Need to do a study, core review maybe, how do we keep good smart people who can make things happen in Prince George, like McEwan.
We are wondering why we lose them and we wonder why we now have a bunch of losers in charge.
Your right Morris, definitely a Darwin for this one.

Exclusive:
No I think someone else had it on first.

It reeks of patronage? Didn’t McEwan resign and receive severance pay?
Going for a plum job and ripping off PG taxpayers. Not a good man in my books.

Is anyone going to send the story to Hugh, Dan, Cameron, Marshall and of course Sheri?
Please do it one of you more savvy people because I’m sure the true leaders of the city would like to know that they got rid of some dead wood that wouldn’t support them.
The province was more than happy to get that dead wood off their hands.

Who says we lost a smart one?

Check goggle they don’t have the Citizen story, of course if its good story the Citizen gets it comes from 250.

and dragger, I wouldnt rely on what you think is good or not,from your posts its plain to see they won’t want you at UNBC to teach SMART.

The Question is did McEwan get pushed out or did he quit, if he got pushed out then of course he had severance coming.
Now let’s see who from the new King makers in town wanted him around. Answer.. none.

I am very happy for Tim McEwan. He is extremly bright and a great guy. I am so glad he landed himself such a plum position. It is too bad that egos got in the way as it is a loss for PG.
Wishing Tim and Cynthia the best of luck. You will be missed!

He has gone to join the worst party 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Zg_hH0mUY&feature=player_embedded

Time to shut down IPG. The province should have made this move years ago. Tim after all was doing the work of the provincial government while at IPG, so it only makes sense that the provincial government pick up the tab and PG stop paying the bills for a provincial service.

Not the best time to take that job. But I guess he could get another severance package when the new provincial govt gets in?

Last day at IPG Friday 17th first day at the Government job Monday the 27th. This is obviousley a set up from the get go.

I have watched all the announcements made by IPG over the years, and for the most part they are nothing more than BS. This guy should be able to work closely with Mr. Bell, they certainly have something in common.

As each day goes by,it becomes harder and harder, to find any reason to support the Liberals. They continue on their death spiral.

All I wnat to know is;
Does he get to wear a badge?
(Deputy Tim)
metalman.

Palopu, you are so full of hot air. Pat Bell has done so much for British Columbia and is a very smart man. He’s also no fool.
So why didn’t you run for council and try to make a difference insted of compaining all the time?
I believe Bell & McEwan will get some good, productive work done!

“This is obviousley a set up from the get go.”

Another conspiracy theorist’s opinion. Everything in the world is a set up to people such as Palopu.

So much for the notion of free will when we have far too many fatalists who, of course, sit on their asses and do nothing.

So, let’s look on the positive side and have a discussion of what this City should do.

1. promote itself to businesses that are not currently here to get them to come here.

2. assist businesses which are here but may be faltering and thinking of heading to greener pastures.

3. disband IPG and let business take care of itself – what will be will be.

If 1 and/or 2 – continue with an external organization such as IPG and Prince George Region Development Corporation under Dale MacMann before them or create a new internal department to City Administration.

In either case of internal or external, what are the key attributes of a person who would manage such an organization or department.

I am interested to see whether there is anyone on here who is interested in sharing some thoughts of how to effectively manage the promotion of the city rather than simply throwing out snide remarks from the Peanut Gallery which really don’t accomplish much.

Congratulations to Tim McEwan on his new position, I’m sure he will do an excellent job. Also Pat Bell made an excellent choice, I think that Mr. Bell has done and is doing a great job for the citizens of BC.

Why jump on a sinking ship?

“…whether there is anyone on here who is interested in sharing some thoughts of how to effectively manage the promotion of the city…”

The cart is in front of the horse! FIRST of all it is absolutely essential that the city is MANAGED properly BEFORE it can be promoted!

A properly managed city has its priorities in order with a long term resolute plan of rehabilitation and improvement. Once in place and in action it will begin to bear fruits – the kind of things that are not only visibly pleasing but are recognized basic requirements of safe and healthy living in a city of any size.

We don’t have any of that.

Have you ever thought Palopu that McEwan was good enough that the provincial government grabbed him up before he went into the private industry?
As for him only lasting if the libs are in power, they hire deputies to work for, no matter what party, and McEwan didn’t play politics in this city like many like people to do, and that probably cost him his job.

