Prince Rupert Grain terminal and Ridley Terminals, a bulk handing facility for coal on Ridley Island in Prince Rupert.JOHN LEHMANN
The federal government has fired the head of Crown-owned Ridley Terminals Inc., in Prince Rupert, B.C., after he publicly proposed privatizing the bulk shipping operation, with Ottawa saying he was not acting on the government's agenda.
But Daniel Veniez, the former forestry executive recruited by the Harper government to turn around the floundering operation, said he was simply doing what he was asked to do - and that the real reason he is being fired is that the Conservatives are unhappy that he has forced coal companies to pay higher rates for shipping.
Mr. Veniez wrote to Rob Merrifield, the Minister of State for Transport, that Ridley has become a "regional political toy and hostage to special interests" who have complained to Mr. Merrifield and to government House Leader Jay Hill, who represents a B.C. interior riding with significant coal production. "The heart of the matter is this: RTI has upset certain users who are constituents of yours and Mr. Hill," Mr. Veniez wrote in a June 23 letter, in which he offered his resignation effective Aug. 30.
Mr. Merrifield rejected that resignation, issuing a letter yesterday to Mr. Veniez that terminated his appointment immediately. He gave no explanation, but in early June, Mr. Merrifield wrote in a letter that Mr. Veniez had "been pursuing a corporate strategy and debating options for the future of Ridley Terminals Inc., in a manner that appears to be inconsistent with the government's expectations of your role as chair."
In late May, Mr. Veniez spoke to The Globe and Mail about private-sector offers that Ridley had secured that could have generated $131-million for the government. He also talked about concerns that complaints from coal producers were derailing efforts to build Ridley's revenues. Mr. Hill said he had met with coal producers and passed on their concerns - and that it was part of his job as an MP to do so. A senior government source acknowledged that Ottawa did not intend to pursue privatization of the facility, although the government has committed to selling $2-billion in government property this year. Shortly after that, Mr. Veniez issued a bluntly worded message as part of Ridley's official annual report.
If the government continues to operate Ridley, Mr. Veniez said, it will have to spend between $200-million and $250-million over the next five years to maintain and modernize the aging facility.
Over its three-decade history, Ridley has continually struggled, and had to turn to the government several times for loans. In 2005, Paul Martin's Liberal government decided to sell the troubled asset to an Ontario-based coal-mining firm for a comparative pittance - just $3-million, far less than the $400-million that the federal government has sunk into Ridley over the past 27 years.
One of the first acts of the newly elected Conservative administration in 2006 was to cancel that deal.