After 25 years of cutting hair in downtown Prince George, Freda Barton is doing something she never expected: moving back home to Kitimat to cash in on northwestern British Columbia’s economic boom.
“The whole town is just crazy busy,” Barton said. “I’m really excited.”
Barton will be helping Kitimat’s Nechako Barber Shop set up a mobile studio to service a 4,500-person work camp being built in support of the $40-billion LNG Canada export facility.
But though the mega-project is creating new opportunities in the region, it’s also creating challenges for both small businesses and local governments attempting to keep up with rapid growth.
Aside from needing more barbers, communities say they also need more police and bylaw officers to respond to some of the problems that come with a rapidly growing population — but questions remain about who will pay for that.
Rentals in short supply
Already, approximately 1,000 workers are in place and the impact can be seen everywhere, said Nechako Barber Shop owner Tracy Best.
“Everybody’s got ‘Help Wanted,’ signs,” she said, adding it’s difficult to recruit people into service-industry positions with high-paying camp jobs nearby.
Even so, the Kitimat Chamber of Commerce is warning people against simply showing up in town expecting to cash in.
Construction is underway on a massive work camp to support the LNG Canada project near Kitimat. Up to 4,500 people will be housed in the camp at any one time, and workers will be supplied with dining, recreational and medical services on site, the company says. (LNG Canada)
Rental units are in high-demand so it’s best to have both a job and a place to live lined up before deciding to move northwest, said chamber president Daniel Chimko.
“I mean, in terms of those [service] jobs, you can probably start the next day,” he said. “But again, you’ve got to make sure you have your first couple months rent in hand so that you’re not left out in the street.”
Construction is also underway on new townhouses and a new hotel to accommodate the growing population, which isn’t limited to Kitimat. The nearby city of Terrace, which acts a service centre for the region, is also being impacted, said city CAO Heather Avinson.
“With a big project like this … there’s an influx of people that come to the area,” Avinson told CBC Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk.
“And it’s happening more quickly than we expected.”
New activity straining local resources: City of Terrace
Avinson said while the economic activity is welcome, it also has a downside: people in the community are seeing more visible homelessness, drug use and property crime.
Avinson said she didn’t want to attribute all the negative changes to LNG Canada, but said it’s likely some of the challenges can be attributed to new people arriving in the region.
“It’s a blessing and a curse,” she said.
The city wants to add more police and bylaw officers to its roster in 2020 in order to respond, and hopes the province and companies behind LNG Canada will be willing to help pay for those costs.
LNG Canada said it’s designing the project with nearby communities in mind, attempting to provide as many services — from medical to recreation — as possible within its 400-hectare work camp in order to minimize disruption.
Spokesperson Susannah Pierce said LNG Canada is also working with the province and local governments to monitor numbers on everything from housing prices to crime rates.
“We can then look at the data and get a better understanding of how we work collectively to address some of those concerns,” she said.
Avinson said LNG Canada has been responsive, and eager to contribute to projects such as the recent purchase of a new highway rescue truck for the Terrace fire department. But she said what’s really needed is ongoing funding injected into Terrace’s municipal budget.
Both Terrace and Kitimat are members of the Northwest B.C. Resource Benefits Alliance, which advocates for more money from major projects in the region to be invested directly into municipalities.
Pierce didn’t say whether the company would or would not be willing to pay municipalities ongoing funding, but instead said they would engage in an “open dialogue.”
B.C. Premier John Horgan has committed to negotiating a revenue-sharing agreement with those communities, but terms have yet to be worked out.
Meanwhile, Avinson said, Terrace is looking at a seven per cent tax increase in 2020 just to keep up with demand for city services.
“That is not insignificant,” she said. “But it’s what we need to do.”
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia‘s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
