JUNE 2014 BCBusiness 37
With two major employers having left town and Alcan,
the biggest of all, in a pitched battle with municipal leaders,
Kitimat was at death's door in 2008. Today, thanks to a
revitalized Alcan, plans for LNG terminals and talk of
pipelines and refineries, a happier story is being written
K
itimat mayor Joanne Monaghan's office is on the
third floor of the aged City Centre Mall—above
Big Jim's Spirits Store, and down the hall from
Your Dollar Store With More. Things are quiet
this Tuesday afternoon in March, with no staff in
sight save for a receptionist talking on the phone about
last Saturday's hockey game against Prince Rupert.
"Her Honour is running late from another appoint-
ment," the receptionist informs us, interrupting her
call. "But she should be here shortly."
Before long, in strides the mayor—tall and spry at 75,
in a fringed red wool jacket and black slacks. "Follow
me," she says, heading for her office, which overlooks
the mall parking lot.
b y M a t t O ' G r a d y p h o t o g r a p h y b y P a u l J O s e P h
Boom
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p36-49-Kitimat_june.indd 37 2014-05-01 1:30 PM
