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Council toughens approach to industry support letter requests

Mayor Bujtas says that he supports industry growth but it comes with reservations
241205-tst-skeenaresourcescamp
The Skeena Resources camp in the Eskay Creek area of the Golden Triangle north of Terrace.

Terrace council appears ready to toughen its approach when asked to provide support letters to back up applications made by industrial concerns for government approval.

It may not be ready to deny those letters, but it wants to make clear that its support rests on receiving grants from the province.

The matter came up Nov. 12 in considering a request from a company called Skeena Resources. It wants to convert an old underground gold mine into an open pit operation at Eskay Creek in the Golden Triangle area at Eskay Creek more than 250 kilometres north of Terrace.

Skeena Resources purchased the property in 2018 and says it has $1 billion to spend but now needs formal environmental approval from the province. It wants the city's blessing as part of a development package to be submitted next year.

"We humbly request this letter of support," said the company in adding its project will provide jobs and tax revenues.

Mayor Sean Bujtas opened discussion about providing a letter saying that while he supports industrial growth, it comes with reservations.

"What I am struggling with these days when it comes to letters of support is, quite frankly, what's in it for us?" he said.

"We've got a five-year revenue sharing agreement with the province .... but there's going to be a point, and I think we're there honestly, that there needs to be a bit of a hard line with the [provincial] government to say we do support these projects on the contingency we're going to see revenue sharing ongoing past the five years because we're struggling, our taxpayers are struggling. We can't fix all the infrastructure issues.

"We have these projects keep growing, everybody's making more money around us. We're having all the social impacts of all the projects around us," he added.

Bujtas favoured adding a sentence or two in the letter for Skeena Resources that its support is contingent on the revenue-sharing deal carrying on beyond its current expiration date of 2028.

That deal is for $250 million over five years spread out among northwestern local governments. Terrace's share is just shy of $34.5 million.

"I'm happy we got the revenue sharing deal we got, but at the end of the day,  you still look at our neighbours up in the Peace and you see Dawson Creek collecting a cheque for $15 million a year and we're getting $6.9 million for five years and theirs is in perpetuity," Bujtas said.

Councillor Brian Downie, who made the motion to provide a support letter, noted that companies will benefit from their employees living in a well-resourced city.

"It is a win-win," he said.

Based on a suggestion from Councillor James Cordeiro, Bujtas agreed to amend the wording of the letter that the city's support for Skeena Resources is not "conditional" but rather that the city expects the revenue sharing deal to continue.

Still, Cordeiro agreed with the mayor's intent of making the province aware of the city's position.

"I think we might be closer there than you think we are," he told Bujtas.



About the Author: Rod Link

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