Prince George wrote: “The cart is in front of the horse!”

Actually not. In any quality organization marketing is part of the top management team. As you say, one cannot effectively promote a lemon or something people do not want. Tim McEwen, as an example, understands that.

So, if you want to market a product/service, you have to know who you are marketing it to, what that group needs/wants and how to develop your product/service to meet those needs/wants.

So, the only only differences you and I have on this issue, Prince George, is when marketing comes on board and what part it plays.

Marketing goes far beyond selling.

“Here’s a new wigid we just made, go sell it.” is VERY old and small business.

“We are considering making new widgets. We need your input to help us determine if there is a need/want for new widgets and, if so, what they should be.” is SMART marketing and business.

A reminder, SMART goal setting is:
S = specific
M = measureable
A = attainable
R = realistic.

ooops
T-timely

Maybe there was no conspiracy theory. Maybe he was offered the position and decided he would like a different challenge.Could it be? I hope things go well for him.

Well as usual we are making all sorts of accolades for McEwen and Bell, without any supporting information.

We just get the usual line of BS, like they have done such a good job for Pr George, and the Province, however never anything specific.

Lets quit the crap and give me a list of the accomplishments of Mr McEwen while he was with IPG. Considering that he did so well this should be any easy task.

Gus has all the information at his fingertips so he should be able to enlighten us without any problem.

As for Bell, we can thank him for supporting the HST, even after it was defeated by a majority of voters. In addition he might want to make a comment on the Auditors report on BC Forests while he was Minister.

As for people sitting on there asses, I would suggest if comments on this site are an indicater of how much ass time is put in, then Gus takes the cake.

Sonya6. Have you ever thought that McEwan went to the Government because he never got an offer from ;private industry. The swing goes both ways.

So, as an example, we have an OCP.

In my view it fits the specific part.

It starts breaking down with the measurable part. There is no system in place that I am aware of that has identified measurables and reports out on a regular basis yearly on some, every 5 years on others, on how we are doing. Are we meeting our goals as identified in the OCP?

Implementation of goals in this City is the pits.

We cannot move to the attainable part in many cases because we are not following up to see whether we have attained a goal and, if not, what the barriers were to prevent attaining it.

Well as usual we are making all sorts of accusations for McEwen and Bell, without any supporting information.

Tit for tat Palopu.

“As for people sitting on there asses, I would suggest if comments on this site are an indicater of how much ass time is put in, then Gus takes the cake.”

I love researching stuff, Palopu. It is the way I learn and you would be surprised what I find and where else it is usable since I consider myslef to be “involved” with my community and my work.

McEwan clearly got the job because he went political during the HST referendum using city tax payer dollars to put IPG fully behind the HST tax that a majority was opposed to. He provided cover for the provincial government at a time when they dearly needed it. Most of his tenure at IPG was pushing provincial projects under the nebulous notion that they have spin off benefits to PG indirectly.

All that is happening now is that the city is no longer paying his wages so the province picked up the tab to keep his spin rolling.

Palopu is right in that he doesn’t have one single successful project to name for all the $20 million city tax dollars spent during his reign.

If it was protecting city industry:

-North Central Plywood was not rebuilt costing the city 500+ jobs
-Rustads was closed costing the city another 400+ jobs
-Clear Lake was closed costing the city about 400 jobs
-Winton Global shut down costing the city 400+ jobs
-BC Rail was bought out by CN Rail (advocated by McEwan) costing the city 500+ jobs and costing Mackenzie its forest industry for a time. Most forest companies now oppose the deal with higher costs and less options.
-The container port was built costing the city about 200 trucking jobs.

So direct well paying family supporting jobs lost to the city from our shrinking industrial base under McEwan sits at around 2200+.

Jobs gained directly by the city from projects pushed by McEwan:

-Airport expansion $40 million and counting, but as of yet not a single job.
-Boundary Road $30 million and not a single committed business or job created.
-River Road upgrades $30 million and a few engineering jobs bankrupting the city from its essential infrastructure needs.
-Horizon Air $400,000 give away to an American carrier for 3-months service.

