MONEY FOR roads and hydro power in the mineral-rich _ industry that.we as a government are behind this project.” areas off Hwy37 tops MLA Roger Harris’ wishlist when the budget is handed down next Tuesday. Number one is the long-promised Stewart-Omineca Re- source Road, which Harris and others say will provide a new route tothe gold-copper Kemess, mine while sparking new ‘mining and other activity in the region. f * A2 - The Terrace Standard, wédnesday, Febrilary 9, 2005 Gold road tops. wish list | ing ahead, he added. “The important thing is to telegraph to _That signal alone, he said, would encourage others — like . " prospectors, tour operators and power producers — to ad- “I’m optimistic we'll. be able to do’ something around " SORR before the election,” Harris said. “I'd like to see some" money in the budget that helps us get the project started one: way or another.” » But the road, which would run ‘northeast;from Cranber- ry. Junction, hit a barricade late last year when: energy and mines minister Richard Neufeld refused/to back Harris’ plan to use provincial moncy to front the cost. “Dick and I don’t necessarily agree on everything,” Har- tis said, adding he hasn’t abandoned the effort. I'm working him over on a couple of other things, too.” He said Neufeld, who heads the ministry from, which the "money would come, is resistant until the costs are clearer. “I’s-an investment which will recoup its: value.” Harris © : ~~ predicted. “You've got every municipality in the northwest on record in. favour. When | people tell me nobody" 's inter- ested, that’s not what I see.’ _ He concedes it's impossible to-have construction under- vance their projects, helping make the road’ more viable. “All sorts of people will make applications for licences in areas they previously weren't going to go to,” he predicted. . Extending power lines north up Hwy 37 to Dease Lake | is his other top budget priority. “That will make half a dozen mines economically viable ina heartbeat,” Harris said.. Besides providing access to electricity to potential new : mines, he said éxtending the provincial grid north would -open.up new-opportunities for. independent power ‘produc- ers. Harris said the power extension, if it appears in the bud- get, would cost more than $30 million. Neither the power line nor the Kemess road would be ins the Skeena riding, but Harris said both would deliver signifi- cant benefits here. They would also deliver a more tangible » sign of progress for the northwest’s mired resource economy >way by summer. But Harris aid the money he wants in the. budget would begin the. environmental assessment work cru- cial to getting permits'and construction underway, That.would send a message to others that the road is mov- ‘as Harris prepares to face the voters in May. Despite ‘being made minister of state for foréstry opera- tions and helping oversee the province's timber takeback, Harris has little to show. in the woods, with New Skeena’s future still up in the air. The Kemess road, in particular, would start ‘the region to- wards a more mining-centred future, Harris said. Early in his term. he had forecast construction of the road was Just afew months’ away, but it ran into opposition. Protesters | remain at band office “By JENNIFER LANG So far, he's willing to let the situation ‘including Nova: Gold’s multi- million forecaster at. 1-866-640-6369. 13 Eovkonment Erdronment eb "Total Precip. mm Canada. FALLATUSRARTLRRTRLEE LE MELEETERLEB TERE RORY WINTER MAINTENANCE cos When weather conditions are appropriate, sale is: applied to the roudcsurfuce to eliminate compact snow and icé. The salt takes approximately a 1/2 hour to stant melting the snow and ice event ally turning it to slush. Motorists are advised to stow dain’ te avoid hydrophi ining, The, slush will be plowed off ang to hwo hours after ie inital salt upplication. Please remember to adiust your driving habits for winter conditions by reducing speed when necessary. “This has been a message for your winter driving s sifety from Nechake Narthicoust Maintenance, re) LRRRRPRRARRRRRPRRARRR RRA * opment on Tahltan traditional territory, > : THE TAHLTAN chief at the centre of : oro leadership dispute” says. he refuses. © to'meet again with: the protesters who - ‘have been ‘camped out al the band of! fice in | Telegraph. Creek. “Chief councilor | Jerry Asp: said there’ $ not much he can do to: convince ; ‘the protesters toleave. On Jan..17; a group of 35 elders be- : ‘gan a sit-in at the band office, demand- / -ing. Asp’s resignation, handing him a- 7 letter when he met, with them “the fol- lowing day. The protesters have contin- : ued their sit-in ever since. ; fo “r 've tried to set up a meeting. with , them, to. have Indian Affairs mediate, on and on and.on,” Asp told the Terrace Standard last week. “They’re not much , ae interested, T here" S not. much | can do.” % ‘10 - 2004 Dodge Viper SRTIO ° SI oe Convenient. Affordable. ~ about existing and future mining devel- play out on its own, rather than seck.a court injunction to remove the protest-. ers, some.of whom are elderly.: . “L can get a court injunction'in two . hours, but why would [ do that to elders who are being used? They don’t under- Stand the political situation,” he said. In a press release, Asp described _Terri Brown, the Ottawa woman who’s acted as a spokeswoman for the protest- ers, aS a non-Tahltan interloper and sup- porter of the environmental movement. Brown is the former president of the National Action Committee on the Sta- tus of Women-and the Native Women’s Association of Canada. " She said the elders had asked for her assistance because they are’ concerned ‘being sold out from: under us,” 27 press release from the elders said. “Jerry Asp is no longer the chief of the . Tahitan people.” Galore Creek deposit. : “Our land, resources and rights are > a Jan. Asp, meanwhile, does not’ plan to resign. He said his decision has been . affirmed by the department of Indian "Affairs. . Nor, does he plan to call RCMP to _ remove the protesters. . _ “From what I see, they’ve been giv- ena lot of misinformation, a lot of half- . truths. So, at the end of. the cay, there’s » “no. point.” : The ‘Tahlitan nation. has more. than a ! ,600 members. ’ Terrace Mohawk is Now... Terrace Husky Same Great People! New Look! 4760 Lakelse 635-6935 Cars to be Won! Includes: Lube, Oil and Filter Change, Tire Rotation and . a 7 a Peace-of*Mind Inspection with a Written. Report of Findings. 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