oppose but to propose, to make suggestions that there are such things as investments in the public sector, that government can do things well, that government must in fact do things well and exceedingly do things better. That is the expectation from the people who put us here.
The people in the northwest have been going through a recession that many who sit in their seats would loathe to experience. I have communities that have upward of 80% unemployment. That is structural unemployment. It gets to a level where the need for assistance, the collective operation of government, is required.
We have a government that is starting to believe its own spin. It says the recession must be over, so it must be over. So it makes a budget that does not have a recession in mind.
I have news for the government. The recession is still going on in too many parts of our country. This was not a time to pull back. This was not a time to play politics with our economy. This was a time to give serious and honest consideration to the needs of people, not cutting western diversification as the minister is now going to oversee, but helping, putting it back into those places that we know create jobs, helping the small business community, and ending the handouts and freebies to the government buddies in the oil and banking sectors.
Chris Alexander (Ajax-Pickering, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I had the pleasure in my youth to plant trees in the member’s riding of Skeena—Bulkley Valley, so I am familiar with the economy of the region.
I would like to ask the hon. member the following question. How many jobs and how many communities would stand to benefit from the free trade agenda proposed by the government and new trade liberalization measures with the Americas, Asia and other parts of the world? That is the only way to generate new jobs and new employment across this country, including in his riding.
Has the member done the math? Has he done the calculations? After having done them, will he not consider supporting this budget and its ambitious trade liberalization regime for those reasons?
Nathan Cullen Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP): Yes, we absolutely have done the math in my part of the world, Mr. Speaker.
I welcome my colleague to come see the devastation that has resulted from free trade and the softwood lumber agreement. It is a loss. We have done the math. The math is that 250,000 jobs have been lost in the forestry sector and mills have closed throughout British Columbia and Alberta. We have seen those mills reopen south of the border using tax havens that were allowed for in previous Conservative budgets. The softwood lumber agreement helped fund the people who were suing us in Washington. Of the $4.5 billion that was collected, $3.5 billion stayed in the United States and helped fund the lawyers who are now suing us again.
We in the New Democrats are for trade. We are for fair trade. We are for trade agreements that are worked out with principles of fairness, of the environment, of the society and of the economy. However, to simply put forward free trade, as my hon. colleague said, as the only way to create jobs is a blindness of ideology that forbids the idea that evidence can be brought forward.
Exporting the raw logs of the trees that my hon. colleague planted is not good for the economy. Exporting raw bitumen out of the oil sands is a loss of 15,000 jobs for every 400,000 barrels exported. If that is the member’s idea of a good economy for the future, I loath to think what else he would do to the manufacturing sector, the auto sector and the aerospace sector, sectors that we built up with good government policy, not with this mantra of free trade for all and everyone will have a chicken in their pot. It is much more complicated and better than that.
June 08, 2011
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NDP stands with majority of BC to ban tanker traffic off north coast
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 8, 2011
Legislation would protect ecosystem and economies of coastal communities
OTTAWA — NDP natural resources and oceans critics Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) and Fin Donnelly (New Westminster-Coquitlam and Port Moody) recognized World Oceans Day today by calling on the federal government to honor the wishes of British Columbians and immediately legislate an oil tanker ban off the North Coast.
“The voices of British Columbia First Nations, municipal leaders and residents are incredibly strong and united on the urgent need for a legislated tanker ban,” Cullen, the Official Opposition’s Western Canada Natural Resources critic, said today.
“A minor oil spill off BC’s north coast would devastate the ecosystem, the fishery and coastal communities,” said NDP Fisheries and Oceans Critic Fin Donnelly. “That why it’s time to introduce legislation to permanently ban tanker traffic.”
Cullen noted that polls consistently show between 75% and 80% of British Columbians support a ban on tankers off the North Coast, and the Union of BC Municipalities also passed a motion last year supporting a ban.
“That is the majority that counts, not Mr. Harper’s seat count in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister has a responsibility to listen to this majority of British Columbians who are clearly saying no to tankers off our coast and no to a pipeline that brings our region few benefits and tremendous risks.”
The proposed Enbridge pipeline, slated to run from the Alberta tar sands to the BC coast, would bring more than 225 oil supertankers yearly through to the dangerous and remote northern BC coast, placing this diverse and fragile ecosystem at risk.
Today’s call for a legislated tanker ban follows Cullen’s victory last December in which he won parliamentary support for his non-binding motion urging a full ban on supertankers off the BC coast. Cullen also received strong direction during a March telephone town hall with over 8,000 constituents to fight for an alternative to Enbridge and associated supertanker traffic.
Cullen also serves as Chair of the House of Commons Ethics Committee in the 41st Parliament, which began sitting for the first time last week.
~ ~ ~
The New Democrat announcement was endorsed by the Yinka Dene Alliance and by an alliance of BC NGOs including Dogwood Initiative, West Coast Environmental Law, Living Oceans Society, and Forest Ethics. Read there releases here:
Yinka Dene Alliance (Nadleh Whut’en, Nak’azdli, Takla Lake, Saik’uz, and Wet’suwet’en First Nations)
First Nations: Protecting the Pacific North Coast and northern rivers from oil spills needs to be national priority
Living Oceans Society, West Coast Environmental Law, Forestethics, Dogwood Initiative
Keeping our oceans oil-spill free: BC groups applaud federal NDP’s leadership on tanker ban bill
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For more information, please contact:
Tim Howlet, Office of Nathan Cullen, cullen0@parl.gc.ca or 613-993-8662
June 07, 2011
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Hundreds rally against Enbridge in Prince Rupert
Hundreds gathered in Prince Rupert on May 12, 2011 to protest Enbridge’s plan to build a massive oil pipeline across Northern BC, saying that the limited benefits are far outweighed by the threat to the environment, economy and culture of the Northwest.
Many were also concerned by the company’s ‘platinum’ sponsorship of the North Coast Local Governments Association meeting taking place in Rupert that week.
Nathan spoke to the crowd about the need for Enbridge to respect the fact that the people of Northern British Columbia have clearly said NO.
Watch a CFTKTV Report on Prince Rupert rally against Enbridge’s pipeline and the company’s sponsorship of the NCLGA
May 27, 2011
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Hazelton hereditary chief receives Order of Canada
Today hazelton resident Earl Muldon recieved the country’s highest honour, being named an Officer of the Order of Canada. Below is a bio from the event which took place at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
Earl Muldon, O.C., Hazelton, British Columbia
Officer of the Order of Canada
Earl Muldon is a passionate promoter and defender of the Gitxsan culture. As hereditary chief of the House of Delgamuukw, he is an important advocate for the rights of his people and was a driving force behind a historic legal case that resulted in the recognition of oral history as part of Canada’s court system. A renowned master carver, he has been commissioned to undertake various creative projects in Canada, Japan and the United States, including a major totem pole renewal project for the Gitanyow (Kitwancool) Hereditary Chiefs. A respected artist and instructor, he continues to mentor the next generation of artists in Gitxsan craftsmanship and traditions, contributing largely to the preservation of traditional Northwest Coast art.
