Ridley Terminals sends $250,000 to Ottawa

[BTravenn]

[quote=“Smurfette”]
Oh for God’s sake, for all his faults, Stephen Harper is hardly a hands on guy that has to approve every freakin’ decision.

Honestly, the guy probably has many other more important things to worry about than whether some guy from Northwest BC is upset because a work of art is being showcased at the National Arts Centre, the performing Arts Centre of the nation which attracts tens of thousands of visitors per year…

Hardly the smoking gun of massive corruption. [/quote]

Harper has other expense items on his mind, like a Defence Minister who spends $16K on a military heliopter to pick him up at a fishing lodge in Labrador, and $1500/night on a hotel room in Munich.

@Smurfette

This place is so self absorbed and sadly self indulgent at times that its bizarre …

I’d add parochial and isolationist, which is strange considering that this is a sea port the success of which is ultimately dependent on its global ties and reputation.

@Speakuppr

Our national arts museum gives this art and the Northwest major international exposure… Raising the profile of our region in such a positive fashion is certainly better for our town than our annual standing on the worst places to live in Canada.

The Canadian taxpayer has sunk massive dollars into Ridley to open it in the first place and has subsidized it since the outset. Look at their financials to see what a drain this operation has been on the Cdn taxpayer since it opened. I’m thinking Cdn taxpayers have paid their “RTI support Prince Rupert Dues” many times over.

After taking office the Harper government, like the Martin government before it, was thinking about selling off the facility at a fire sale price and walking away. That would not have set a good precedent. The feds should be viewed as a partner in Port expansion and longer term opportunities on which the local economy heavily depends.

RTI went from $2.45 million in government subsidies and $494,000 in profits on operations in 2009 to $30.3 million in operational profits and $25,000 in government subsidies in 2010. After years of being on the dole, RTI is highly profitable, significantly paying down its’ accumulated deficit (to $146 million) and is able to give something to the country’s NAC that sends positive messages about the region by showcasing a prominent artist and supporting cultural industry.

[Speakuppr]

[quote=“BTravenn”]
RTI went from $2.45 million in government subsidies and $494,000 in profits on operations in 2009 to $30.3 million in operational profits and $25,000 in government subsidies in 2010. After years of being on the dole, RTI is highly profitable, significantly paying down its’ accumulated deficit (to $146 million) and is able to give something to the country’s NAC that sends positive messages about the region by showcasing a prominent artist and supporting cultural industry.[/quote]

Yes, thanks for pointing out profit turnaround in the past year. My point was simply that RTI, the Feds and indeed the world owes nothing to the Rinse and it’s about time we recognize that we need to act like a world class port city and lose the entitlement mentality that is so pervasive here.

The board, management and staff of RTI can be proud of turning the operations around from a national embarrassment to a profitable operation. Hopefully the board and management will be free from political pressure so they can continue to operate the terminal in the taxpayer’s best interest rather than as a convenient way to subsidize Canadian Mining Interests.