RickW, wait until the lefties see your post. The only solution to any problems is easier welfare and EI rules. If we only make it that anyone could access $50,000 a year in welfare instead of working, then Canada would be a perfect place. I mean, nobody would abuse that system, would they?

Building and improving infrastructure is not a solution to anything. Making them (nameless) fat cat capitilist roaders pay their fair share is the way to go.

Even further expansion of the port facilities, than currently planned is the long term solution.The advantage PR has over Vancouver for cross continental shipping is not to be ignored.The Lower Mainland does not need the additional traffic that an expanded Delta port would bring.Fishing as we know it is gone forever,so it just makes sense to build infrastructure where the long term jobs are needed.Instead of expanding Delta port in one of the most important West Coast migratory bird sanctuaries,put it in a logical alternative.Let's start thinking long term and put politics aside.This is such a no-brainer,less environmental degradation,jobs where they are needed,oh Lord it'll never happen.

Funny, when a group of workers wants help they may get. But a single guy is expected to move on and find work elsewhere!

Sure fight to stay in Prince Rupert but no one subsidized me to stay in Quebec during the recession of the 80s!

I do think part-time work should receive part-time E.I. In fact didn't they change the rules on seasonal workers many years ago?

If you are willing to underachieve in a seasonal or part time vocation, why should you receive full employment insurance?

Since the Liberals started governing this province it has been their policy to increase the number of fish farms. This policy, along with decades of over-fishing, has contributed greatly to the decline of a once vibrant industry. Once again, Gordon Campbell has demonstrated that he will destroy the small independent business person in favour of the large multinational corporations.

For centuries the people on the North Coast have depended on the oceans for their livelihood and now experts predict by the year 2048 the fishing industry will be wiped out. Haven't we done a great job of screwing things up?

So I support helping our northern residents since we are responsible for destroying their way of life. If we didn't want them to collect unemployment insurance then we should of made sure that they had jobs.

Re Prince Rupert.

Maybe the real issue is that Prince Rupert BC should be named "Prince Rupert Newfoundland" or "Prince Rupert Nova Scotia"...or any other Eastern Canada -Maritime attachment.

Then watch the pogey flow from the Feds...maybe even some offshore drilling...." eh " ?

Signed:

East vs West cynic

Maritimer here and I have to agree with Maestro. But the Maritimes never had a booming oil patch a short flight away like PR has.

Rather than send your starving kids to school, get your lazy butt over the mountains to North Eastern BC and send home some grocery money!

Watch for real estate investment as prices bottom out due to the collapsed fisheries. After a suitable period of mourning and political posturing the Liberals will anounce the economic diversification of the region. Off shore oil. Of course now the price of real estate has climbed again and the land barons stand to make a tidy profit, again!

Why aren't they being told to get a real job, even if it means moving?

That is what many of us individuals are told!

Just more of the `I`m entitled to my entitlements` attitude that drags this country down.

Many years ago I was in Prince Rupert working on a project at the airport, on my off time one day I decided to watch the locals play a baseball game, the weather was overcast, as the game wore on, I was drawn into a discussion with a couple of fellows sitting nearby, consequently more time went by than I realized, suddenly, the sun broke through the clouds and simultaneously all the players started leaving the ball park, not realizing the game had ended , I ask one of the fellows who I had talking with, why were all the players leaving, with him knowing I was an out of towner, he stated, matter of fact, the game been called because of the sun, when the sun comes out people go in, with that he excused himself and left, I sat there for a few minutes absorbing this new found information, then thinking to myself how many others have been drawn in by this little humorous story, I loved every thing about Prince Rupert.

Really? What about Hibernia?

Rhetoric 101 and off the Shelf. Show me and I will believe you.

People succeed in life do it on their own initiative. People who wait for the government to improve their lives do a lot of waiting. I graduated from high school in 1983 in Duncan BC. It was pretty obvious that the forest industry was a suset industry on southern Vancouver Island even then. So, instead of waiting for the government to do something for me, I left town, got an education and saw something of the world.

Most of the people I went to high school with are still in Duncan BC waiting for their next tree spacing contract, a job they will shortly be too old to do.

But then again, it is a lot easier to moan, whine and look for handouts than it is to make something of your life.

