Prince Rupert, Act III, Scene 1.
To NDP or not to NDP, that is the question
Whether it is nobler in the mind of Prince Rupert unionists to suffer the slings and arrows of their NDP rulers or to take up arms against outrageous environmentalism.
And by opposing end them: to jobs, to prosperity.
A transpositional paraphrasing of Shakespeare’s greatest philosophic question in Hamlet to be sure, but it asks a simple question of Prince Rupert union members and voters:
Economic suicide or not
economic suicide?
That is the question.
The key premise to a Shakespearean three-act drama is relatively simple. Introduce the characters, put them into a position they’ll never get out of, and finally, get them out.
Here is Prince Rupert’s drama and their authors:
Act 1: Prosperity in the future, Charles Hays;
Act 2: Economic collapse: pulp mill and fishing closures; Jean Chretien et. al;
Act 3: Prince Rupert as Canada’s Asian Gateway, author to be decided.
Aye, as Shakespeare wrote, there is the rub.
Prince Rupert’s third act is yet to be written, however, NDP MP Nathan Cullen and NDP MLA-in-waiting Jennifer Rice seemingly say they have the only pens and our only chance of getting Prince Rupert out of a fourth act twist, an inevitable cliffhanger or sequel.
Prince Rupert and the North Coast economy cannot afford a twist, cliffhanger or another sequel of the past 10 years.
Yet, they seem hell-bent on either delaying or denying Prince Rupert the prosperity we can easily see on the horizon or as Charles Hays promised, and the economic future this city deserves and needs. Most succinctly, and simply, Liquid Natural Gas [LNG] terminals in this riding.
Or to quote Mr. Cullen: “...would you allow 10 or 15 projects to come into the [his riding]? No.”
Or to quote MLA-in-waiting Prince Rupert city councillor Jennifer Rice, “[not a damn thing on LNG]”
To be fair, outside of “no” to any development, and a fear-mongering, near-hysteric, megaphoned diatribe against a long-proposed oil pipeline without an alternative solution, the 15 months into a 36-month term rookie councillor has not weighed in on what could be the LNG lynchpin of Prince Rupert’s economic life.
As much as they argue, it appears Rice and Cullen know how to keep us in Scene 2 of a drama, but have no answers for Scene 3 — getting us out.
And while one may quote MacBeth at this point and suggest, methinks they doth protest too much, Hamlet’s Prince Rupert paraphrased question remains:
Jobs or no jobs. That is the question.
Rice and Cullen are only actors.
Prince Rupert should write the play.