May 26, 2011
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Cullen keen to hold government to account as Ethics Chair
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 26, 2011
OTTAWA – MP Nathan Cullen says he is pleased and excited to have been asked to stand for Chair of the House of Commons’ influential Ethics Committee.
“This morning, Jack Layton asked me to take on this assignment on behalf of the Official Opposition,” Cullen said from Ottawa, where the 103-member NDP Caucus yesterday wrapped up two days of strategy meetings.
“I appreciate our leader’s confidence in my ability to fulfill such a major role and would be thrilled to take on the challenge.
“Ethics is a committee of huge influence in Ottawa and will be key to upholding our pledge to Canadians to fix what has become a scandal-ridden, closed and unaccountable government,” said Cullen.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics was established in 2004 in response to the Gomery advertising scandal. It is charged with the duty of scrutinizing the ethics of government and MPs. A senior member of the Official Opposition traditionally chairs the committee; confirmation is expected soon after Parliament returns next week.
“Ethics is the horse the Conservatives rode when they formed government in 2006,” said Cullen. “Since then, we have seen a number of transgressions. I look forward to the responsibility of holding the government to a higher standard.”
Cullen has long been recognized by colleagues of all political parties for his diplomacy skills, which will be central to managing the hot issues that come before the ethics committee. The committee was the centre of investigations into the so-called in-and-out election financing scandal, unseemly Conservative logos on government cheques, as well as improper relations with lobbyists.
“I am keen to bring my experience and skills to the task of monitoring government conduct,” Cullen said. “This is a heavy portfolio that needs a lot of work.”
Cullen said serving as ethics chair will complement his work in representing Skeena-Bulkley Valley constituents because the influential nature of the committee will give him even greater profile and influence in Ottawa.
A four-term MP, Cullen has previously served as NDP critic for youth, environment and national parks, and natural resources and energy.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, 250-877-4140; cullen1@parl.gc.ca
May 18, 2011
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RCMP oversight reform for BC long overdue – feds must follow suit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 18, 2011
National police force needs national standard for independent investigations
SMITHERS – A new civilian investigative body to oversee RCMP and municipal police conduct in BC is welcome news, says Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen, but more must be done to restore public trust in the national force.
“I’m cautiously optimistic the Independent Investigations Office will help bring back a level of public trust in BC policing,” Cullen said. “But the devil is in the details and I’ll be watching closely to see how the job gets done.”
Cullen noted that federal and provincial New Democrats have been leading the charge on civilian oversight of policing, currently a cumbersome “patchwork quilt” across Canada that also has variations in Ontario and Manitoba.
He says the national force should have a national standard for fully independent and impartial investigations of serious incidents involving the RCMP.
“The strength of the public consensus we’ve helped build has borne fruit today for BC, but Canadians should be able to count on independent investigations right across the country,” Cullen said.
“RCMP leadership and frontline officers have recognized that independent investigations are needed to restore public faith in the force and have joined the call for reform.
“I will continue to push for a national response outlined in my bill 18 months ago.”
Cullen introduced the Civilian Oversight Act (Bill C-472) in November 2009 to create a civilian investigation service and put an end to the practice of police investigating police. Ottawa continues to fail to respond to the policy gap.
“The federal government has a duty to both the public and our national police force. I expect the Conservatives to live up to their responsibility and introduce much-needed oversight legislation when Parliament returns next month,” Cullen said.
“Tragedies such as Ian Bush and Robert Dziekanski can provide critical information to help make policing better, more accountable and transparent, but we can’t learn these important lessons when police investigate themselves.”
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Contact: Shelley Browne, 250-877-4140; cullen1@parl.gc.ca
May 18, 2011
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NWCC wins Mining and Sustainability Award
SMITHERS – Northwest Community College’s School of Exploration &
Mining (SEM) has been recognized as an
industry leader in promoting sustainable development within British
Columbia’s mining sector.
The Mining Association of British Columbia (MABC) presents the award
annually to honour those committed to
advancing and promoting sustainable development in BC’s mining
sector.
“The Environmental Monitor Assistant Program at NWCC’s School of
Exploration & Mining provides innovative
training that focuses on sustainable development and environmental
excellence,” says NWCC President Dr. Denise
Henning. “We are very proud that EMAP is being recognized by both the
industry and the province as a success. The
school is committed to those core concepts while it develops programs
to prepare First Nations and other northerners
as the industry’s next generation of employees.”
The Mining and Sustainability Award is a joint initiative between the
Mining Association of British Columbia
(MABC) and the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. The
award provides MABC the opportunity to
publicly recognize the diverse companies, communities, First Nations,
non-governmental organizations, government
agencies and individuals committed to advancing and promoting
sustainable development in the B.C. mining sector.
“As the mining sector embarks on a period of growth not seen in a
generation, it is more important than ever to find
new and better ways to dig the minerals that are critical to a clean
and green economy out of the ground,” said Pierre
Gratton, President and CEO of the Mining Association of BC. “This
award is intended to celebrate those new and
better ways, and it is an honour to recognize this year’s recipients
for their leadership.”
NWCC’s School of Exploration & Mining continues to rack up the
awards. In the past three years, SEM’s industry
specific training programs have been recognized with a number of
prestigious awards, including the 2009 & 2010
Northern BC Business & Technology’s Sustainability Award, as well as
the 2010 Premier’s Innovation and Excellence
Award from the Province of BC.
The award was presented at a special event in Smithers during BC’s
Mining Week, May 16-20, 2011.
30
For more information contact:
Kristine Kofoed
Director of Communications and College Advancement
Northwest Community College
Phone: 250.638.5470
Toll-Free: 1.877.277.2288
Email: kkofoed@nwcc.bc.ca
Since its inception in 2004, Northwest Community College’s School of
Exploration & Mining (SEM) has taken a leadership role
in providing training for the minerals industry workforce in Northern
BC communities.
In partnership with Smithers Exploration Group and the Province of BC,
SEM develops and delivers essential courses and
programs targeted for the minerals industry. This means job-ready
skills and employment for students. Of more than 700 SEM
graduates, greater than 70% have found employment or returned to
school.
SEM’s innovative program design and delivery, strategic partnerships,
and commitment to social and environmental responsibility
have been recognized through several provincial, national and
international awards.
To learn more about the exciting events and programs happening at NWCC
visit us at nwcc.bc.ca
Northwest Community College is an accredited post-secondary education
institution that offers a range of comprehensive courses
and programs to the northwest region of British Columbia. It serves
this area through campuses in Haida Gwaii (Kaay Llnagaay,
Masset, Village of Queen Charlotte), Hazelton, Houston, Kitimat, Nass
Valley, Prince Rupert, Smithers and Terrace. NWCC
celebrates the diversity of its northern and First Nations populations
and reflects this diversity in its programs, services and
workforce.
