Some interesting newsbits touching on several important west coast topics showed up on the website of local radio station CKNW.com.
VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) - The Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan wants to spend 2.4 billion dollars for the purchase of two BC ports and two others in the U-S. The Plan hopes to invest millions in Vancouver's Port and Deltaport and once this tentative deal is complete the terminals price will nearly double in value.
Jim Leech, Vice President of Teacher Capital, says the acquistion represents a very attractive growth profile with little risk to market. The Vancouver Port Authority was contacted but had no comment on the possible sale. There is no word what kind of impact, if any, it will have on the expansion plans of Deltaport. The deal is still subject to Canadian and U-S regulatory approval.
Missing ferry log books on E-Bay . Nov, 21 2006 - 11:20 PM
VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) - BC Ferries, its security department and the RCMP are trying to find out if a posting on E-Bay includes log books from the sunken Queen of the North.
A seller on E-Bay has posted what they call exclusive Queen of the North pictures and log books.
Mark Stephanson with BC Ferries says they don't know if this posting includes log books which were recently reported missing from the Queen of the North, but says if they are the real thing, they want them back, "If they turned out to be authentic log books from BC Ferries, it is our property and should be in our possession. So, if they're being put up for sale without our knowledge, obviously we would consider that it would be a serious issue."
The Queen of the North sank in late March.
...and last but not least...
Premier stirs controversy with offshore offshore comments. Nov, 22 2006 - 11:20 PM
HONG KONG/CKNW(AM980) - The Liberal Government is downplaying comments made by the Premier on offshore drilling during a speech in Hong Kong Wednesday.
A media report quotes the Premier as saying the long standing moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling in BC could be lifted in just a couple of years. But Energy Minister Richard Neufeld suggests the Premier's comments were taken out of context and the Province has not changed its position, "The Premier has said, along with everyone else, that we wouldn't lift the moratorium until we got the required science completed." Neufeld doesn't believe that can be done in just a couple of years.
Still, NDP critic John Horgan worries the Premier is making up policy on the fly and says the ban can't be lifted anytime soon, "I don't think it's realistic to look at that in the next two or three years, perhaps not even ten years."