Plus de change, c'est la meme chose. C'est rien nouveau.

Freebeer why are you knocking the unemployed folks in Prince Rupert, poor in Vancouver, Prince Rupert or Montreal its all the same, no job, no bed, no hot meals, no roof over your head makes is a sh!t life no matter where you are, it appears you were able by your own initiative to do something for yourself, good for you , you could be more considerate for those less fortunate, especially if you have an understanding of what difficult situations are like.

woody, unemplyoment is now at 30 year lows. There are an estimated 2000 "homeless" in Greater Vancouver of a population of 2,200,000. That is in the area of 0.001%.

The sky is hardly falling. Get a passport and a plane ticket. Take a trip to say, Belize. Then come back to Canada and tell me the sky is falling.

I can remember in Vancouver years age when my cousin fished in his boat for 2 months a year and then collected EI for the balance of the year. No wonder people today have the idea that life is fun without working. The Province of BC is in an economical upset in view of Quote" I don't want to work just collect" just ask any young person today what there plans are and see the frustation it causes! We should keep our children on track so they can support themselves in stead of getting a babysitter and sit at your local pub. Now we are forced to get trade workers offshore and Doctors offshore,etc. What is wrong with the people that are born here?

This all happened because of the Canada Line. If they would have put LRT down Arbutus, everything would have been fine in Prince Rupert.

Good God, Freebear, don't you think single moms have to move for jobs, too? AND pay someone to stay day and night to look after her kids? You haven't got a blessed clue what that does to families, never mind the financial costs! Meanwhile, the deadbeat dad goes along scott free! And as for you, Working Man, you have fallen for the Black-Asper-Harper ploy that poor people have too much money, so that's why they aren't working and why we must be miserly towards them; and rich men have too little, and that's why they should get more and more tax breaks. The others are right. When your house burns, you get help right away from your insurer...and your house rebuilt. When you pay in such amounts as we do into UI-EI, it should be there right away! People who are only part-time employed don't get a chance to build up a slush fund to withstand the droughts between jobs, and it costs an awful lot of money to search for a new job. Don't forget to include the costs incurred for work safety gear. With the gutting of WCB, employers don't have to supply much safety gear anymore. Anybody who continues to vote for myopic,heartless right wing governments should be flogged by those of us who have suffered from their cruel acts.

Oh, and as for You, Pure, if we would pay decent wages to our workers, they would work those jobs. But we don't seem to want to do that. We want everything cheap--hotels, clothes, etc. So our workers refuse to work for $6 an hour. Good for them! `But that doesn't mean we should go overseas and gather desperate workers to work for cheap, just because we don't want to pay the prices we should be paying for our manufactured goods, our clothing, etc.! We have plenty of workers willing to work, but they want it to be a liveable wage. It's colder here than it is in Manila, so we should get paid more. Our Canada pension plan is appallingly inadequate, too, and needs to be revamped. NO ONE has a right to get wealthy on the backs of others.

Prince Rupert. What a tragedy. First the pulp mill closes down, the fish stocks collapse, then the Queen of the North is sunk off Gill Island. The first two are understandable, but the third is a disgrace.

As a nature writer, I sailed on the Queen of the North as an on-board speaker. It was a fine boat with a fine crew. Six months after she went down, the people of BC are no wiser as to the cause. We know that there were two people on the bridge at the time, but no one will tell us what they were doing. Were they plotting the ship's course or indulging in sexual congress as some have suggested? Was the computer screen that was there to show the ship's position switched off because it was too bright and impaired the crew's night vision, or were they engaged in some other activity not normally associated with the operation of a multi-million dollar a ship, with about 100 people on board? When I first read those rumours on the pages of the Tyee, I thought it was despicable that anyone would utter such filth, yet half a year later I am deeply and profoundly disgusted at the stonewalling of the BC Ferry Corporation.

The loss of the Queen of the North is a tragedy for the entire coast, and the people of BC are owed a full accounting for what happened.

As an on-board speaker, I was given the use of a state room. Confession time: I stole one of the towels. It was a souvenir of the trip. It is the only relic of that ship left. I would be happy to return it to BC Ferries if they would be good enough to come clean on the theft of the rest of the boat from the people of BC. The economic impact on places like Prince Rupert, Klemtu, Bella Bella and Ocean Falls is incalculable.