March 29, 2011
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Donaldson announces “Don’t Let Gangs Score” contest winner
(SMITHERS, BC) – Today Stikine MLA Doug Donaldson announced that the winner of the “Don’t Let Gangs Score” essay contest, in partnership with Dan Hamhuis of the Vancouver Canucks, is Carissa Zotich of Quick, B.C.
Carissa, 14, is a grade 9 student at Smithers Senior Secondary. She won the essay writing contest from a draw of the top seven finalists, of which four were from Smithers, two from Hazelton, and Carissa from Quick. HawkAir, Smithers Community Policing and the Gitxsan Chiefs office were sponsors of the contest along with Donaldson and Hamhuis, and the prize is a trip for two to watch the Canucks play the Edmonton Oilers, April 2 in Vancouver.
“First and foremost I want to congratulate the more than 80 young people who entered the contest writing about how involvement in sports gives a sense of belonging to community,” said Donaldson. “I appreciate they made the effort and the three volunteer judges did a great job in what was a very difficult task because of the overall excellent quality of the entries.”
“Don’t Let Gangs Score” was organized by Donaldson’s Stikine MLA offices in Smithers and Hazelton to address an issue local RCMP highlighted in a news story about increasing gang activity in the area.
“Experts point out that some teens searching for a sense of belonging, and the power that comes with being part of a group, can be attracted to gangs,” said the Stikine MLA. “By communities promoting other ways to fill these needs, like being involved in sports, we are able to provide youth with much healthier opportunities to be part of something bigger than themselves. That is what the contest was about – highlighting a positive way for young to people to connect and feel part of a bigger picture.”
Based on the success of this initiative, Donaldson plans to continue delivering the community engagement message, by-youth-for-youth, with a similar essay contest later this year on how involvement in the arts creates a feeling of belonging.
“The response to this contest was fantastic,” said Donaldson. “But we know it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to youth communicating about ways they have found to fight isolation and find a sense of belonging to community and a bigger picture. It’s all about highlighting a positive message and identifying opportunities, rather than focusing solely on a negative message and just telling young people what they shouldn’t do.”
March 17, 2011
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Burns Lake wants better communication with Northern Health
Prince George Citizen
More than 400 Burns Lake residents crowded into a meeting Wednesday to express concerns about physician stability, a new hospital without a functional operating room, maternity services, recruitment and more.
It was their opportunity to lay it all out to Northern Health (NH) officials, said Paula Van Tine, a member of the Lakes District Health Advisory Committee which hosted the meeting.
Van Tine said the community wants better communications with NH and Burns Lake Hospital administration, and the facility’s services needs to expand.
“There was an absolute consensus that we must have an operating room in the new hospital,” said Van Tine.
She said a 1,900-signature petition requesting an operating room was handed to Lakes District Liberal MLA John Rustad for presentation to provincial ministers like finance and health.
Van Tine said an official of Hampton Affiliates sawmills said too many work hours are being lost among employees who have to go out of town for health services.
“He also said the company has a hard time recruiting into the community because of the health services,” she said.
McMillan said the main concern of the majority at the meeting was about physician coverage.He said a major concern “that needs to be addressed now” is maternity services.
“Physicians have to refer expectant mothers out of the community, so we need to deal with that even if it means help by midwives,” he said.
“We reiterated that we are committed to providing quality health care in Burns Lake, and we are working with the physicians to come up with both a short-term and long-term plan to provide stability in physician coverage.”
He said the new hospital is still NH’s top capital priority, and it will be built to offer an operating room in the future, but not when it opens.
“We just don’t have enough specialized surgeons, anesthetists and general practitioners with emergency specialization to staff it,” McMillan said.
“We’re a long way from that number needed, but it certainly makes sense to build it into the hospital.”
Millan is more hopeful now that three of the four physicians who have submitted resignations, effective April 29, will stay with greater support by NH to stabilize and sustain the doctor’s practices.
Van Tine said Skeena-Bulkley NDP MP Nathan Cullen drew applause when he said there seems to be an attitude that people in remote areas don’t deserve good health care, but when it comes to the taxes and resources provided by the same people, the government welcomes it.
“The people do have some ideas on how to help resolve the physician problems such as making the hospital a training area for UNBC’s Northern Medical Program students.
“If we could get five or six of those students and they took training here, a number of them may decide to stay.”
March 15, 2011
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Cullen: port agreements with First Nations “the way we do business”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 14, 2011
PRINCE RUPERT – Agreements announced today between First Nations and Ottawa to expand the Port of Prince Rupert reflect the beliefs and practices of the Northwest regarding economic development, said MP Nathan Cullen.
“Recognizing the need to work side by side with local people and respecting First Nations is the way we do business in the North,” Cullen said.
“We’ve been saying and supporting this for years and we’re seeing more of it on the ground. This model of respect and co-operation delivers real results and leads to real investments.
“Today’s announcements are a welcome sign that Ottawa also recognizes strong relations and shared goals with First Nations are the foundation of a flourishing Northwest economy.”
In separate events in Prince Rupert and Terrace earlier today, the federal government announced agreements regarding the port’s Fairview Container Terminal with the Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla bands of Prince Rupert and the Kitselas and Kitsumkalum First Nations near Terrace. The agreements provide economic development funding to help build lasting business opportunities and employment training to prepare First Nations for challenging, well paying jobs.
Cullen also noted the ongoing success of the Northwest in attracting federal money.
This strong track record, he said, is a direct result of the hard work, energy and enthusiasm of Northwest communities to build a sustainable and diversified economy. Joint ventures with First Nations, he noted, are a solid investment in a shared future.
Cullen said he will continue working with communities and First Nations to bring even more federal investment to the Northwest, including the long-promised $137 million for the Northwest Transmission Line.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, 250-877-4140; cullen1@parl.gc.ca
March 14, 2011
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Cullen: port agreements with First Nations “the way we do business”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 14, 2011
PRINCE RUPERT – Agreements announced today between First Nations and Ottawa to expand the Port of Prince Rupert reflect the beliefs and practices of the Northwest regarding economic development, said MP Nathan Cullen.
“Recognizing the need to work side by side with local people and respecting First Nations is the way we do business in the North,” Cullen said.
“We’ve been saying and supporting this for years and we’re seeing more of it on the ground. This model of respect and co-operation delivers real results and leads to real investments.
“Today’s announcements are a welcome sign that Ottawa also recognizes strong relations and shared goals with First Nations are the foundation of a flourishing Northwest economy.”
In separate events in Prince Rupert and Terrace earlier today, the federal government announced agreements regarding the port’s Fairview Container Terminal with the Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla bands of Prince Rupert and the Kitselas and Kitsumkalum First Nations near Terrace. The agreements provide economic development funding to help build lasting business opportunities and employment training to prepare First Nations for challenging, well paying jobs.
