Should we have an Oil Refinery in Northern BC?
David Black, LL.D. (Hon)
As President and owner of Black Press Ltd., the largest private newspaper publisher in Canada, David Black owns over 150 newspapers and 17 regional web press operations. The company has grown tremendously over the past 30 years, with operations in British Columbia, Alberta, Washington State, Hawaii and Ohio, employing approximately 3000 people.
Born in Vancouver, David Black graduated from University of B.C. with a degree in civil engineering and obtained his MBA at the University of Western Ontario. In 2014 he was awarded an honorary doctorate (LLD) by the University of Victoria.
In 1973, Black found a job at the Toronto Star newspaper as an analyst. The company sent Black to various locations in North America where they operated subsidiary projects. Through his travels, Black learned about the newspaper trade and in 1975, when he was 29 years old, he moved to Williams Lake, British Columbia to purchase a small newspaper from his father, the Williams Lake Tribune. Four years later, he purchased his second paper, the Aschroft-Cache Creek Journal. Black Press now owns well-known local community papers such the Peace Arch News and Surrey Now, as well as the Richmond Review, Victoria News, Abbotsford News and Langley Advance, amongst others. His most well-known daily newspaper is the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
David has worked extensively for volunteer organizations within his communities. He has been President of the Williams Lake Rotary Club and chaired the Northern British Columbia Winter Games. From 1987 to 1989 he chaired the Victoria team that won the rights to the 1994 Commonwealth Games for Victoria and Canada. He served as the founding Chairman of the Board of Advisors for the University of Victoria Faculty of Business and as a Director of Pacific Sport, a trust which manages the $15 million sport training fund generated by the Commonwealth Games.
Within his industry, David has served as President of the British Columbia and Yukon Community Newspaper Association, as a Director of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and as a Governor of the Canadian Newspaper Association.
Most recently, he served as the Chair of the BC Progress Board and was also appointed to the BC Competition Council. In 2008 he established the Black Press Business Scholarships, which are awarded annually to high school students entering the Faculty of Business at the University of Victoria. David’s vision is to support students to be entrepreneurs in their hometown communities.
On Aug. 17, 2012, Black announced he is putting forth a proposal to build a $13.2 billion oil refinery in Kitimat, B.C. with his company, Kitimat Clean Ltd. The refinery would refined bitumen into 8 different products. There are currently no plans for bitumen from the Northern Gateway pipeline to be refined before shipping. This is a separate project. Black would refine bitumen from Northern Gateway, but there is no deal between Black and Enbridge. Black said he would invest his own money (between $2 million and $3 million) for the environmental assessment.
Sources:
Black Press, Business Laureates of British Columbia Hall of Fame, Victoria News, Vancouver Sun.
