IPG Acting Boss Says ‘The Boom Is Here, Let’s Take Advantage Of It’
Friday, February 10, 2012 @ 3:50 AM
Prince George, B.C. – The Acting CEO of Initiatives Prince George says this week’s trip to Vancouver with Mayor Shari Green to address a diplomatic lunch provided an opportunity to showcase Prince George to the world.
IPG’s Heather Oland says the luncheon included representatives from approximately 25 countries, including Chile, Costa Rica, Japan, Mexico, the United States and Denmark. She says she and the mayor talked about the strategic location of Prince George, the economy, the culture, the society, the university and various places to invest within the community. Oland says delegates wanted to know about transportation, air travel, the university, international education possibilities, international workers and the kinds of businesses that are looking for skilled workers. She says she has had feedback indicating some of these contacts would like to further their connections and relationships.
Oland says “one of the key challenges that we have in front of us is attracting and retaining not just skilled workers but families as well and begin to grow the population base here.” She says “there is a huge opportunity with the planned 34-billion-dollars worth of projects here in the north, however we need a population base here in Prince George to be able to take advantage of that.”
Oland says we have key pieces in place in terms of transportation and infrastructure and being the hub of the north so we can take advantage of the opportunity. She says some work needs to be done to the Pine Pass to make sure that goods can flow between Prince George and the north by road “but we’ve done everything that we can and the boom is already here and businesses are starting to see the benefits of that”, such as in the case of the Mt. Milligan mine with millions and millions of dollars that stop here and trickle through the community.
Oland says the city itself has seen some dramatic changes in the past few years. “Our Downtown Revitalization Incentive Program is the most innovative in the province. It’s a very proactive stance and policy that the city has taken to attract investment into the downtown core. The announcement of the Wood Innovation and Design Centre is a huge project and you see the private investment in the downtown, the Ramada, the Keg, the improvements that are about to take place at the Coast Hotel, the development of the Commonwealth Health Centre. So these things have a chance to snowball, right?”
“And the tax incentives and policies that are in place help make that economic case, the business case for business to do that, invest.”
Oland says the strategic priorities of this council with respect to governance and civic policies and civic pride are very high and IPG looks forward to working with the city to take advantage of the economic opportunities that are presenting themselves.
Comments
I can’t believe she added The Keg to downtown revitalization. How many years has been now 2 or 3 for renos? Has anybody even noticed that they’re gone for that time?
Tony Romas looked renovated to me, what happened to it?
âAnd the tax incentives and policies that are in place help make that economic case, the business case for business to do that, invest.â Like the Bingo hall?
The downtown will never be revitalized except for the places that are mentioned in the article. Prince George downtown looks like many US Cities that allowed Wallmart to build on the outskirts.
Our downtown has a fatal uncurable desease. Time to put her out of her misery.
Tim must have left Heather the rose colored glasses… or the blinders:-p
She says âthere is a huge opportunity with the planned 34-billion-dollars worth of projects here in the north, however we need a population base here in Prince George to be able to take advantage of that.â
Here in the north or here in Prince George?
“…millions and millions of dollars that stop here and trickle through the community.”
Trickle is the right word! Millions and millions out of 34 billion is a trickle, because a million out of a billion is very little since 1,000 millions are one billion.
Well, optimistic hype is better than nothing.
I really have to stop wearing these clear glasses and try a pair of the rose coloured ones.
Sorry Lonesome Sparrow…. we posted it at the same time.
“one of the key challenges that we have in front of us is attracting and retaining not just skilled workers but families as well and begin to grow the population base here”
You know, often there are situations when one can’t figure out which comes first, the chicken or the egg.
I think in this case it is real easy to figure out. The job opportunities come first, then the people who move here to take those jobs.
The City cannot offer anyone the jobs. Business, whether existing regional service businesses or new businesses, have to do that.
What the City has to do is get those things that it is responsible for ready. In addition, there is a role for at least the province and even the feds here to do that or help with that.
The city now has a university, a college, secondary and primary schools, a hospital and a cancer clinic, retail, various box stores, a still very nice library, a small conference centre, a small art gallery, some semblance of outdoor recreation, (although the City seems to have just diminished the size of its environmental and parks group), and several amenities such as swimming pools, ice arenas, indoor sports centre, restaurants, hotels, nice airport, and even a VERY long runway which is not serviced with fuel or light industrial service lots yet, but hey, it’s coming.