Cullen also noted the ongoing success of the Northwest in attracting federal money.
This strong track record, he said, is a direct result of the hard work, energy and enthusiasm of Northwest communities to build a sustainable and diversified economy. Joint ventures with First Nations, he noted, are a solid investment in a shared future.
Cullen said he will continue working with communities and First Nations to bring even more federal investment to the Northwest, including the long-promised $137 million for the Northwest Transmission Line.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, 250-877-4140; cullen1@parl.gc.ca
March 13, 2011
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86% of those answering phone joined telephone town hall
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 13, 2011
Over 8,000 households participated in innovative outreach
SMITHERS – An “outstanding” 86% of the 9,415 calls answered live at last week’s first-ever Skeena-Bulkley Valley telephone town hall chose to join the event.
“Outstanding! 8,061 households participated in our town hall, many on speaker phone with two or three listeners. This is a tremendous success and a truly creative way to connect with communities right across our huge riding,” Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen said today.
“We’ve just seen the numbers and are awed by the power of this amazing technology to create a larger dialogue by putting our whole region in touch with each other.
“It’s an extraordinary way to share ideas and work together towards solid solutions to mutual challenges and opportunities.”
Cullen said a wide range of questions was raised during the call, with health care and the economy dominating discussion. “The loss or limitations of health care services and ways to get more jobs going in the Northwest definitely topped the agenda.”
While the 65-minute call meant only 20 of the 251 questions posed could be answered, Cullen said notes of all questions allow follow-up beyond the call. He said he was particularly pleased to hear from an 11-year-old boy in Fort St. James, who called to demand what his MP intends to do about reducing pollution.
Four polls were conducted during the town hall to canvass constituents regarding action they want Cullen to take on issues ranging from fisheries to retirement security. The polls drew 1,559 responses, 611 of which were logged around the proposed Enbridge pipeline and associated supertanker traffic (65% against, 13% in favour, 21% unsure).
While he had strong expectations for his first riding-wide telephone visit with constituents, Cullen said he is “still on a high” and excited about the opportunities this technology, pioneered by the Barack Obama presidential campaign, offers to sprawling ridings such as his.
“We’ve got a few technical bugs to work out but the event provided us with excellent outreach and data,” Cullen said. “We’re definitely looking at holding these fantastic telephone town halls annually.”
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Contact: Shelley Browne, 250-877-4140; cullen1@parl.gc.ca
Download an audio file of the Telephone Town Hall
Cullen Telephone Town Hall, March 9, 2011 (.mp3)
(Note: large file 3.7MB right click and choose ‘save target as’ to download or click to stream)
Telephone Town Hall interactive Poll Results
Q1: Do you think the Conservative government has our country on the wrong track?
- Wrong track: 63% (57)
- Right track: 37% (34)
Q2: Enbridge has proposed building a pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat and then shipping raw bitumen in tankers from the port there. We’d like to know how you feel about the proposal
- Opposed: 66% (400)
- Support: 13% (82)
- Unsure: 21% (129)
Q3: What issue would you most like to see addressed right now?
- Making life more affordable by taking the HST off home heating costs: 21% (96)
- Making your retirement security more secure: 9% (44)
- Improving healthcare services in British Columbia: 25% (116)
- Taking on the biggest polluters: 16% (72)
- Getting our economy going and putting folks back to work: 29% (133)
(note: due to a technical error during the townhall event, the fifth option in the above poll was incorrectly reported during the Live event. The results above are correct)
Q4: There has been much controversy over the Government’s handling of our fishery. We’d like to know whether you support public or private ownership of this important natural resource
- Public Ownership: 87% (344)
- Private Ownership: 13% (52)
March 10, 2011
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Cullen applauds Quebec union for taking stand against deadly asbestos
Translation from french
Nathan Cullen Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC Mr. Speaker, along with the NDP and Canadian doctors, now the Confédération des syndicats nationaux also opposes the mining and export of asbestos. Unfortunately, the Conservatives and the Bloc continue to support this industry for the worst political reasons. The asbestos industry is ruining Quebec’s and Canada’s reputation around the globe. It is time to create a transition plan for the workers in the region.
Will they put an end to the hypocrisy and stop funding the industry?
March 10, 2011
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MP burns up phone lines
By Kat Lee – Terrace Standard
RESOURCES and the local economy were the main topics during a virtual town hall meeting last night in which thousands were connected via a telephone network organized by Skeena – Bulkley Valley NDP MP Nathan Cullen.
Residents posed questions of all kinds to the MP, and heard responses from him as well as by another NDP MP, Denise Savoie, who is from Victoria and who is the assistant deputy speaker in the House of Commons.
Residents were polled about Enbridge’s planned Northern Gateway pipeline, issues governments need to address immediately, and fisheries.
Cullen’s fisheries poll, which asked people to either support public ownership and access to fish or private or quota ownership to fish, had an overwhelming response. The majority of residents who answered the poll, 87 per cent, supported public ownership of fish, while 13 per cent supported private ownership.
“This doesn’t surprise me at all,” Cullen said. “The idea that we’re losing access to this public resource is painful to me as a Canadian, as a British Columbian. We need to reverse this philosophy, reverse this policy in Ottawa….I’ve been talking to the fisheries minister and I’ve been telling her, ‘enough’s enough’.”
While Cullen does host meetings to talk about the economy this is his first telephone town hall. All listed residential phone numbers in the riding received a recorded message inviting them to the town hall meeting, and those who wished to participate stayed on the line.
Using technology taken from the campaign which elected Barack Obama as President of the United States in 2008, as many as 10,000 people could be on the line at the same time.
March 10, 2011
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Donaldson launches gang prevention contest with Vancouver Canucks’ Dan Hamhuis, community groups
(SMITHERS, BC) – MLA Doug Donaldson announced today that he is partnering with Vancouver Canucks star defenseman and Smithers local Dan Hamhuis to bring a new contest to teenagers in his constituency of Stikine. ‘Don’t Let Gangs Score’ is an essay contest for youth aged 13-18 to write about how sports have helped them connect to their community to counteract the attraction of gangs.
“We’ve all heard reports from the RCMP of how gangs are trying to get a foothold in the Bulkley Valley, so my staff and I developed a contest that would engage young people in talking about the issue throughout Stikine,” said Donaldson. “Then we partnered with the Smithers Community Police to bring this idea to the classrooms and community. Dan Hamhuis was also keen to help and he donated two tickets to a Canucks game for the contest winner.”
Hawkair has provided the return airfare for two, Doug Donaldson is paying for a night’s accommodation and the Gitxsan Chiefs’ Office donated towards the winner’s expenses while in Vancouver.
