April 7, 2017
North Shore News - Trevor Lautens
Follow-up to CN Rail’s claim for rent from West Vancouver – unpaid since 1994 – for use of its land in the Seawalk area:
Rent negotiations went on until 1999, then fell silent. So CN’s restarting of the issue last September – demanding $3.7 million rent – came completely out of the blue (or the red?) for current Mayor Michael Smith and council. The players at the turn of this century have long left the town hall scene.
One of the grand promises that two BC Liberal Premiers have stated over the course of thirteen years is that British Columbians OWN the BC Rail right-of-way.
If CN Rail wants to charge rent fees to West Vancouver, then the new Provincial Government should claw back twice as much from CN Rail, eh? thereby doubling their trouble.
Last paragraph of a quote from the ......
Globe and Mail 2009
Canadian National Railway Co. is paying $1-billion in cash to acquire provincially owned BC Rail Ltd., unveiling a plan yesterday to expand its fleet of rail cars and chop 430 jobs.B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and CN chief executive officer Hunter Harrison announced the deal in front of provincial Liberal cabinet ministers and MLAs in Victoria, with Mr. Campbell's caucus applauding the long-awaited move to unload debt-laden BC Rail's freight operations."It creates a very strong franchise," Mr. Harrison said.The combination of Montreal-based CN, Canada's largest railway, and North Vancouver-based BC Rail, the country's third largest, will ensure the long-term health of rail service in B.C., he said.Mr. Campbell emphasized that the provincial government will maintain ownership of the tracks, rail beds and rights-of-way, while CN will pick up an operating lease that could last up to 90 years.
Trevor Lauten, if you will recall, was the lone journalist who predicted that Christy Clark's BC Liberals would win in 2013:
Lauten: Appeared in Business in Vancouver – March 26, 2013Christy Clark doesn’t seem to have a re-election hope in hell – which at least sounds drier and warmer than Vancouver in March.
But the premier has something going for her that doesn’t require dark deeds in the political night. Human nature.