Can’t wait for all the undeliverable promises and other BS associated with it.

I see it as hype for all the great things that this government will make happen in one year from now.A good lead in to May

The money required to pay for schools and healthcare is generated from the jobs and businesses that depend on our main asset: natural resources.

Why all the negativity? Is it better if everybody would do nothing and wait for something to happen instead of planning for the future?

Those three words in the story “…on the bill…” pretty well says it all. Stockwell Day is about as hopeless an example of a politician as they come.

And how much are they paying Stockwell??? What a waste of money on shameless self promotion while people in our hospitals are sleeping in hallways…..

I was expecting to see the names of some executives of resource firms.

Politicians are not big names.

How about Janet Holder? Enbridge VP that recently relocated to Prince George.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/careers-leadership/the-lunch/enbridges-janet-holder-pushing-west-with-muscle/article2242070/

I am afraid I need more than a bunch of politicans who just gab about things.

I need credible plans that have objectives, timelines, costs, community and economic impacts, “parnerships” with the feds and municiplities, etc.

We have none of those. We have a bunch of people standing up and giving us a cheerleading session when there are no players on the field ready to play the game.

What has Stockwell Day done for this region?

What had Jay Hill done for this region?

Quite frankly I do not think that either of these two are knowledgeable about developing this region. Give me something, just even the smallest little indication, that tells me that without one or both of these this region would be worse off than we are today.

Janet Holder? Enbridge VP of BS?

Pat (pledge pin) Bell..

Are you serving flapjacks Pledge pinny Bell or are you there to carry Christy Clark`s slippers.

Yea right, big names, big lying Conservative com-men, and woman..

Jump start the economy?

Get rid of the HST bitch!

Only Prince Georgers would still support these habitual liars.

crimnialmind, I dislike our current Premier too, but your mysoginist comments are not welcome in a public forum.

Who are Fff are you…Are you the unofficial self-appointed moderator?

You get lost, I could care less what you have to say, your opinion is worthless, I won`t argue with those entrenched in ideology, it`s like arguing with a blind rock!

Cut n paste

http://www.vancouversun.com/Forensic+investigation+Tolko+nets+fine+falsified+records/5881112/story.html

I am out of popcorn.

Gus, Well, I am not too sure what Stockwell has done for us, but Jay Hill, at least made it to a decent seat. Jay’s main interest is the Peace, he ended up with a piece of PG, not by choice. The real question is what has Dick done for us. 20 years, and I think he lives in Kelowna now.

PrinceGeorge, I agree with you 100%. It has been our resources that has kept the north going, and it will be for atleast another decade. Without it, the north will shrivel up to 10,000 people collecting welfare.

Politicians in general does not create resource jobs, it is private industry that does that. A active politician provides the environment for private industry to create work.

Pat Bell is a active politician, it is of my opinion, he has been the best politician in the north for a very long time. He has made a difference.

Remember if it is not for resource jobs, even government employees will need to be looking for work.

Seems to me that we already have most of the information we need on development in the North.

1.Terrane Metals, NW of Ft St James, will open in a few years.

2. Powerlines up Highway 37 to service mines in that area. 3/4 Mines in the next 5/10 years.

3. One or two LNG Plants at Kitimat,

4. Huge new aluminum smelter at Kitimat, which will employ approx 2500 people in the next five years.

5. Possibility of the oil pipeline from Ft McMurray to Kitimat coming through in the next 10 years.

6. Huge expansion of coal mines in the Tumbler Ridge area, plus expansion of the oil and gas industries. Chetwyn, Tumbler Ridge, MacKenzie, Taylor, Ft St John Dawson Creek, and Ft Nelson will all have busy (or busier) economies.

So for the North Central Interior things look pretty good for the next 10 years. The ;problem in there is nothing in the works for the City of Prince George. We have had huge decreases in the number of mills in the area, with no chance of any new mills starting anytime soon.

Most major projects built in Pr George in the past 10 years have been bought and paid for by tax dollars, and we are running out of things that we can build.

Unless they can pull a rabbit out of a hat, I would say that Prince George faces another 10 years much the same as the last 10 years. The idea that we will become a major distribution terminal is BOGUS, mainly because we have always been a major distribution terminal, and will continue to be one.

I am sorry, but making it to a decent seat is not a measureable outcome which affects this region, unless, as a result of that position, he has managed to attain a benefit to this region which is measuarable and would not have been received by this region if he had not acted.