“It’s a great example of true community partnerships,” said the Stikine MLA. “We know from the RCMP and other experts that gang activity is no longer just an inner city problem. Gangs offer a sense of belonging and power to a segment of our youth who are vulnerable to that kind of message. One way to undermine that is for young people to get involved in something bigger than themselves and activity in community sports is a great example.”
Donaldson said plans are underway to run a similar contest in the fall for teens involved in the arts as another way young people connect to something in their communities.
For more details on the ‘Don’t Let Gangs Score’ contest, contact the Stikine MLA offices. Entries must be received by noon on March 23.
Contact: Doug Donaldson, (250) 505-7785
March 09, 2011
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Groups urge feds to stall ‘nuclear garbage’ shipment
Eighty-three MPs sign petition
Postmedia News
Environmental groups are urging the government to stop a controversial plan to move 16 school-bus sized decommissioned steam generators through the Great Lakes to Sweden until what they call proper transport policies are in place.
Last month, Canada’s nuclear watchdog granted a licence to Bruce Power to transport the radiation-laced steel generators. But the president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility said yesterday the government should step in to stall the shipment because it could contaminate waters and because it sets a dangerous precedent.
“It’s very important for the government of Canada, the government of Ontario, government of Quebec and all of the municipal politicians, as well, to wake up and realize that they have a responsibility to protect the Earth and to represent public interests,” Gordon Edwards told a news conference yesterday.
“It’s setting a precedent because we’re talking here not about nuclear goods. We’re talking about nuclear garbage, and we’re going to have a highway of nuclear garbage. This shipment is going to be the first of many if we allow it to happen,” he said.
A House of Commons natural resources committee was to grill decision-makers at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Bruce Power, the country’s only private nuclear power generator, at a meeting yesterday afternoon. Opposition groups have also been called to testify at a committee meeting tomorrow.
Edwards said that, so far, 83 MPs have signed a petition calling on the government to stop the shipment until transport policies are evaluated.
John Bennett, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, said his organization joined with lawyers at the Canadian Environmental Law Association to ask the Federal Court for a judicial review of the decisions to grant export and transfer licences to Bruce Power.
Transport Minister Chuck Strahl also has to issue a permit to Bruce Power, but NDP natural resources critic Nathan Cullen said a committee report could stop the shipment from proceeding until regulations are in place to make sure the transport is safe.
He said the committee meetings could “expose” current gaps in policies.
About 300 letters have poured in from mayors in Ontario and Quebec, and hundreds more have asked to share their thoughts with the government at meetings, Cullen said.
March 08, 2011
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Local skier scores bronze at games
A FORMER Terrace local has skied his way to a bronze medal at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax.
Caleb Brousseau won a bronze in giant slalom after two very consistent runs skiing as a part of the BC Para Alpine team.
Brousseau was selected for the team two months ago by the coach of the BC Para Alpine team.
It is Brousseau’s second year on the BC Para Alpine team, and his first representing the province at the Winter Games.
“It was my first time, I was pretty excited,” Brousseau said, adding the competition was pretty good.
Brousseau trained for one day before he competed for two, skiing in two races, where he took a bronze in giant slalom and a fourth place in slalom.
“I’m happy with it,” Brousseau said. “I didn’t know what to expect.”
It was his first visit to the East Coast and Brousseau said he enjoyed his time in Halifax, saying there was a homey feeling to the port city where people were very welcoming to the athletes.
Brousseau was one of 242 athletes who represented Team BC.
Team BC finished third overall, winning 38 gold medals, 30 silver medals and 30 bronze medals.
Also from Terrace at the games were Rylee English and Kristin Tooms, both of whom went with the Ringette BC team.
Next on Brousseau’s agenda is a trip to Kimberly B.C. to compete in the Para Alpine Canadian Championships March 16 to 18.
March 08, 2011
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Uplands Elementary student Emily Patricia Barron wins Provincial Junior Poem category
A poem entered in the Royal Canadian Legion’s Poem, Poster, Essay contest by Uplands Elementary student Emily Patricia Barron has won the Provincial Junior Poem category.
Emily’s entry is now in Ottawa, and hopefully she will have success at the national level.
Other Br. 13 Terrace winners were Primary Black/White Poster Markus Lillie, Primary Colour Poster Cody Kirby, Intermediate Essay Rhett Mutschke and Intermediate Poem Joshua DeCario.
Not since the late ‘90s have we had a provincial winner; back then, Jeff Townsend’s Black and White Posters made it to the nationals on two occasions, and was runner-up once.
A student from Veritas School, Kendl Longridge, won the North West Zone, Provincial and the National in 1997 with a watercolour painted poster.
Each year, the B.C. Yukon Command mails a package out to all schools in B.C., private and public, and in that package are entry forms, rules and a letter to all principals, English teachers, parent advisory committees, and social study teachers.
This year, we had 129 entries from students at Uplands Elementary, Veritas school, Cassie Hall and Thornhill Elementary. Ten years ago, we would have as many as 400 entries, with most schools participating.
Read Emily’s winning poem:
Soldiers
On November 11th
We all sit and pray,
For the soldiers out there
That we hope are okay;
The soldiers out fighting
We keep in our heart,
I wish we could all
Just go back to the start;
A sad good-bye
With a kiss and a hug,
While we say good-bye
Our hearts give a tug;
The wars going on
In Afghanistan and Iraq,
We pray to god
That they will always come back;
The crosses,
Poppies,
Funerals and more,
Remembrance Day
is never a bore;
A soldiers gun firing
Away through a storm,
Instead of staying
At a house that is warm,
The crosses at
Flanders Fields shine,
While I wear a poppy
That isn’t all mine;
The clock ticks on
All through the night,
Just to think of what’s happening
Gives me a fright;
Commanders wait
To tell their troops ‘go’,
How long will they fight?
I don’t know;
With peace and courage
it will all end,
Until then our love we send.
March 08, 2011
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More NWCC students taking courses online
The number of students registering in online courses offered by Northwest Community College’s (NWCC) Continuing Education & Industry Training (CEIT) department has increased significantly. And as a result of the surge in student numbers, the department’s online learning partner, Ed2Go.com, has featured the College as a success story in its March 2011 newsletter.
In January 2011, 60 students registered for CEIT courses offered online through ed2go.com/nwcc. That is almost double the number of students, 32, who registered in the same time period last year, and about half the number of students enrolled in similar courses during the entire year of 2008.
“NWCC’s Continuing Education & Industry Training department offers a large variety of short-term interest courses and long-term career training programs through Ed2Go. We offer a wide range of topics such as writing, health courses, computer skills and much more,” according to Margo Van der Touw, NWCC Dean of Trades, and Continuing Education & Industry Training. “The variety and accessibility of the online courses means we are able to satisfy the diverse needs, interests and goals of all Northwest BC residents.”
