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Questions

More questions than answers as Terrace and region transform

The ever increasing amount of activity in the area, the vast majority of which is tied to the prospect of a regional liquefied natural gas industry, is like an onion. Peel one layer off and another emerges.

Skeena NDP MLA Robin Austin’s March 19 public meeting revealed many layers to that onion.

Called to discuss housing or, rather, the growing lack thereof, other questions and issues emerged, all framed around questions of what is  exactly going on around here.

The list of questions includes impacts on various public sector services, ranging from whether the hospital will be large enough if the population grows to whether there will be enough police officers.

And consider that since Mr. Austin’s meeting, the City of Terrace is to revise its official community plan in light of a proposal for a worker accommodation camp of at least 400 people at its Skeena Industrial Development Park. There’s a possibility such facilities could expand to hold as many as 3,000 people.

Mr. Austin said the March 19 meeting was the first of many discussions about the future. As the direct elected representative of the area to the provincial legislature, Mr. Austin is on the right track.

There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned town hall meeting to listen to what people have to say. The next one would be all the more effective if it included the city and the regional district along with Mr. Austin.