So total cost for projects directly related to this city push by McEwan total over $100 million and hardly a single long term job created to date. Add the $20 million for the IPG propaganda machine and we sit at $120 million plus. Not the best results for $120 million plus IMO.

If one took $70 million off the total debt of the city without the work of IPG and had our taxes lowered to reflect that then yes PG would be a very attractive place to live and invest IMO. What happens when interst rates go back to 10%+ over the next couple of years… PG is bankrupt because of McEwan’s IPG tenure… its the only guarantee his legacy leaves us with.

Time McEwan and Pat Bell are two peas of the same pod. Both have the art of fallacious hypotheticals in their self promotion down to an art form.

One does not have to look far to see how poorly the city is following it’s own plan for orderly development. The fiasco around the bottle depot and the Haldi treatment center plainly show how little weight the OCP actually has. Know the right people and projects can be rammed down the throats of area residents.

If IPG is to continue, it should be brought back to city hall. The city is trying to cut costs and saving can be had though elimination of duplicated services (clerical, payroll, accounting, etc.)

Having a separate office also cost a bundle,
IPG turned a profit of $600k selling Fortis the 2nd Ave building. Most of that was spent on IPG’s office renovations instead of it being returned to the city’s coffers.

$600,000.00 would fill a LOT of potholes

The writing was on the wall!

A simple case of an expert leaving due to poor management. Plain and simple. Mr. McEwan is highly respected in his field and has been sought after before and after his hiring here in PG. After going through a review that stated, IPG is doing a great job for the city (however underfunded)…and knowing full well the drivers behind that review had gained power, he decided to leave rather than argue with the nick knack lady..and the card store guy….Hell I’d be getting out as well. That being said I’m sure the Mayor has a better grasp on how to handle IPG, government officials, the business community than Tim!. Hey I hear one way of attracting new business to the city is send gift baskets to potential business people. I hear scented jasmine candles work well. Or maybe a gas card….or a low interest loan from a Crown Corp….the list goes on!
We lost a great one! A professional that will be impossible to replace!

Palopu:” Prince George wrote: “The cart is in front of the horse!”

Actually not.”

Well, I respectfully disagree! In my opinion the cart IS in front of the horse! The priorities are backwards, with the wished for items AHEAD of the actually NEEDED items! You yourself have made dozens of posts complaining about that for several years!

I call it mismanagement. You may call it something else! The manager of the city ought to work together with the mayor and the council to make sure that the long term strategy makes sense, common sense as for as priority and affordability are concerned. Team work with a vision, not just dealing with the latest obnoxious issues in a haphazard manner.

BTW, I appreciate being able to put some of my ideas and expressions of frustration into comments on this site! Trying to get the attention of (and action from) our elected officials is more frustrating than trying to herd a bunch of cats!

Thanks to Elaine and Ben!

Eagleone ….

Do you actually believe that BS that you wrote.

BC rail was bought by CN in 2004. McEwen was not at IPG at that time.

The forest industry slump due to the crash of the US housing market is hadly the fault of McEwen or virtually anyone in BC and Canada for that matter.

Explain your BS ….. even Palopu must be cringing at that post of yours.

PG … settle down … you are suggesting that Palopu responded to your post about the cart before the horse?

“Trying to get the attention of (and action from) our elected officials is more frustrating than trying to herd a bunch of cats!”

In my opinion this is not the media to do it in, even though many read this site and know who some of the pen names are.

The only way to even get a bit of a reaction is to be in their presence so that you can see the whites of each others eyes.

So, who is game because waiting for another election is absurd and gets no results as we have seen time and time again?

Eagleone The jobs lost in the forest industry cannot be laid at the feet of IPG. The companies involved could not justify the required upgrades because of decreased AAC as a result of the pine beetle epidemic.
No point in rebuilding a plywood plant if there are no peelers.

Once all the pieces are in place, a logistics park could be a huge boost to the local economy. The growth in the CN container facility is a prime example. The cargo airlines have contract with places such as Anchorage, but as they come due we can pry business away, having a better location for refueling between Asia and the east coast.

Ok heres what I see. If you tell the people of Prince George how much you have done for PG and how great you are, the people in PG. pretty much buy it. Go figure. Im trying to figure something out here. When the PG hotel sold for 2,000.000, why did the city pay 2.4 million? Who was the middle man here? umm was it Mr. Macewan. just asking.

