In the aftermath of the Trans Mountain pipeline construction — through which oil is now flowing — the Mayor of Clearwater says is community is trying to turn a corner from the “boom” that it brought.
Construction of the pipeline generated over 500 high-paying jobs for the region, bolstering local businesses and putting a lot of money into the pockets of those working the line.
However, Mayor Merlin Blackwell says that also dramatically inflated housing costs.
“We were seeing four bedroom homes going for $7,500 a month rent. Single rooms going $1,800 a month,” noted Blackwell. “That’s starting to drop and decline, but there’s a bit of a hangover with that.”
Blackwell says there have been other trickle-down issues since the TMX construction camps moved on in January of last year.
“Everybody was making money. All the bars and restaurants were doing fantastic,” noted Blackwell. “Now, I just spoke to the people who run the food bank a couple of days ago. Highest numbers ever. Over 200 clients for a town of, we’re going to call it 2,500.”
While local tax revenues are up thanks to the TMX expansion, Blackwell notes most of that has been absorbed by inflation, offsetting gains the District Municipality administration was hoping to see.
“When we were looking at it five or six years ago, it was looking like it could be 25 to 30 percent of increase in taxation,” said Blackwell. “The reality, though, now that it’s online, everything has been cost-adjusted. It’s still very healthy. But our big problem is the entire world got more expensive.”
He says his administration is now trying to promote tourism, as well as entice small-scale industry to Clearwater, pointing to community forestry projects taking place in other areas of the North Thompson Valley.
“The opportunity for that is now available, because a lot of the land that was held by Canfor — which is mostly industrial land in Clearwater and in Vavenby — is now on the market,” said Blackwell.
Blackwell says Trans Mountain does still maintain a footprint in the community, with a small number of people still employed to maintain the pipeline through the North Thompson corridor.