The Legislature Raids

Will be posting on Laila's site as well.
March 3, 2011 – 24 HR

Foreign trade zones being considered for province.

The BC government is mulling whether to declare parts of the province “Foreign trade zone.”
A Feb 22 request for proposals seeks a consultant to gauge the feasibility of designated areas where foreign goods can be stored duty and tax free before being shipped elsewhere.
BC markets itself as Canada’s Pacific Gateway, but the tendering document says “Visiting foreign delegations and numerous port-related companies have commented on the lack of foreign trade zones in BC.
Canada offers some incentives and breaks for importers and exporters, but is only FTZs are Centerport Canada in Winnipeg and Newfoundland gander airport. Both offer transport, manufacture and distribution and warehouse services
Global Container Terminals Canada leads a steering committee that wants $5 million from taxpayers over five years to run a Metro Vancouver FTZ agency.
The committee includes, CN CP. Port Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Airport authority and airports in Toronto, Montréal, Halifax and Winnipeg.
IT wouldn’t be isolated to one area, GCT Canada preside Eric Waltz said. “We would like to do a model or run a prototype in one area that can show it can be successful.”
The 298 member National Association of Foreign Trade Zones includes FTZs in Bellingham, Everett, Seattle and Tacoma Washington.

1. Taxpayers should not be paying private companies to run their business.
2. SFPR = LAND by the port = real estate.
3. CN first on the list.
4. Is this what it all boils down to? (BC Rail

Laila, what do you think?
Curt
 

As far as the bulk-loading terminal at Squamish goes, it's worth knowing that one of the world's largest moly deposits is northwest of Pemberton, at Salal Creek (opposite side of the Lillooet River from Meager Creek). Also gold and copper and some other metals - the deposit is "porphyry" - and given infrastructure and capitalization would dwarf the current world's largest in Wyoming (or Montana?). The ore in question would go to the Chinese metals industry for smelting and presumably would use heavy trucks through Whistler as there was no mention in what I saw about it of a transfer or intermodal "port" in Pemberton, the only port mentioned was Squamish and no mention of the railway.

Point is Squamish port expansion is a lynchpin for any new minerals projects in the regions of the southern Coast Mountains accessible to it; other projects in the Lower Lillooet, around Douglas, have also been rumoured but there the option exists for water transport out via Harrison Lake and the Fraser (perhaps Port Douglas will wind up as a shipping port again, as it was 1858-98 or so).

You do have to wonder what Whistler and its posh landowners will think of a few dozen heavy-ore transports rolling through Whistler traffic every day.....

I think it was Wellbridge, or Miocene Minerals, I can't find the promo page I'd seen for it before, but if you google "Salal Creek"+molybdenum you'll find a bunch of PDFs.

The area of the mine is the Salal Creek Volcano, one of the Bridge River Volcanoes which are mostly just north of there in the upper basin of that river, around Nichols Creek. Bizarre-looking area by all accounts, but incredibly remote and the logging roads in there (from Lajoie Dam near Gold Bridge) are not open to the public.

Any discussion of industry vs. nature in that area always brings to mind a conversation I had in Bralorne in '79 when I worked as a lowly rodman for highways, with the assistant super of the MoF, whatever his title was. His abrupt response, shocking to me from a younger, apparently educated person, to a comment/query from me about any opening, or better yet paving, of the Hurley (the Bralorne-Pemberton Road) and how it would open up the area's skiing potential, was "we're not gonna let any tourists in here until we're done with it". I've come to understand since he wasn't just meaning the logging, which through the '80s was utterly rapacious throughout that country and cost hundreds of millions of dollars in road subsidies and failed silviculture results/costs; the hostility towards tourism in the area was very strong - other than the violent blockade of the small Tyax Resort and the related failure of the (exquisite) Little Gun Lake Lodge as a boutique hotel, the logging industry tried to get Road 40 (Lillooet-Gold Bridge) declared a radio-controlled road, even though it had been a public highway since long before logging came into the area. On the other side of the mountains, Pemberton loggers vandalized the very nice timber-tubs on Meager Creek and dumped outhouses in the springs, also burning out the access bridge.

All old news I know, but the point is about that government-industrial attitude "we're not gonna let the tourists in here until we're done with it" was both a statement of the area's appeal (still beautiful, but nothing like it was then...) is that I see strip-mining now in the same light for that region; there's other sites than Salal Creek that could open up with more port/road access (=publicly-paid infrastructure) right around Gold Bridge, but also notably at Red Mountain/Poison Mountain, about 50 miles NW of Lillooet and about 30 north of Gold Bridge; just west of that, by a ridge or two and the summit of 10,000'+ Taseko Mountain (ochre and purple and colours that don't have names) is where the Prosperity Mine is planned for. There's also rumours of uranium around there, though it's been off-limits for uranium staking for a long time.
 

Just to note: the FTZ bandwagon is one certain First Nations governments are likely to be all over. In fact, it's surprising some haven't tried it themselves already.
 

Foriegn trade zones already exist in the province. Never mind the infiltration of crap from China and India. Bains was in the business of importatiin of cocaine.

Now what was basi doing with that gro-op in shawnigan lake? Is the stay of proceedings going to come off, or was that in the deal too?

HAs any reported drilled down into who authorised the crown to let the Province pay basi's and virks legal bills, which were in the millions of dollars?

Will the province now fund others legal bills they have criminal disputes with, ie employees and welfare cheats?

Now that Clarke is in office, the Liberals will win again and you can kiss goodbye you faint hope of an Inquiry.