The Town of Churchill and Port of Churchill must be getting close to reaching the tipping point where the number of plans for their future exceeds the 813 residents counted there by Statistics Canada in the May 10, 2011 census. That's hyperbole, of course, but not by much.
Last year, the Winnipeg Airports Authority and the Town of Churchill created an entity called Churchill Transportation Inc. (CTI) to "work with the community to realize the economic potential of transportation assets, notably the airport and its environs."
Churchill Airport was built by the United States military in 1942 and owned and operated by Transport Canada as a remote airport since 1964. Churchill Rocket Research Range, also built by the United States Army, under the aegis of Canada's Defence Research Board in 1956, operated 23 kilometres east of town, where the Churchill Northern Studies Centre now is, until 1985.
Ten years ago the Churchill Gateway Development Corporation (CGDC) was established in June 2003 for the purpose of marketing the Port of Churchill through diversifying the traffic base and building two-way traffic.
Churchill Gateway Development Corporation is a non-share, public-private partnership and includes representation from the federal government, through Western Economic Diversification Canada, the Province of Manitoba and OmniTRAX, Inc., the private owner and operator of the Port of Churchill and the railway that serves the port, the Hudson Bay Railway.
Now, the latest "plan" for Churchill comes in the NDP provincial government's Nov. 12 throne speech in the form of a one-sentence reference on Page 13 of the 24-page speech: "In the year ahead, we will also establish a Churchill transportation authority to lead co-operative efforts to diversify and market the port and co-ordinate land development and business investment."
At a news teleconference in Winnipeg after the throne speech, Manitoba NDP Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation Steve Ashton said he envisions the new Churchill transportation authority to play a role similar to CentrePort Canada, under development in Winnipeg, to play a role both in terms of promotion and facilities. "This will have a much broader approach than the (CGDC)," Ashton said in response to a question from the Thompson Citizen. CentrePort Canada, located next to Winnipeg's James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, is a 20,000-acre inland port logistics hub and Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ), offering investors single-window access to tri-modal transportation (road, rail and air) with access to major national and international road, rail and sea corridors and gateways. It is a private, sector-led corporation created on Oct. 9, 2008 when The CentrePort Canada Act received royal assent.
Some legislative changes will be required to establish the new Churchill transportation authority, Ashton said, noting its creation was recommended in the final 60-page report last January of the Federal-Provincial Task Force on the Future of Churchill, written by Daphne Meredith, deputy minister for Western Economic Diversification Canada, and Don Norquay, then Manitoba's deputy minister for strategic partnerships, who is now executive director of the Winnipeg Police Board. Meredith, who lives in Vancouver, is an economist who previously served as chief human resources officer for the federal government associate deputy minister of public works and government services.
If you haven't heard of the Federal-Provincial Task Force on the Future of Churchill don't be surprised. As they note in their final report, Prime Minister Stephen Harper directed them to "maintain a low public profile and consultation approach." The task force consulted 60 individuals. That's right - 60. And among the "opportunities" identified by the joint Canada-Manitoba task force as possible over the next five years: "Ship light sweet crude oil by rail to Churchill for export from areas without sufficient pipeline capacity through private sector partnerships with east-coast refiners and oil producers. This opportunity is subject to fully addressing all potential environmental risks to sensitive Arctic ecosystems."
Beginning next July, OmniTRAX, a Denver-based short line railroad, hopes to transport 3.3 million barrels of crude oil annually on its Canadian subsidiary Hudson Bay Railway line from The Pas northeast through Thompson Junction and onto Churchill. Hudson Bay Railway was created in 1997 by OmniTRAX, the same year it took over operation of the Port of Churchill. OmniTRAX bought the Port of Churchill, which opened in 1931, when it acquired it from Canada Ports Corporation, for a token $10 soon after buying the rail line from CN in 1997 for $11 million.