We have to remember, no matter on what side of the house an MP for this area sits, this riding will receive something. The question is, has it done better under Jay Hill. I would not be surprised if it would have done better under an opposition representative.

Dick is not a speaker at the event. Who has done less for PG, Jay or Dick? You know, so little information to go by, I really would not know how to answer that question objectively.

Both of them are nice guys. But I think both of them are seat warmers.

Palopu,I agree with most of your comments.

Prince George is not going to be the same city as it was 30 years ago. We have become a government and service center town. If it weren’t for the city administrators, we would have been a retail center a long time ago as well.

I think it is safe to say 40-45% of the workforce in Prince George works for one form of government or another, NHA,UNBC,CNC, City, SD#57,Province, Feds, non profit organizations, etc. This shift which happened in the last 15 years has been good to Prince George. That is the reason why when the US fell apart, we still have relatively low unemployment. Remember the mid 80s.

Our resource industry, is quietly going to carry on business. They will likely shut down a few more mills, and build a super mill or two. The way these mill operate will change. It will become a 24hrs a day operation with two week shutdowns. We will likely loose one of the pulpmills. Likely Intercon.

Christy Clarke needs to be a bit more outspoken if she wants to win the next election. She is disappearing in the news washer, and she needs to go outside her envelope.

Who is the opposition leader, have not heard a word out of them.

Well the provincial Liberals did manage to deliver us crashing real estate values…the highest crime designation…the highest fuel prices…a new 20 room suite up on the hill, and a fancy $30 million weigh scale.

What more could we ask for???

I agree with he spoke on Pat Bell being active. I would include Shirely Bond with that as well.

Have others been as active before that? No one stands out in the last 20 to 30 years, at least not as much as the curretn two. Paul Ramsey certainly made a name for himself. How much he helped with moving development here, I do not know.

I think people in the community pushed and got the UNBC, as they did to have a part of the UBC medical progam here, the hospital renewal which then followed.

We lost the original bid to get a Cancer Clinic here to Kelowna. We have one now and I do not know how much of an influence Pat and Shirley were on that. I suspect it was primarily a matter of a need to have a better facility here and no matter who the local MLAs were, we would eventually have received one.

The aiorport expansion? It appears that was primarily the doing of the airport board. Call centres? IPG for some, if not all of them, both the ones which have come and gone plus the new flock.

Would it not be nice to have an objective list of projects listd along with some of the key drivers to get them here? Why would that be so bad. People should be allowed to take bows when it is deserved.

I notice that very few of those individuals or organizations ever make it to citizen of the year.

criminalmind you are dead on never mind these other brain washed dead heads.

Criminalmind, your opinions are just as worthless and do well to show your low level of education. All politicians are liars…..get used to it.

OMG, Gus, It must be Christmas,

Good info. I would have to admit the hardest working politician is Shirley Bond, and just least appreciated and acknowledged.

all they have to do is continue to let the gas companies gouge us and look at all the good they are doing by filling the governments tax coffers….Pat and Shirley….why are you not saying anything about these resource companies raping the people of this community?????? PG and area is consistently paying more for fuel than almost anywhere else in Canada. It’s a disgrace, no wonder people won’t move here.

“Well the provincial Liberals did manage to deliver us crashing real estate values”

And where exactly would that be. Real estate values here have not exactly crashed, and most certainly not in the lower mainland.

You want to recall what crashing real estate values look like in this part of the world? Go back to 1981. Thirty years later and we have barely recovered. Look at the comparative real estate values in the GVRD then compared to PG and look at them now.

http://jaybanks.ca/vancouverrealestate/vancouver-real-estate-prices-200607.gif

Detached houses in the GVRD have gone up 7 fold over 30 years.

I think in PG it is probably more like 4 to 5 times. If anyone has figures, it would be interesting to see if that is true. I understand CMHC did not start to keep recrods here until 1980.

BTW, from 1980 to 2011 the increase in inflation in Canada was 2.66

Here in PG, and McBride and Dunster and Valemount….BC Liberal policies have hammered our real estate values hard. Who wants to buy a home where there are no good schools nearby? You want a house where your kids get an education in a portable??

Over crowded schools, over flowing emergency wards, over charged populace…a fine BC Liberal legacy.

Whatever happened to the resort development proposed for Valemount? Was it the world economy which stopped that? Or was it simply a project that was too ambitious?

