Northern Paradox

Our twin-prop airplane cut through low cloud and descending darkness, to touch down in Prince Rupert. Having reclaimed our bags from a hole in a wall we boarded a shuttle bus, wound our way along a black forest-lined road, drove onto a slothful ferry, and were finally off-loaded in a deserted street in the middle of town. A light shone from the National car hire office nearby, so I entered to see if they would call a taxi to take us to the Crest Hotel. Feeling very much in uncharted territory, I was as surprised as I was pleased to hear a sudden friendly voice welcoming me. I had only met one person from Prince Rupert before this journey, yet here he was, as if by magic, extending a warm handshake and the welcome offer of a lift.

‘What brings us to Prince Rupert?’ he asked. Our Deputy High Commissioner in Ottawa (with whom I was travelling) and I had decided it was important to deepen our knowledge of northern British Columbia. It’s possible to really understand something only by seeing it first hand and listening to people involved. Of course the cynics may think this is little more than a jaunt. Yet during my first weeks in Vancouver I had been reporting my early impressions that the foundation of BC’s economy, and an enormous amount of planned development, lay in this area.

The following morning, as we walked between our appointments with the Mayor and Counsellors at City Hall, the Prince Rupert Port Authority, and lunch at a small cafe, I wondered if this was really the place of potential multi-billion dollar investment. The grid-lined streets remained hushed, with only a few people on foot and the occasional passing car; the few shops were a mixture of the usual staples but with a high count of fishing equipment; and the surrounding steep mountains and ocean provided a vast stunning backdrop. The population had declined steadily through the turn of the century, and now at around 13,000, it still didn’t make for a bustling metropolis.

But this made the contrast with what we discovered in meeting after convivial meeting all the more remarkable. Under consideration or active planning were large expansions of the container port, the coal port and a potash terminal, plus two potential LNG developments. Five years earlier, Prince Rupert gambled on investing in their freight handling capability, using the advantage of having the quickest sailing time between North America and the Asian markets, and a direct rail link that ran all the way to Toronto and Chicago. It worked. And now was time for more.

Our friend from the National gave us a wonderful afternoon tour, including through the neighbouring Port Edward and an enormous salmon cannery under renovation as a museum – you could hear the ghosts of the old workforce whispering in the machines and the creaking boards. In the evening, a reception with the Northwest Corridor Development Corporation allowed time for more insight. Yet as we left Prince Rupert on the road to Kitimat (our next stop, where we would find a remarkably similar and welcoming story), I sought to reconcile the paradox of this quiet friendly down-to-earth town with the enormous economic figures now appearing on their near horizon. Clearly there was a truth in both.