Thank you Tim McEwen for your four years of service at IPG…I look forward to your working with our Provincial Government in getting the big square pegs in the big square holes as expeditiously as possible.

Ron J Davis

Let us just play pretend for a while.

Let’s say someone will announce a private business of a significant size coming to PG shortly and they actually act on that announcement shortly therafter, who would you give some of the accolades to for making that move?

1. The previous City Council?
2. The new City Council?
3. City administration?
4. IPG?
5. The DBIA?
6. The Chamber of Commerce?
7. The Mayor of Mackenzie?
8. Tourism Prince George?
9. Ministry of Jobs?
10. The RCMP?

Hey, anyone can get square pegs into square holes ….. it is getting square pegs into round holes without leaving any space adjacent to the square pegs that is the hard part. …. ;-)

The CN Container Terminal in Pr George is in fact a prime example of misleading information.

1. The Container Terminal was built by CN Rail, along with an 80,000 sq ft warehouse. The warehouse is empty as much as it is full.

2. Work that used to be done by other business in Pr George such as loading rail cars (flat cars) is now done by CN Rail to the detriment to other business. (CN Rail owns the land)

3. The increase in container loading is because of the collapse of the US economy, and the shortage of loads to Pr Rupert from the Eastern, Midwest, USA. As the loads start to increase again, the loads from Pr George will decrease, because of a shortage of containers.

4. There would be even less containers loading in Pr George if it had not been for the Russian 15% export tax on logs to China, and the cheap beetle kill timber in the greater Pr George area.

5. The price of lumber to the USA and China is starting to rise, and as it rises the exports of cheap low grade lumber to China will decrease, and so will container loads.

6. It matters little to Pr George whether lumber is sent to China through Pr Rupert, or through Vancouver. A Port is a Port. Costs are similiar, and to some extent Vancouver is a more efficient way to ship.

7. The Port of Prince Rupert container handling terminals, the Warehouse and Container yard in Pr George, had nothing to do with the City of Pr George or IPG. These decisions were made by

a. The Port of Prince Rupert
b. The Federal Goverment
c. The shipping Co’s Cosco, and Hanjin
d. CN Rail
e. Maher Terminals of NJ (Who operate the container terminal in Pr Rupert)

This is a classic example of IPG and Pr George trying to take credit for something that they had absolutely nothing to do with, and that is the problem.

5. above should read **The price of lumber to the USA and Japan, not China, is starting to rise.

gus

11. Divine Intervention?

Gus. I would give credit to the business that is locating in Prince George, because thats where it belongs.

Business is business. If there is a way to make money, someone will find it.

I find it interesting that ex Mayor Colin Kinsley made the statement.

**If someone wanted to produce widgits in Prince George, etc, ect;**

Then we have Gus using the phrase, **Here is a new widget we have produced, go and sell it**

Then in another news media we had Mr McEwen make the statement that,

**People could locate their business in Pr George and ship their **stuff** to other places.

So we have widget, widget, and stuff, boy are we making progress. Thats right up there with watchamacoletts, and thingamabobs.

However as usual nothing specific.

So my question is. What type of business could locate in Prince George that would not be cost prohibitive because of Transportation and Production costs, that would serve a needy market, that would attract investment, and create some long term sustainable jobs.???

If you think the answer to that question is simple, then you are living in a dream world.

Gus. Im certainly game to get the attention of those at City Hall. I agree that waiting for another election is not going to solve anything.

We, however need to be able to work on some specifics, as opposed to a shotgun approach. In addition we would have to put some of our pet projects on the line.

As an example I beleive that a group of us, with some major concerns such as the latest tax increases, the River Road dike fiasco, plus some other issues, should have a sit down with individual Councillors and let them explain their rationale for supporting the AAP, on the dike, when they hardly had time to understand the issue. It would be interesting to hear their comments. Maybe by taking an interest in them, they in turn would take an interest in us.

As an example, the City Manager in the last Council meeting made the statement that the Citys Land Reserve Fund was not in very good shape at this time. So why it that??? Could it be because they are spending money, and buying up property like drunken sailers???

As an example, there is something like $17 Million in the Terasen Gas fund, but the City doesnt want to use it for roads, garbage, or sewers???? Whats with that.