I realize the shutting of the MoF offices in McBride had a major impact. But so would the MPB which I understand moved some operations westward for the time being till the dead trees have been harvested as much as it can be. That is simply the problem with a community which is dependent on a natural resource which is feeding a market that has collapsed for an extended period.

Dunster … is there some large scale farming tht can happen there to service the northern part of the province. What is the production capacity of those three communities combined which would improve the economics of those communities.

What do the people in those communities think should happen to improve their sustainability?

To all you whinners, if it is so bad in Prince George, there are four main roads out of here. If you don’t like BC, move out of BC. If Canada is not good enough for you move else where. We won’t miss you.

I live in a free world, where the harder you work, the more money you make.

In a socialist country your effort will not be rewarded and your chance of having independence from the system is slim. The chances of being able to retire early is nil. Sweden tried it, it did not work.

Why do the people want to blame the government. Is it because they are borderline useful in the free world, thus they want to be coddled and taken care off by a socialistic network. If you want to be successful, how about stop listening to the naysayers and start hanging out with people who are positive. It will rub off on you.

He Spoke Sweden does a lot better than Canada does. Not sure where you get your information from.

He spoke is a disgrunted old man that has nothing to do but bitch all day.

He spoke wrote: “I live in a free world, where the harder you work, the more money you make.”

Are you sure you live on this planet?

How about: “the smarter you work, the more money you make”?

As I read somewhere recently: “Hard Work” is a dubious term. A person cleaning toilets is working hard, a person shoveling ditches is working harder, but neither of them is going to get rich doing it.

He spoke wrote: “In a socialist country your effort will not be rewarded and your chance of having independence from the system is slim”

Tell that to 100 million (say 10% of the population of China) neauveau riche Chinese. They now have over a million $US millionaires.

Does anyone else find it odd that people such as Stockwell and Jay are speaking instead of current federal MPs?
Where is Jays succesor and why isn’t he reading the tarrot cards?

Generally speaking,I wouldn’t say that Bell and Bond do nothing but when they were needed to stand for their constituents they instead followed the Cambell party line. The things that Bell and Bond have done are seemingly done in desperation to try to get a foothold before the next election. All that this seems to be is their spindoctors with a mission to keep the taxpayor paying and the elite corporate friends recieving and making a story that sells it.

“Generally speaking,I wouldn’t say that Bell and Bond do nothing but when they were needed to stand for their constituents they instead followed the Cambell party line.”

No surprise here! ALL MPs and MLAs of ALL parties are expected and committed to follow the party line and the policies of the leader! Anyone who does NOT is either canned, told to resign or has to cross the floor to another party or sit as an independent!

Even city councillors are expected to toe the line, compromise and not to rock the boat.

I am not defending Bell and Bond or any others in the past who followed the party line in the past, but it is not reasonable and very unfair to single out some actually hard working politicians and attack them for doing what EVERYBODY else is doing 99.99% of the time!

They are expected to become members of the team, whatever party or whoever the leader.

We don’t elect dictators and we don’t even elect leaders of parties and we don’t elect premiers. But yet it seems the premiers of BC once in power operate the government in this manner. It is our political culture.
While that is the pattern and each rise in popularity for a while they almost certainly go down in flames as despised dictators marching to their own self directed mandate.
Each time this happens a premier falls on their sord and the party is defeated and replaced. That by itself isn’t the issue. What is the issue is that each time this happens our province goes from one direction which it spent its money on to another direction to teardown and start in a different one. Rather than staying somewhere on the road, a left leader will send us into the left ditch then replaced by a right leader who sends us flying into the rightside ditch. Back and forth we go each time costing the province a fortune and preventing improvements from being realised or longlasting.
That isn’t unique to BC but we are as polarised as it gets and operated as a dictatorship as much as anywhere and it certainly isn’t doing us any good.

Very true! Our prime ministers and premiers are not elected by us. They are put in power by delegates of the party which made it first past the post!

Ah, it’s called democracy…or democrazy!

If a party leadership convention results in a certifiable moron leader running the whole show we suffer the consequences and pay for the damages inflicted on us!

What’s the cure?

Democrazy might be the right term as actual democracy isn’t supposed to be limited to only voting day. In BC this right left shift is simply the voting out rather than the voting in the lesser of two evils. A large part of that rejection stems from the arrogant dictatorship mentality which then makes all of us pay for the change. It shouldn’t be that way and we need to demand better of our elected REPRESENTATIVES.