Registration numbers for NWCC’s Ed2Go courses have increased steadily over the past few years. In 2008, 113 students completed a course. That number nearly doubled the next year with 207 students connecting to the site. Numbers grew again in 2010 with a total of 271 students. To date, in 2011, 83 students have already registered for Ed2Go courses.
Many student comments describe the courses as valuable and accessible.
NWCC student, Margaret Sanou, who completed the Ed2Go course Writing For Children, said, “I gained a lot of useful knowledge from this course. I’m going away with many, many resources that I can use to learn more about a wide range of topics related to writing for children. I received helpful feedback about my writing and lots of encouragement.”
Online education has many advantages. Students can complete course work at their own pace when it’s convenient for them. They can choose from a broad range of subjects, and save time and money by not commuting. E-learning also reduces physical and geographical barriers, thereby, increasing accessibility for people with disabilities, residents of remote areas, and those with busy work schedules.
For more information about Ed2Go courses at NWCC, visit ed2go.com/nwcc. Or contact NWCC CEIT Program Officer Kelly Swain, based at NWCC Terrace Campus, at kswain@nwcc.bc.ca or 1.877.277.2288 Ext. 5473.
In addition to the online Ed2Go courses offered through its CEIT department, NWCC also offers online credit courses and programs such as Applied Business Technology, Computer Technology and various University Credit courses. Some credit courses are also available through videoconferencing.
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For more information contact:
Kristine Kofoed
Director of Communications and College Advancement
Northwest Community College
Phone: 250.638.5470
Toll-Free: 1.877.277.2288
Email: kkofoed@nwcc.bc.ca
To learn more about the exciting events and programs happening at NWCC visit us at nwcc.bc.ca
Northwest Community College is an accredited post-secondary education institution that offers a range of comprehensive courses and programs to the northwest region of British Columbia. It serves this area through campuses in Haida Gwaii (Kaay Llnagaay, Masset, Village of Queen Charlotte), Hazelton, Houston, Kitimat, Nass Valley, Prince Rupert, Smithers and Terrace. NWCC celebrates the diversity of its northern and First Nations populations and reflects this diversity in its programs, services and workforce.
March 05, 2011
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Northern Gateway Project Gets Airplay In Ottawa
By 250 News
Saturday, March 05, 2011 09:03 AM
Prince George, B.C. – Both proponents and and opponents of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline project continued to present their cases in Ottawa this past week.
Enbridge’s Northern Gateway President, John Carruthers appeared before the House of Commons Committee on Natural Resources. Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP, Nathan Cullen, was on the panel of MPs listening to his presentation – he says he levelled tough questions against the head of the proposed $5.5-billion dollar project, as Carruthers attempted to downplay the risks of the project and the oil tanker traffic that goes hand-in-hand with the pipeline.
“Enbridge has been dancing around the overwhelming list of people and groups opposed. They’ve now resorted to backing out of community hosted forums,” says Cullen, “so I was glad for the chance to question them on their record of pipeline failures and their offensive dismissal of real opposition.”
“More than half the pipeline and tanker route crosses territory of First Nations that have said a clear NO. Eighty percent of British Columbians oppose tanker traffic. The Union of BC Municipalities and other groups have rejected the proposal. I don’t know how they plan to answer those issues.”
The day after Carruthers’ testimony, Cullen presented the first of what he says will be many petitions signed by hundreds of people opposed to tanker traffic off B.C.‘s North Coast. Cullen, the NDP’s Environment Critic, says he will continue to present the petitions in the House, working his way through the large stack he’s received.
Cullen has the petitions available on his website (www.nathancullen.com). He sought and received support on a Private Member’s Bill banning tanker traffic off the coast this past fall.
March 05, 2011
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Self-defence act riles opposition
Ottawa Sun Parliamentary Bureau
OTTAWA — Should people defending their own homes or lives be able to use force to protect themselves or their property?
That question is central to the ongoing debate over Bill C-60, the Citizen’s Arrest and Self-Defence Act.
“Law-abiding Canadians should not be the target of the criminal justice system,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said when he announced the bill in mid-February.
KIDNAPPING CHARGE
The act expands the ability of storeowners to make citizen’s arrests and was prompted by the case of Toronto grocer David Chen. Chen was charged with kidnapping for arresting a career criminal attempting to rob him for the second time in a single day.
The second half of the law defines the steps a person can take to protect their own life, the life of another person or to protect their property. Essentially, the law would allow the use of force to fend off an attacker or intruder.
“In principle, we support clarifying those provisions,” said Liberal justice critic Marlene Jennings.
Jennings says the Liberals want to bring in experts to help make sure the bill has no unintended consequences.
The Bloc Quebecois and NDP were less enthusiastic.
“We don’t want to become a far West,” said Bloc House leader Pierre Paquette.
The NDP’s Nathan Cullen said he’s concerned the bill would lead to vigilantism.
“I don’t trust the government to get the word out to Canadians as to where the boundaries are. What can you do in defence of self,” Cullen said.
Earlier this week Ian Thomson of Port Colborne, Ont., was in court to face charges for firing over the heads of attackers who fire-b ombed his house. Two charges were dropped. Thomson still faces charges for careless storage of a firearm.
March 04, 2011
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Up to 10,000 participants expected on Cullen telephone town hall Wednesday
UPDATE: Download an audio file of the Telephone Town Hall
Cullen Telephone Town Hall, March 9, 2011 (.mp3)
(Note: large file 3.7MB right click and choose ‘save target as’ to download or click to stream)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 4, 2011
SMITHERS – Up to 10,000 residents of Skeena-Bulkley Valley are expected to join an innovative live and interactive telephone town hall hosted by MP Nathan Cullen next Wednesday evening (March 9).
Along with guest Denise Savoie, Assistant Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Cullen will talk about issues of concern to the Northwest and take as many questions as the 75-minute event will allow.
“We’re excited at the prospects of this fantastic technology that will allow us to connect directly and meaningfully with several thousand constituents at once,” an enthusiastic Cullen told regional media yesterday.
“We’ll call out to every personal number in the riding in Elections Canada’s database and anyone can choose to connect to the town hall at no charge.”
The process is simple. Next Tuesday, all listed residential telephone numbers in the Northwest will receive a recorded message from Cullen, inviting them to join the town hall Wednesday night. The numbers will be re-dialed between 7-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday and residents wishing to join the town hall follow simple prompts to do so. People wishing to ask questions will also be guided by prompts.
Cullen said the technology, pioneered by the Obama campaign, is well-suited his sprawling riding, which stretches from Haida Gwaii to Fort St. James, north to the Yukon border and south to mid-Coast.
“The opinions, questions and concerns of constituents are very important to me,” Cullen said. “I’m looking forward to connecting with thousands of people across 300,000 kilometres on our telephone town hall.”
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Contact: Shelley Browne, 250-877-4142; cullen1@parl.gc.ca
Announcement follows
TELEPHONE TOWN HALL WITH MP NATHAN CULLEN
And Denise Savoie, Assistant Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons
7:00 PM – 8:15 PM
Wednesday, March 9
LIVE and Interactive!
