Prince George Citizen April 12, 2019 by Prince George Citizen

Friday, April 12, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Students helping sick kids Heritage Elementary leadership students Taylor Terry, Tyler Dahl, Delaney Turner and Morgan Johnson sort through the gift bags that they delivered to peadiatric unit at UHNBC Thursday morning. Inside the gift bags were books, toys and other goodies for children in the ward. They also dropped off pinatas there as well. The students have been fundraising through out the school year to purchase the items.

Lt.-Gov. coming to P.G. Union deals fuelled BC Rail sale, documents show Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca

The Queen’s viceroy is in Prince George for a full weekend of activities starting today. Janet Austin, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, will be making her first official visit to this city since being named to the post almost exactly one year ago. Today, Austin will begin her event schedule with a visit to the Native Friendship Centre, especially for a visit to the Smokehouse Kitchen, the centre’s training cafe. “Austin will tour the Native Friendship Centre and watch a demo of bannock making by youth enrolled in the Smokehouse Kitchen catering program,” said a representative of the Lieutenant Governor. On Saturday, Austin’s official duties commence at 10 a.m. at UNBC for a tour of the campus and meetings with university stakeholders. During the noon hour, Austin will move on to the Pacific Autism Centre where she will attend a luncheon with first responders and others associated to the facility. At 3 p.m. the Khast’an Drummers will perform for the Lieutenant Governor following a tour of Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park. The final duty scheduled for the day is at 6 p.m. when Austin attends the Northern Emergency Support Services Training (NESST) Annual Award Banquet at the Civic Centre. “Austin will attend and address the NESST Annual Award

Today’s Weather Hi +7° Low -2°

Jeremy HAINSWORTH Glacier Media

AUSTIN Banquet honouring Emergency Support Services (ESS) volunteers in northern B.C. for long-service volunteering with ESS organizations throughout the province,” the representative said. On Sunday, Austin will spend the morning with the Prince George Elizabeth Fry Society. She will “host a roundtable discussion with service providers and women with lived experience to learn more about the community’s work with women fleeing violence and abuse.” The early afternoon provides an opportunity for the Lieutenant Governor to tour the Two Rivers Gallery and address an assembly of local arts community members, then in late afternoon she moves to the Northern Lights Estate Winery to address a gathering of leaders in local government, business and non-profit sectors. At 9 a.m. on Monday, Austin will “attend and deliver remarks at the opening ceremonies” of the BC Association of Healthcare Auxiliaries at their annual conference held this year in Prince George at the Coast Inn of the North.

LOCAL HOROSCOPE NEWS OPINION A&E

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The sale of BC Rail by Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberals was necessary in part because union agreements were pricing the provincial asset out of the freight market, recently released cabinet documents say. “It is estimated that BC Rail is 15-18 per cent uncompetitive with other major railways in Canada primarily because of its inability (or previous unwillingness) to address the significant changes required in work practices, union structure and collective issues,” a June 2003 Ministry of Transportation report to cabinet said. CN Rail in 2004 inked a deal with Victoria to lease BC Rail’s operations for 999 years. The year before, though, cabinet was hearing reports from the Ministry of Transportation, then headed by Judith Reid, about the benefits of moving the railway to a federally regulated status. A June 18 ministry presentation to cabinet, obtained under access to information laws, said the federal regulation regime, then under Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien, was focused on privatization, commercialization and decentralization. That, the ministry said, was favoured by larger shippers, although smaller ones feared competition. The issue the presentation re-

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CITIZEN FILE PHOTO

Protesters hold a rally in front of a BCR train in Prince George in 2004. The protesters were there to show their concerns over the sale of BC Rail. turned to repeatedly, though, was seven private sector unions representing 1,167 of the company’s 1,573 employees. The report, produced by then minister Reid’s ministry, said if a partner were found to operate the company and it remained under provincial regulation, “all existing terms and conditions would flow with the assets to the partner and remain in force and effect until such time as the partner could negotiate changes or obtain a new structure through a labour board review process.”

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However, the report continued, if the operating partner were federally regulated, it could immediately apply to the Canada Industrial Relations Board to have the existing BC Rail unions and their agreements melded into the partner’s existing unions and agreements. The report said the railway was regulated under the Railway Act, one of the province’s oldest statutes reflecting 19th century objectives for economic regulation. — see BC RAIL, page 3

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