Unfortunately, there is an entire generation, my generation, that grew up with this mentality in rural BC. Many of the posters on this sight are a reflection of those values.

You can rant all you want about how unfair life is or how nameless "neocons and multinationals" are "sucking is dry" but it is all just an excuse. Any person is better off working than not and society as a whole is better off because those working people are contributing to the greater good, not detracting from it.

I don't want to go back to 1983 when EI was so easy all one had to do was sit on his ass at a government make work project for two months to collect 50 weeks of EI. Such programmes killed the work ethic and the pride of an entire generation. Many of those people are the ones on Hastings Street now.

Marysue:

You said: "Freebeer why are you knocking the unemployed folks in Prince Rupert, poor in Vancouver, Prince Rupert or Montreal its all the same, no job, no bed, no hot meals, no roof over your head makes is a sh!t life no matter where you are, it appears you were able by your own initiative to do something for yourself, good for you , you could be more considerate for those less fortunate, especially if you have an understanding of what difficult situations are like.

Hey, sarcasm doesn't work well in a post!

I agree its alot about good fortune-if people are called unfortunate, then others are fortunate.

My beef is if there is no work in Prince Rupert, I would move. I am originally from Montreal. Moved because I did not want to work professionally in the French language (yes I speak French but not completely fluent-out of practice!), and the constant 'threat' of separation or sovereignty association and the 'industry' of separation was ridiculous!

So I moved!

To Edmonton
To Calgary
To Fort Nelson
To Campbell River.

Sure I am single so maybe a little easier to pick up and go, but maybe I am single because I have had to move to chase a career. Maybe that is why I do not own a home and never have-always renting.

Listen I have been on welfare once (1 month) and U.I. (before it became E.I.)in Alberta (No, a bus ticket to BC was not included at that time!)

And sure even more difficult with being a single mom. And I do not support deadbeat Dads.

All I am saying is eventually it may be better to move (in summer in case you have to sleep outdoors while trying to find an affordable place to live in Alberta-sarcasm-supposed rich Alberta is unaffordable to many)

If P.R. has no work opoportunities I would move to where there are some jobs.

I remember that summer well! Good times... enuff money for essentials like beer for the belly and gas for the truck and lots of time to enjoy both.

Somehow I didn't turn into a DTES "freeloader" though.

I think you ascribe a little too much import to the UIC Beach Team's lasting effects W.M.

Some of us turned out just fine.

My previous comment was also in response to the codswallop quoted above.

NDP FAST FERRIES = $500 MILLION

HOMELESS PEOPLE (estimated)= 2000

MATH:

$500 MILLION / 2000 HOMELESS = $250,000 per homeless person

" Price(use) less "

PS ....Why didn't the last NDP Gov't at least covenant the Fast Ferries to be used at least temporarily as a homeless shelter if the original primary use failed?

No less bizarre than the many current non -solutions out there.

That's why the system continually fails them.

Unlike the Prince Rupert Dream Team that gets all the corporate media attention.
If you are not one of the 50-60 local construction workers who are working on the port expansion, work is very scarce in Prince Rupert.
A good percentage of Prince Ruperts workforce has left town.
Fishing industry Shoreworkers have labour skills that are very specific to the processing industry. The truly tragic part of the crisis is that those jobs used to be family sustaining year round jobs. A large number of these people have been working as shoreworkers
for their entire working lives and have no transportable skills.
A further tragedy is the "buying in" of the attitude that you are poor because you are guilty of some character fault.
Tell that to my 62 year old neighbor who doesn't qualify for EI and has applied to Welfare only to be told he must take early retirement and go on CPP.
Tell that to the merchant where my neighbor used to spend the wages earned.
Tell that to the landlords of the rental units who can't collect the rent.

kenl said:

"Tell that to my 62 year old neighbor who doesn't qualify for EI and has applied to Welfare only to be told he must take early retirement and go on CPP.
Tell that to the merchant where my neighbor used to spend the wages earned.
Tell that to the landlords of the rental units who can't collect the rent."

So why don't they all get together and do something about it?