Please join us for our first riding-wide live telephone town hall meeting!
This is a great opportunity for you to tell me what’s on your mind and to get answers to your questions.
Just pick up the phone when we call between 7-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 9 and you’ll be connected with up to 10,000 of your Northwest neighbours on our live town hall discussion.
Your opinions, questions and concerns are very important to me.
I hope you can join us for this innovative town hall.
March 04, 2011
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Cullen raises Point Henry concerns to Head of Coast Guard
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 4, 2011
OTTAWA – Member of Parliament Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) has taken concerns about the decommissioning of the Point Henry Coast Guard vessel to the very top of the chain. Yesterday he met with Marc Grégoir, Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard, to raise concerns from coastal residents about the Search and Rescue capabilities of the proposed replacement boat.
“I’ve heard from Search and Rescue professionals, town councils, First Nations communities, fishermen and local residents,” said Cullen. “Everyone is concerned about the plan to swap the Point Henry for a smaller ship. Yesterday I took those concerns directly to the top.”
The Coast Guard has so far contested residents’ worries insisting that it is confident in the decision to replace the 70-ft Prince Rupert-based Point Henry and Campbell River-based Point Race with new 47-ft Motor Life Boats. The Commissioner claimed that the Motor Life Boats would be able to operate under much more severe weather conditions – which he said is of benefit on the North Coast.
“I made it very clear to him that local residents, many of whom make their living on the waters, are very opposed to the plan,” said Cullen. “If they are so confident in their decision, they should come to our coastal communities and meet the people affected. I invited the Commissioner to come himself.”
Cullen noted that he has spoken with the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans prior to yesterday’s meeting and will continue to raise the issue in Ottawa. Early next week he will be presenting a petition in the House of Commons signed by more than 1700 local residents.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, 250-877-4140; cullen1@parl.gc.ca
March 02, 2011
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Enbridge and British Columbians clash in Parliament
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 2, 2011
Cullen presents tanker ban petitions following committee testimony
OTTAWA – Enbridge claims that opposition to their pipeline is small and isolated, but the voice of British Columbians was heard loud and clear today when New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley) presented the first of many petitions signed by hundreds opposed to tanker traffic of BC’s North Coast.
“Our office has been flooded by concerns from all over the province calling for a ban on oil supertankers off our coasts,” said Cullen. “People are standing up for our environment and for our way of life, and demanding their government do the same. The Conservatives are totally out of touch.”
The presentation of signatures follows just one day after testimony by Enbridge Northern Gateway president, John Carruthers, before the House of Commons Committee on Natural Resources. Carruthers attempted to downplay the risks of the pipeline and tanker project before a panel of MPs but faced tough questioning by Cullen.
“Enbridge has been dancing around the overwhelming list of people and groups opposed. They’ve now resorted to backing out of community hosted forums,” said Cullen, “so I was glad for the chance to question them on their record of pipeline failures and their offensive dismissal of real opposition.”
“More than half the pipeline and tanker route crosses territory of First Nations that have said a clear NO. Eighty percent of British Columbians oppose tanker traffic. The Union of BC Municipalities and other groups have rejected the proposal. I don’t know how they plan to answer those issues.”
Cullen said he will continue to present tanker ban petitions in the House, working his way through the large stack. He noted that the petition is available on www.nathancullen.com and encouraged residents to continue sending them in.
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Contact: Shelley Browne (250) 877-4140; cullen1@parl.gc.ca
March 02, 2011
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Nathan presents petitions from Prince Rupert students calling for tanker ban
Nathan Cullen Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Mr. Speaker, the second petition is one that should encourage all of us. It was put together by Emily and Hannah Rudderham from Prince Rupert and Charles Hays secondary schools. They collected more than 150 signatures from young people in their school calling upon the government to respect the will and wishes of the people of British Columbia.
The undersigned strongly urge that the Government of Canada immediately legislate a ban on bulk oil tanker traffic on B.C.‘s north coast in alliance with all the communities along that coast, the first nations municipalities, and representatives from around British Columbia, that strongly support such a ban.
March 02, 2011
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Nathan asks why the government is cutting funding for green energy
Mr. Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the minister is entitled to his opinion but not his own facts.
Under the Conservatives, greenhouse gases are amongst the highest in the world while spending on green energy solutions have been slashed. Last year the minister killed off the popular home retrofit program and scrapped support for renewable heat and green energy. Yesterday an additional $600 million was eliminated.
Meanwhile, the minister really took one for the team, cutting a full 1% from his limo budget. Is the only Conservative plan to fight climate change having the minister walk a little more?
March 02, 2011
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BC ARTIST ROY HENRY VICKERS OFFERS UP ARTWORK FOR SHAMES
My Mountain Co-op
Grand opening event at the Kwinitsa Residence is this Thursday 4pm – 7pm with Roy Henry Vickers as the special guest speaker.
What do you get when you have a small ski hill with legendary snow, a community pulling together in ‘Hockeyville’ fashion to save their hill, and a renowned artist who believes in the vision? One helluva story.
In an industry where giants rule, Shames Mountain Ski Area, located west of Terrace, BC, is small. But it’s got snow. The greatest annual snowfall of any lift serviced ski operation in North America. But the ski area is for sale and may close if a buyer isn’t found. In an effort to save the hill, a group of Terrace-based locals have formed My Mountain Co-op.
Echoing Terrace’s successful bid for Hockeyville in 2009, the Co-op needs to raise $2 Million by April 30, 2011 to buy Shames Mountain Ski Area. A successful bid will secure the Co-op as Canada’s first non-profit community ski co-operative. At $299 for a lifetime individual membership, fees are small. But it’ll take a lot of memberships to raise the needed cash.
Enter internationally renowned BC artist, Roy Henry Vickers. A chance conversation led to Vickers offering to create unique, limited edition art work of the mountain area and donating sales proceeds to the Co-op. Vickers, who grew up not far from Terrace, is known for his philanthropy, particularly in First Nations communities. His galleries achieve considerable success while personalities such as Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev, own Vickers art work.
So, a mountain of white stuff, a community with hearts of giants, Canada’s first non-profit community ski co-operative and Vickers recording the event in BC’s history.
One helluva story.
March 01, 2011
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NWCC mining school core technician course expands to Terrace
TERRACE – Northwest Community College’s (NWCC) School of Exploration & Mining (SEM) will offer a core technician course in Terrace for the first time next month with the help of a local company.
ALS Chemex, the minerals division of parent company ALS Laboratory Group, will host SEM’s 6-day Drill Core Technician program at its facilities during the second week of March.
SEM is based at NWCC Smithers Campus and delivers courses throughout the Northwest and beyond. Until now, the drill core technician course has only been delivered in Smithers as local industry facilities there were able to provide access to high-tech core splitting and sawing equipment, and field trips to active drill sites.
