Plenty of talk — any action?

By MARKUS ERMISCH Staff reporterJan 19 2007 http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/

MP’s appearance before city council resulted in little more than debate Hopes for federal funding for the airport expansion or the pine-beetle battle were dampened this week during a tense encounter between Kamloops council and the local MP. If the Tuesday meeting achieved anything, it publicly demonstrated how strained the relationship between Conservative Betty Hinton and council, especially Mayor Terry Lake, has become and that a détente appears less likely than ever before.

Following an $11-million federal funding announcement for upgrades to the Prince George airport last week, Lake said he had anticipated a similar announcement from Hinton. Airport manager Fred Legace said after the council meeting that he, too, had expected a funding announcement. Hinton, meanwhile, told council that an application for funding under the federal Municipal Rural Infrastructure Program is stuck in a stack of 140 application that have been received as incomplete in Ottawa. Kamloops had applied for $1 million under the program, which, if approved, will be matched by Victoria to bring the total to $2 million. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District is submitting an application for the same amount. The application deadline Jan. 31.

Should both application be approved, a total of $8 million would be committed to the airport expansion. This includes the $4 million the province had pledged toward the project, but does not include the money to be raised through a $5 per passenger airport improvement fee. Hinton also informed council that Russ Cundari, Bud Smith, Darcy Alexander and Frank Quinn are willing to help the Airport Society to lobby Ottawa for money. As far as funds to remove pine-beetle kill from private lands are concerned, Hinton said she remains in contact with natural resources minister Gary Lunn.

Tuesday’s meeting was in part meant to repair the relationship between the MP and council. It did, however, appear to have had the opposite effect, despite Hinton’s assurance after the meeting that “I like the mayor very much.” That sentiment didn’t appear to be mutual as Lake at one point interrupted Hinton, urging her to “please don’t throw words into my mouth” while discussing airport funding. Lake also said “I don’t want to dance around. We’ve been doing this for far too long. It’s getting ridiculous.” Tuesday’s meeting highlighted that both Hinton and Lake are under tremendous political pressure.

Hinton is facing an election sooner rather than later and has been criticized for having achieved little for her riding since becoming part of government last year. Lake, on the other hand, has led a very public fight — without any results to date — to secure financial help for Kamloops homeowners who have dead pine trees on their properties. Finding funding for the airport expansion, a carry-over from the previous administration of Mel Rothenburger, remains a bone of contention, especially between Hinton and Coun. John O’Fee, president of the Kamloops Airport Society (KAS).

“I promised to be nice. We’d like you to come again,” a smiling O’Fee prefaced his remarks before questioning Hinton what else council or KAS could have done to get federal cash for the airport. He said Ottawa’s insistence that no complete funding application has been received “kind of causes us to scratch our heads.” Council and KAS, he said, have covered all bases.
But despite the heated exchanges Hinton left the meeting with council saying it had been beneficial. “Meeting with other levels of government is always constructive,” she said