You can always grow farmed salmon in Prince Rupert-apparently it is sustainable! (being sarcastic!).

Ultimately if you are a believer in constant growth (e.g. tonnes harvested) why would you be surprised that eventually someone will catch the last fish!!!!!!!!!

Hey, if you do not have enough hours and weeks, you do not qualify. But at age 62 it is a good idea to take your CPP. It will not be indexed but you will end up collection a lot more between age 62 and 65 than you will ever receive fron indexing.

Fish-counter; awesome of you to note the disgraceful loss of the Queen of the North, howeever, in your mentioning of communitities that were adversely affected by the loss, once again Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) is overlooked. These are islands that have a population of over 5000 people and all are dependent on the ferry to get off island, for groceries, etc. It is our connect to the mainland.

Re: moving and finding other work. you're right, it is a hell of alot easier for a single person to do so and even then, depending on where you go, such as Grande Prairie, you may find yourself camping on the street.
there is a six month waiting list for an $850 per month apt. RV parks if you are so lucky as to own an RV, cost $750 per month, There may be work but there is limited housing, especially for those with families. Not to mention moving cost,or when a parent goes elsewhere to work, what is the cost? Two rents, two households to pay for, plus the cost in being distant from your family. funny how often those who have the ability to get up and go elsewhere do not have empathy for those for whom it is not that easy.

Just think; it really could be that "Cruise Ship Housing" neophyte Kim Capri spews about.

Y'all have to remember that Clarke was actually working for the Libs when he began this fast ferry thing/deck fiasco thing......and Libs don't do nuthin' fo' po' folk.............

PS
The port expansion might only offer up a few jobs, but it's the project to enclose the whole town, and erect an artificial sun that will be the salvation of PR. People from points north and east will flock to the place in the winter months........

The disgrace of the investigation into the loss of a BC Ferries ship, with two passengers drowned, finally made the national news today. The question was finally asked on national TV whether or not the two crew on the bridge were having sex instead of steering the ship. As Terry Milewski put it, "We don't know what those two people were doing, we only know what they were not doing".

Why are those two people still at large? Why are they not in police custody for obstructing the law? Why is the president of BC Ferries still stonewalling this issue instead of getting to the bottom of it? Why is he still in charge of BC Ferries, for that matter?

Is the province of British Columbia so corrupt that such a crime can be committed and the perpetrators go unpunished?

We know the answer to that question of course; the precedent was set by Air India flight 182, 21 years ago. The perpetrators of that crime are still at large. Losing a ferry is small potatoes.

My anger is rising and I am not alone. Perhaps it is time for the people of BC to take the law into their own hands. Clearly the police and the justice system are incompetent. The judges are old and senile and the cops are a joke. I challenge them to do their bloody jobs. They are overpaid.

Tomorrow, I expect to see the RCMP doing a roadside seat belt inspection, or checking tire pressures. It is easier than catching the criminals, but it is a waste of police time.

By the way, the ship's log was "lost". What a surprise. Heads must roll at BC Ferries. And soon.

If the Queen of the North had been a motor vehicle that crashed into a power pole because the driver was distracted, the RCMP would probably have laid charges in a matter of hours.

Had it been a passenger bus with two passengers hurt, the RCMP would have pulled the driver's licence and thrown him in jail.

As it is, the loss of the Queen of the North has cost the coastal communities hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue, and affected a whole summer of tourism. The loss of two lives alone should be enough for the RCMP to arrest anyone who is obstructing justice. That includes Karen Bricker, Karl Lilgert and David Hahn.

We do not know what Karen and Karl were doing on the bridge that night. They could have been doing their job. They could have made understandable human errors. We may never know because they aren't talking. Their silence is damning and it leaves the public free to think the worst.

David Hahn's stonewalling is a downright embarrasment. It is normal practice in business for the people responsible for a major catastrophe to resign ther jobs, or be fired.

But this is BC, and anything goes in a union shop. Hell, if the premier himself can walk away from a drunk driving charge, why not the crew of a ferry boat? At least Gordon Campbell acknowledged his error.

Is the RCMP just a bunch of empty uniforms? Do they EVER leave the doughnut shop? What the beep are they doing about this? I would realy like to know.