Original article published to Houston Today

In February 2024, the Northwest Resource Benefits Alliance, received $250 million dollars from the province to be split among its 21 members over five years.

It was the culmination of a decade of lobbying by local and regional officials for a share of the revenue from large industrial projects affecting Northwest communities.

It was preceded by shorter term grants aimed at improving local infrastructure.

Since then, we have seen local governments invest in some major infrastructure renewal projects. Prince Rupert leveraged part of its $34 million toward completion of its $200 million dollar BIG (big infrastructure gap) project.

Burns Lake spent $771,000 for a long overdue makeover of Government Street.

While the money is primarily earmarked for infrastructure, a portion may also be used for other priorities a muncipality may identify, leading to some more controversial expenditures.

For example, Smithers recently used $320,000 of its allocation of $22 million to extend a private security contract to monitor the town’s homeless encampment and downtown area.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing. We have argued for years that northwest communities affected by the development that benefits the entire province deserve a no-strings attached revenue-sharing agreement unbound by the patriarchal oversight of higher levels of government.

After all, in many ways, our local governments are more accountable to citizens by the simple fact that we are likely to run into our elected officials at the grocery store or on the street.

While news of benefits alliance spending regularly hits our pages, what we haven’t heard about since the funding was announced, is what efforts are being made to secure the permanent, reliable, industrial revenue-sharing our local Northwest communities deserve.

By the time we go to the polls for local elections in October, the five-year agreement will be halfway over. When the next agreement ends, our new municipal councils and regional district boards will be more than halfway through their terms.

As we prepare to enter another election cycle, perhaps it is time to turn up the heat on our local candidates to ensure when the $250 million is spent, there is something to replace it.

And while we’re at it, it couldn’t hurt to write letters to MLAs to keep it on the Province’s radar as well.