Northwest Resource Benefits video highlights Alliance talking points from Victoria trip

The Chairs of the Northwest British Columbia Resource Benefits Alliance
Mayor Lee Brain, North Coast Regional District chair Barry Pages, Kitimat
Phil Germuth, the trio were in Victoria last week for discussions with the NDP government

Like a group of tourists catching us up on their summer vacation, a travelling party of politicians from the Northwest BC Resource Alliance have just returned from their journey to the provincial capital.

And with their return, they have put together a video archive of their journey, designed to deliver some of the main take away points from a couple of days of discussions with provincial government officials.

The Northwest cadre which included Regional District Chair Barry Pages, Kitimat Mayor Phil Germuth and Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain met with a number of NDP cabinet members and other officials to make their case for further engagement in their quest to capture more financial benefits for the region from resource development across the Northwest.

The trio have followed up their announcement of earlier this week with the video review which highlights some of the areas in resource revenues that they are eager to get a larger share of, with forestry and mining, along with port revenues high on their list of areas for further discussion.

Their video presentation takes note of the 13 billion dollars in resource development that they observe has taken place in the region in the last five years , with the previous Liberal government in the Province receiving over 500 million in tax revenues, but  delivering no revenues to the local community level from that development.

The member communities of the Northwest BC Resource Benefits Alliance
want a larger share of revenues on regional resource development

As part of his portion of the presentation, Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain noted that NW Resource Benefits Alliance estimates that the next ten years could see up to 30 billion dollars in resource investment taking place.

As part of their narrative for the video, the NWRBA recounts the election promise of the NDP to sit down and negotiate a more beneficial return for the Northwest communities to support infrastructure, health care and reduce the need for tax increases on local residents.

The focus by the group on such areas as the forestry and mining industries would seem to be elements which have more of a foothold in the interior regions of the Northwest for the most part, which appears to leave the Prince Rupert Mayor destined to put his focus on claim on a larger return on Port of Prince Rupert related investment in the region.

That might make for an interesting conversation between the City and the Prince Rupert Port Authority in the future, considering the prospect of the two organizations becoming competing forces when it comes to shipping options in the region.

That as the City begins to move forward with their recently revealed plans to hold onto the Watson Island industrial site to develop their own port related infrastructure there.

You can review the full video from the Northwest BC Resource Benefits Alliance here.

More background on their efforts so far and what they have planned for the future can be found on NWBCRBA website.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review