To some, we might be lacking good quality night clubs, movie theatres, at least some private enterprise live performance venue. The Treasure Cove tried it and gave up on it. A much better facility in Kamloops which I recently attended seems to be doing reasonably well with conferences, private functions as well as live stage performances in a cabaret/dinner club setting. It is now associated with a renovated hotel taken over by the Coast.
What we have seen is that some of those private businesses moving at the pace of molasses to get their ârenosâ finished. We have also seen the City not do anything much at one of the prime parks â Cottonwood Island and the Heritage Trail system. It has been 3 years since the major ice dam flood and it has still not been cleaned up. If it had not been for the Cameron Street related bridge project, there would be virtually nothing there.
So, where is the real âopen for businessâ part?
1.Research park properties serviced and ready for sale at a price which is competitive with other communities? I know that when I first came here in the 1970âs our light industrial land was considerably more expensive than anywhere else in Canada.
2.Light industrial properties serviced and ready for sale? I know, they are working on it at Boundary Rd. How they ever could have built a runway extension without that ready to go is beyond me. The two go hand in hand.
3.Residential properties serviced and ready for sale.
4.Stock of decent housing ready for sale and move in?
5.Hotel rooms to house people during their move to town until they have found a permanent roof over their head. I think we are now probably reasonably well served.
So, since the City and its services such as IPG are our service providers, I would love to know some of the detailed information which a prospective business kicking tires around PG would have access to that is meaningful to them. I have seen such information under the pre IPG days through the old Regional Development organization, but for the life of me, I cannot find such well researched, up to date information on the web site. Maybe one needs an appointment where these âsecretsâ are released. Are we afraid of competition, or what is the story.
international workers and the kinds of businesses that are looking for skilled workers. She says she has had feedback indicating some of these contacts would like to further their connections and relationships.
Before the gates are flung open again on these SKILLED workers I’d like to ask a question or two.
What ever happened to starting at the bottom and working your way up into these Skilled positions. Why didn’t or don’t, employers Train an already employed person?
It would make more sense, if an employer sent one of his own back for more training to cover the management pos. ( example) and then maybe the Government could help in that aspect. Then providing a walk in position for the not so skilled worker.
Or the Government could start Trades school right in the high schools starting at 15 to ensure that OUR CANADIAN KIDS are already trained for the workforce at 18.
Just a thought.
I was looking at a home on mls yesterday, can you imagine $6,000 a year for property taxes? And all you hear about PG is high crime, bad snow clearing and road maintenance ( potholes worst in country), and the highest costs for fuel at the pumps, hydro going up 10% a year blablabla…and they wonder why people with families are reluctant to move north??
“delegates wanted to know about transportation, air travel, the university, international education possibilities, international workers and the kinds of businesses that are looking for skilled workers” .. this seems scary to me. Sounds more like a fishing expedition to find out what kind of workers they should send over and and whether they can get the training here first. With so many of our own young people wondering what the future holds for them why is Canada, BC in particular so focused on immigrating workers. How many post education positions are lost every year to foreign students? CNC looks like downtown Beijieng. Did local students have to go elsewhere or not go to college at all to make room for these students?
OMG are they ever milking this little trip. We got the story the first time. IPG must be worried about their future with the pending core series review. IPG’s new boss is cuddling up close to the new mayor, blowing a little smoke council’s way and sending out press release after press release. Gus has it right – pay attention to fixing the place up and let business do the selling.
I guess IPGs website just doesn’t catch the interest of some folks. The “ambassadors” of IPG i.e. the who’s who of PG must not be doing their jobs. They get paid a “stipend” (I presume) by IPG to tell folks at the end of a cocktail party or convention that “PG is a good place to invest”. Who gets paid? How much? What is the return on investment for the taxpayers of PG? IPG is given money by city hall. How much money does IPG return to the vault under city hall? Methinks the majority of IPGs wheeling and dealing involves senior governments being asked for their share of money followed by our share of funds for the majority of IPGs ventures. Which do not really interest or are cared about by the majority of over taxed residents and businesses. IMO.