“We are excited to have the support of ALS Laboratories to offer this training out of Terrace,” says NWCC SEM Director Robin Curry. “This opportunity builds on our practice of delivering training throughout the North in partnership with industry. These partnerships greatly benefit graduates, who are usually able to find employment as a result, and the exploration and mining sector, which is in need of qualified workers.”
“It’s great to be involved with such an important part of the mining industry,” ALS Manager David Rootham. “We look forward to working with NWCC on such worthwhile and much needed training initiatives.”
NWCC’s Drill Core Technician course teaches practical skills required to observe, measure and record information from diamond drill core.
Within a year of finishing the course, 70% of past Drill Core Technician
graduates available for survey found core tech-related employment.
2009 graduate Roger Sullivan of Prince George, for example, found full-time work at Huckleberry Mines.
“I recommend this program to anyone interested in becoming a geo-tech in mining and mineral exploration,” he says. “The instructors have a great deal of knowledge and experience directly related to the course material and intended job goals. The work is good, interesting and highly valued by geologists and employers.”
ALS Chemex opened a preparation facility in Terrace in 2007 to bring its services closer to the highly active mining region of Northwestern BC. The laboratory prepares samples then ships them to a North Vancouver facility for analysis.
Over the years, many companies have helped SEM’s Drill Core Technician courses succeed by donating space, materials, and/or hosting students on site visits. These include Metal Mountain Resources (formerly Eagle Peak Resources), Rugged Edge Holdings, Bard Ventures, SGS Minerals Services (formerly Assayers Canada), ACME Analytical Labs, Barrick Gold, CJL Enterprises, Golder Associates, Huckleberry Mines and Treeline Wood Products.
To register for the Drill Core Technician course, please contact SEM’s Industry Liaison Program Officer Rob Maurer at rmaurer@nwcc.bc.ca or 1.877.277.2288 Ext. 5831.
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Photo Caption: NWCC School of Exploration & Mining students learning how to use a core saw.
For more information contact:
Kristine Kofoed
Director of Communications and College Advancement Northwest Community College
Phone: 250.638.5470
Toll-Free: 1.877.277.2288
Email: kkofoed@nwcc.bc.ca
To learn more about the exciting events and programs happening at NWCC visit us at nwcc.bc.ca
Northwest Community College is an accredited post-secondary education institution that offers a range of comprehensive courses and programs to the northwest region of British Columbia. It serves this area through campuses in Haida Gwaii (Kaay Llnagaay, Masset, Village of Queen Charlotte), Hazelton, Houston, Kitimat, Nass Valley, Prince Rupert, Smithers and Terrace. NWCC celebrates the diversity of its northern and First Nations populations and reflects this diversity in its progra ms, services and workforce.
March 01, 2011
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Telethon showcases musical talent
STUDENT musicians from the area’s three secondary schools demonstrated their talent at the 17th annual tri-school band telethon held Feb. 27.
Junior and senior concert bands and junior and senior jazz bands from Caledonia Senior Secondary, Skeena Junior Secondary and Thornhill Junior Secondary were joined by a choir from Caledonia for a four and a half hour performance based at the REM Lee Theatre.
When it was over, $12,400 was raised to help defer expenses for the musicians who will be traveling to MusicFest Canada in May in Richmond.
MusicFest Canada is the annual gathering of the country’s finest student musicians and local bands have performed very well at past competitions.
The telethon was broadcast over Channel 10 by CityWest while volunteers manned phones to handle the pledges.
Numerous other volunteers prepared the theatre, handled off-stage and other duties and cleaned up afterward.
The telethon ended with a total of $12,310 but an audience member quickly rounded up the amount to an even $12,400.
Caledonia Senior Secondary School’s jazz band ended the evening with a version of ‘Feelin’ All Right,” first released by the English band Traffic in 1968 and covered by Joe Cocker in 1969.
February 28, 2011
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Canada’s First Non-Profit Community Ski Co-operative?
A newly minted non-profit community co-operative, My Mountain Co-op, is trying to buy Shames Mountain Ski Area near Terrace, BC for $2 Million. By April 30, 2011. Ambitious? Yes. But how co-ops strengthen and bind the social fabric of community are well-recognized mainstays of the co-operative movement.
In the case of Shames Mountain, the social benefits of maintaining Ski Area operations are plain to see. The ski hill is one of the advantages of the area. It helps recruit and retain local professionals including health care workers, environmental consultants, and management level employees. For an area that’s been hammered by the dying forest industry, Shames Mountain is integral to the community.
Prior to forming the Co-op, a group of like minded professionals and ski enthusiast got together and formed a non-profit society called Friends of Shames. That group did two years of legwork. They hired professional consultants to assess the lifts, buildings, water and sewer systems, environmental concerns, terrain and what have you. From that, a feasibility study was completed along with a 5 year business plan. The assessment determined that a non-profit community co-operative was the best business model.
Why try to raise the money in such a short timeframe? Darryl Tucker, a founding member of the Co-op replies, ‘The current owners have had enough. They’re former business owners in the area who have retired. Even though they know the value of the hill to the community and what a great loss it would be if it shut down, they can only put their retirement funds into the business for so long. It’s time for another group to step up. My Mountain Co-op hopes to do that.’
Memberships are well-priced at $299 for individuals and $599 for businesses, with bragging rights that you own a ski hill, part of the deal!
Join My Mountain Co-op at www.mymountaincoop.ca
Contact:
Darryl Tucker, ph. 250-615-9509
info@mymountaincoop.ca
February 24, 2011
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Cullen applauds progress on Northwest Transmission Line
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 24, 2011
SMITHERS – A major infrastructure project with the potential to re-energize the Northwest is one step closer to reality with yesterday’s granting of a Provincial Environmental Assessment Certificate to the Northwest Transmission Line, a development applauded by MP Nathan Cullen.
“This is an important step towards kick-starting our regional economy,” said Cullen, who also serves as the NDP’s national natural resources and energy critic.
“The Northwest Transmission Line is the key to unlocking the resource potential of the Northwest and will lay the groundwork for greener communities and sustainable mining jobs for years to come.”
Cullen noted that the project will end the dependency of remote communities and mines on expensive and polluting diesel generators, while also opening the way to new green power projects.
“Many communities have worked very hard to bring the project to where it is today. They deserve congratulations for their vision and perseverance.”
“BC Hydro must continue to consult with First Nations and ensure accommodation for impacts on their traditional lands,” said Cullen. “As long as we get it right, this project will be a huge boon to our region.”
The project still requires federal environmental approval but the decision will be based on the same technical work conducted by the provincial authorities.
“I will be working with my colleagues in Ottawa to ensure a timely decision on the environmental assessment,” said Cullen.
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Contact: Shelley Browne, 250-877-4142; cullen1@parl.gc.ca
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