AN 4 B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 4, 2005 ROGER HARRIS campaign manager Mona Nester, left, with, former Liberal | constituency association president Lael McKeown j in March. a By ROD LINK" LIN dévelopment seminar which _ became‘an unintended profit maker for: Skeena Liberals “has turned into a money, loser for the political party. ‘And Liberal constituency , association’ president Lael * ho McKeown has resigned for, _ ‘what Skeena Liberal can- - didate: Roger Harris called | . poor judgement. . McKeown was the key organizer last year of a May 2004 seminar in Terrace featuring Alcan speakers and others on the topic of é to-diversify the area’s pe arnt “Tt ‘was built on a “visit made by McKeown and other local businesspeople to Quebec to see how Alcan there has' ‘spurred new busi- nesses. McKeown used the local Skeena Liberal constituency "- association as the organizing 7 entity to book a hotel meet- ~ ing- room and. to arrange Junch. " Invitations .were sent out under the name. of: Skeena. MLA Roger. Harris but the , billing, at $30 a head, was: ‘municipalities ‘use the company as: _. done under the 1 name of the. ‘Skeena Liberals. ; It meant’ that _cheques from the Kitimat, Terrace _and Prince Rupert municipal governments, all of whom sent representatives, . were - made out to the Skeena Lib- erals. The connection. between , "his office as an MLA and the Liberal party was not only - unfortunate, but inappropri- ° ate when it came to having make out cheques to the Liberal party, said Harris last week. “The money: has been “returned and the riding as- “sociation ‘president -has of- ' * fered her ‘resignation ‘and 1 accepted that,” he said in describing McKeown’s ac-™ tions as being a case of poor judgement. Kitimat is getting $360 back, Terrace $210 and -Prince Rupert $30 .as part of a series of refunds to all participants amounting to several thousand dollars. Another organization which can expect its money back is Northwest Commu- nity College. ms It sent five people and college president Stephanie . Surplus - , Forsyth used her credit card . ‘to pay the $150 fee. She was then reimbursed by the col- lege. Provincial civil servants also attended the function, including’ Andrew Wilkin- son, a deputy minister to premier Gordon Campbell. _ Party officials earlier said the Skeena Liberals had a of approximately . $500 from the seminar but — with the refunds now being paid, they say they’ve now. lost money on the venture. While Harris did accept McKeown’s resignation, he said he could think of no “one else who has’ worked as hard to improve ‘the local economy. “She’s one of the most dedicated people I’ve ever met,” said Harris. He said McKeown came to him with the idea of the’ seminar and that he readily agreed to be the sponsor. “But I was not aware that the vehicle being used was the riding association,” Har- ris added. “We don’t take -money from municipalities. That’s not what we do.” Skeena NDP candidate Robin Austin said the cir- ° cumstances surrounding the seminar, particularly with the blurring of the lines be- tween Harris as MLA: and his political party, raise a number of questions. . “] find it a little bit hard to believe you wouldn’t know you were at your own fund- raiser,” he told Harris at the — April 26 all candidates fo- rum held here. - FOI II THE ECONOMIC devel- opment seminar would have been a definite money loser ‘nearly a year go had it-not been for the taxpayer-sup- _ ‘ported Terrace Economic. Development (TEDA). It was asked by McK- eown to help: cover the expenses and fee of UBC professor Michael Goldberg who spoke at the session. Instead of using the Lib- Authority eral party as the financing | conduit, Goldberg’s invoice was sent to Progressive Ven- tures,.the development com- — pany owned by McKeown and her husband, Dave. Progressive Ventures paid the $1,645 invoice and Local fills economic spot _. By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN. ' THE HEAD of the Terrace Economic: (TEDA) resigned after just three months on the job. Leon-Johnson resigned April 21 and has since been replaced by Dave Menzies, who has worked for the authority as a special projects officer since September 2004. - “My understanding from Leon is that _ he’s been in it for a while and it’s not quité what he anticipated,” explains Stephanie Forsyth, the chair