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Peter Scholz MCIP PMP is a Professional Land Planner in Arviat, Nunavut, Canada.
A century ago, when Canada’s prime ministers were visionaries and not bank-appointed aspirants of positive branding, our founding fathers dreamed of a Canada with three major ports on the West Coast.
The first would be near the southern border and guard the Dominion from the South: Vancouver. The second would be near the southern border of Alaska, either Seward or Prince Rupert, and guard us from the North. The third would be a smaller port and serve the Yukon and Stikine: Skagway, which the Americans managed to convince an international mediator to give to Alaska.
Charles Melville Hays died on the Titanic. He was the magnate and visionary who made it his task to mirror the Canadian Pacific Railway/Vancouver success with the Grand Trunk Railway (later the Canadian National)/Prince Rupert pairing).
That the death of one man should prevent Prince Rupert from building the epochal central hotel, waterworks, street grid, lot layouts, and parks systems—the many factors done in Vancouver but not in Prince Rupert—speaks to the role of leadership and drive even today. Only a few years ago did CNR finally finish building a modern port facility in Prince Rupert.
Prince Rupert was selected as the western terminus, over Seward or other possible locations, because although it is on an island, the island is very close to and easily connected to other islands and the mainland by bridges; and the fact that the city is the closest in Canada to Asian markets—a full days’ sailing closer than Vancouver.
For the rest of this column: https://www.theepochtimes.com/make-prince-rupert-the-new-hong-kong-in-canada_3159866.html