With the fall of the Conservative government last Friday the budget tabled earlier this month will not pass, and that will have an impact on the North Coast as it relates to the proposed expansion of Ridley Terminals.
“To ensure Ridley Terminals Inc. can accommodate growing throughput and meet the needs of its customers, the Government of Canada proposes to allow the corporation to borrow from capital markets so it can proceed with the necessary expansion of its facilities,” read an item in the budget.
And Ridley Terminals chair Bud Smith said the ability to borrow from capital markets would have gone a long way in terms of the proposed expansion.
“RTI’s ability to borrow from capital markets is vital for RTI to grow its capacity, as well as to create jobs at Prince Rupert and across the north. Voting the budget down doesn’t assist Ridley in securing the borrowing it needs. Our engineers continue to design what we need. RTI will continue to procure the replacement dumper system to be installed this December.,” said Smith prior to the defeat of the government on Friday.
“As Chair, I am working with officials in Ottawa in an attempt to get Treasury Board approval for our borrowing. Ministers Merrifield, Day, Strahl, and Flaherty all are helping us to get what RTI needs before the election.”
The vote on the budget never came, but it was a vote that Skeena - Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen says he would have opposed. But his opposition to the budget is not opposition to the expansion of the terminal, Cullen said, and he remains optimistic that line item will be supported by whichever party forms government after the May 2 election.
“I have been lobbying for this for a long, long time. Nobody in Parliament disagrees, but the budget was a net loss for the Northwest,” he said.
“There is no reason for the government to play politics with this or to sit on this for so long and bring it out at the last minute...The Government made a political football out of this and that is disappointing.”