VICTORIA - A Vancouver-based company and a Port Alberni-area First Nation have signed an agreement to build a liquefied natural gas export facility.
Steelhead LNG Corp., and the Huu-ay aht have announced plans to develop an LNG plant on land owned by the First Nation on the southern end of Alberni Inlet near Port Alberni.Steelhead LNG Corp., says in a statement the project could represent an investment of about $30 billion.Steelhead says it is working with pipeline companies to explore options to bring natural gas from northern British Columbia to Vancouver Island.Steelhead's chief executive officer Nigel Kuzemko says the Port Alberni site is a significant distance from northeast B.C.'s natural gas production fields, but the proposed export terminal offers numerous advantages, including direct access to the Pacific Ocean.The Huu-ay aht First Nation signed a land-claims treaty with the federal and B.C. governments in April 2011.Nurses score in OT Overtime figures released under the Freedom of Information Actreveal Vancouver Coastal Health paid nearly $600,000 to three nurses over a 27-month period to April this year.The top overtime-earning nurse, Jinu Joseph, netted $210,594 in overtime between January 2012, and April 2014 for 2,565 hours of work. That's an average 95 hours a month, on top of a required workload of 150 hours a month. Joseph earned $190,395 in total income for the financial year ending March 2013.That puts Joseph's earnings on par with those of some doctors.The second and third big overtime earners in VCH for the same period were Rose Avisa Wamunga at $195,517 and Irene Queh at $182,981.B.C. Nurses Union president Debra McPherson said the overtime load highlights the shortage of specialty nurses in the province. Examples of specialty nurses are those who work in intensive-care units, operating rooms and trauma and cardiac wards."Right now we have a shortage of specialty nurses," McPherson said. "Staffing levels are low so they have to go to overtime."She said specialty nurses are often called once or twice a day on their days off, and sometimeswhen they are at work, to fill shifts."It's not something we encourage. Fatigue builds up, which can lead to error," McPherson said.The health authority's director of public affairs, Gavin Wilson, said overtime comprises straight time, followed by a premium that is time and a half or double time.Wilson said the most senior nurses are offered overtime first and emphasized that overtime cannot be avoided.