of the TEDA’s board of Development’ Authority directors. While Johnson did give two months no- tice as required in his contract, the board . opted to pay him $8,923.08 for the full two _ ‘months, allowing him to step down imme- - diately. TEDA also spent approximately $2, 500 has to pay for Johnson’s recruitment and inter-" ; view process, which included flights to and Leon Johnson pay. -cover in the range of six months of his salary plus benefits and vacation Despite the large payouts Forsyth says taxpayers are getting good use ‘of their money given that TEDA is forging ahead in a positive direction at the moment. “I think we have a good manage- ment team in place and it’s got a great board of directors. In terms of value for tax payers dollars I think it’s a tre- _ mendous'value,” Forsyth says. __ Forsyth is particularly pleased that Menzies has agreed to stay on board and assume the role of economic de- ‘velopment officer for the next year. Many .of the special projects he’s been working on in recent months are a logical fit with the new position. A longtime Terrace resident, Men- | 1€z0-g£9-0Gz ‘quay RoUEUlY ‘}]og EWN Aq pazLoyny from his then-home in Scotland. ‘ “You brought this person over in good faith that he would enjoy this job and work out, but you just never know,” Says Forsyth about Johnson’s resignation. Johnson is the second economic development officer. to _ leave in less than a year, Brian Baker, Johnson’s predeces- SOr,; was dismissed in May of last year without cause and received a payout of $35,000. Unlike Johnson, Baker was well past his nine-month pro- bationary period. His severance package was intended to zies has an n entrepreneurial: background and was once co- owner of Hawkair. , ' “I’ve been working in that office for the- last couple months and I have a pretty clear idea of what I’m going to try to accomplish,” Menzies says. “T have been working on some specific projects over the last several months and one of the nice things about working with this board is they are really allowing me to do what I think is interesting and let me chase down opportunities as I see them developing.” . FILE PHOTO. head quits ost | then received a “$513. 7 cheque from TEDA. ’ Alcan covered the ex- penses of its own officials who attended the seminar. * HeRenaas Se | GEER SE Senomeas ees _ memes WPAN Fesecezeee ER Bec scer | BEST SELLER | ~ Royal LePage Terrace Congratulates Rusty Ljungh — onbeing | “Top Producer” For the month of March. * ‘For Royal LePage Terrace : ROYAL LEPAGE ae Royal LePage Shelter Foundation. [. Supporting our Community. 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We also have spring fever, extra busy in cleaning, ‘reorganizing closets, etc. and our hall is getting a new coat of paint. | had time. to to Mr. Handford Cheung - from - Shoppers Drug Mart presented a session on diabetes, We. still We sadly lost one of our long time members. Jean Limin, a pillar of our Happy Gang, special in our earlier years, who did so much work and ‘made everybody so welcome. She left us with happy memories. oS * Otto Grundman broke his leg and was for some time in the hospital. We had twenty happy birthdays and our spring dinner was the 28th | of April. listen - who what. was much appreciated and informative. Our senior of the month is Addie Turner.s,, ©: Addie’s family resided in the Terrace ‘bad for generations. Her mother had a bad fall some time before her baby was due. Because there was not enough medical -* \3&: help .in. Terrace, she was: taken by train , 44° most of the way to Prince Rupert and then “ee; by boat to Port Essington. There Addie was born small, premature and kept in a warming oven for the first while. ' Addie grew up and received her schooling in and around Terrace. Married and shad a family of | believe five children. Roy Nelson, her brother, Bob Turner her son and Addie are long term members of the Happy Gang, Roy having served at least two terms as director. Though very comfortable with the amenities of modern life, they regret the loss of trees, salmon and wild life of former times On May 17 Vote tobin Skeena Lustin because everyone matters Terrace Campaign Office . 4654 Lazalle Ave Terrace V8G 1S6 250.615.3227 Kitimat Campaign Office 213 City Centre Kitimat V8C 176 250.632.6328 Email: skeenandp@robinaustin.ca Web: robinaustin.bc.ndp.ca s2BCNDP