“I was looking at a home on mls yesterday, can you imagine $6,000 a year for property taxes?”
I am assuming that includes taxes to the Regional District, Hospital and School District. The City’s portion of that is just over half.
Have you looked at the increases not only of the City, but also the others? We never hear about those others that have an impact on the total amount.
Is the provincial rebate for primary residence already deducted from the $6,000.
All that being said, what is the actual assessment on the house? Sound like it is in the $500,000 price range. That same value of house in PG would likely cost about $750 to $800 thousand in Kelowna and would likely have a similar tax of between $5,000 and $6,000.
Harb’, you’re not supposed to know about the money vault under city hall, it is a secret, so just forget you ever heard about it.
metalman.
Does anyone remember that IPG had an office in the world trade centre in Vancouver for about two years?
I never heard the results of the benefits that came from that office.
It was actually manned either in part or entirely by volunteers. PG ex-pats or people from PG who would make appointments there on those occasions they may have been there on other business.
I had several interesting conversations with one of those ex-pat volunteers of the opportunities that existed at that time.
So what are the follow ups for this presentation?
You would think with $6000 per year in taxes they would plow your road? Not as much need for that in Kelowna with their nice climate.
WTC in Vancouver? How could the terrorists miss that? Got an address?
metalman….I have read enough Scrooge McDuck comics to know for sure there is one under city hall. Jack Benny had one too.
http://www.wtcvancouver.com
Best kept secret in town. Entrance is to the lower building to the east of the Pan Pacific Hotel.
Where are the jobs for all these skilled trades people in PG. Seems there just might be just a few available with the loss of Winton Global, Rustads, NCP, and Clear Lake.
Gus has it right. Develop the industry and people will move here for the jobs.
Usual IPG B.S. These people are so full of themselves it makes you puke.
gus: “Does anyone remember that IPG had an office in the world trade centre in Vancouver for about two years?
I never heard the results of the benefits that came from that office.”
I’m guessing that since the office closed with very little said during or after the fact, the results were negligible.
Gus/JohnnyBelt.
The Vancouver office closed after two years. Gus is right it was run for the most part by volunteers, who would arrange to open the office and meet with you if you wanted a meeting.
This office cost us $70,000 per year or a total of $140,000.00
When the office was closed I beleive it was Basserman who gave accolades to IPG and made the statement, as near as I can recall.
**We want to thank IPG personel who recognized that we were not getting a sufficient return for our money, and therefore recommended that we close the office.**
That statement reminds me of the statement made in regard to the Horizen Air fiasco to Seattle. The City offered a gaurantee of $400,000.00 to Horizen to cover their loses if the Seattle flights did not produce any profit. Midway through the year it was obvious that there was not going to be any money made, so the City cancelled the contract and paid Horizen $200,000.00. They then made the assinine statement that by cancelling the contract they saved taxpayers and the City $200,000.00
Boom? Is that a “log boom” a “sonic boom” an “explosion boom” I don’t see or hear anything booming except for the mouths of Liberal politicians.
“the boom is already here”
Exactly acrider54! If this is a “boom”, I wonder what a “cautiously optimistic” recovery would look like.
Many of us were here for all or most part of a real “boom between about 1965 and 1977 or so. It finally broke apart in a serious way in 1981 when people realized we were no longer in a “boom” and it was reflected in a steady dropping of real estate prices.
Maybe Ms Olund should talk to some of the elder statesmen/women in the community who could explain to her what a “boom” looks and feels like.
It would be interesting for someone in the geography program at UNBC to make a time map of PG in say 5 year increments to show the development of housing subdivisions and industrial establishments in the post second world war period then create a time lapse slide show from that with colouration of all existing subdivisions and major commercial developments moving from green to land use representational colours with those latter colours increasing in intensity as the density of development increases from zero to ultimate allowable density.
It would be a great planning tool to show actual versus planned and also show remaining prime infill sites.
I will think we are in a boom when the city sells all the Real Estate they have spent our tax dollars on. They could put the profits to good use, if they want more people to come here get ready for the growth. Undeveloped land 10 min. from town on the Hart looks the same as it did 20 years ago. Not everyone wants to live downtown. Quit buying the Real
Estate downtown and put the money to better use.
Comments for this article are closed.