There are plenty of questions that need to be answered.

Uh-oh Palopu….you have stumbled upon the PAC money. ( Or Shari’s Kin4 )

Gus you should do your research. McEwan was at the forefront of pushing the sale of BC Rail through the BC Progress Board, which is how he got the in with Kinsley and the BC liberals in the first place.

As far as the 2200 jobs lost in the PG forest industry since he came to town… I don’t blame that on IPG… it just illustrates that IPG has had little success in retaining industry we already have. If Gus says they should be measured on what they can retain, then on that metric IPG has shown to be impotent (therefor of little value) when it comes to influencing industry that makes its decisions on other factors than an itti bitti two bits municipal economic development board.

I haven’t said McEwan is a bad guy or that he doesn’t do great work in trying to push forward an idea… I’m saying that his place is working for the provincial government on their payroll, and that Prince George would do better without an office like IPG at the costs to PG… and that LOCAL economic development should be done by city council through city hall, and it should be focused on local efficiencies and helping companies get through local red tape.

IMO McEwan likes to push fallacious hypotheticals (the job of a politician or provincial deputy) when it comes to economic development as per his record with the airport and such, but thats what provincial economic development offices do and its something the provincial government should be funding… especially when the office takes political positions advocating on behalf of the provincial government (ie HST).

The city should be looking out for the city and the home owners that are taxed to run the city, and the city shouldn’t be taxing the home owners to fund fallacious hypotheticals, but rather fixing pot holes and providing services and upkeeping infrastructure… IMHO.

:…..and that LOCAL economic development should be done by city council through city hall,”

Why? Many people on this blog, including you and even me, complain of how poor the City is at doing some things, such as snow removal, infrastructure maintenance, staying on course with an OCP, inability to promote downtown, etc. etc …. why on earth do you think they would do any better at promoting the City than a relatively independent organization?

Palopu wrote: “there is something like $17 Million in the Terasen Gas fund, but the City doesnt want to use it for roads, garbage, or sewers???? Whats with that”

As I understand that is an accumulated payable which is not due until 2021 and there is an option to renegotiate at that time.

There is a reasonably good explanation on the Kelowna site. I cannot find any info on the PG site.
http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/page986.aspx

I did not realize we likely had to pay Kelowna for them doing the leg work on this.

So, here is part of the info of our agreement.

“The City has entered into an agreement with Terasen Gas Inc. that has resulted in the creation of the Terasen Reserve Fund. Under the terms of the agreement, the City has entered into 35 year capital and 17 year operating leases, both commencing on November 1, 2004. At the end of the operating lease term (October 31, 2021), Terasen Gas Inc. has the option of terminating the agreement with the City and making a lump-sum payment estimated to be $29.389 million or negotiating a new 18 year operating lease and continuing to make semi-annual lease payments.”

There is no money there at this time. It is money that will be freed in 2021 or later.

Palopu wrote:
“As an example, the City Manager in the last Council meeting made the statement that the Citys Land Reserve Fund was not in very good shape at this time. So why it that???”

You got it. It is land rich and cash poor. Maybe like your Land Reserve Fund …. if you own your home, or a good portion of it, you are land rich, and cash poor. Sell it, and you will be land poor and cash rich.

Remember the context is always important. I believe that was in response to some Councillors wanting to use some money from the land reserve to pay for the dike borrowing.

I wrote the following

“Marketing goes far beyond selling.

“Here’s a new wigid we just made, go sell it.” is VERY old and small business.

“We are considering making new widgets. We need your input to help us determine if there is a need/want for new widgets and, if so, what they should be.” is SMART marketing and business.”

That, Palopu, is not what you wrote I said. There is a subsantal difference.

Either you can’t read, or you purposefully change things around because you are counting on people not seeing through your tactics.

I have a tendency to start thinking that you actually canl’t process some of this stuff in your head anynmore.

Palopu wrote:
“So my question is. What type of business could locate in Prince George that would not be cost prohibitive because of Transportation and Production costs, that would serve a needy market, that would attract investment, and create some long term sustainable jobs.???”

First fact of life Palopu for the new generation is that there are fewer and fewer “sustainable jobs”. The days of going to work for a company at age 20 and retiring at 60/65 from the same company are gone for the most part. Get out of your dream world and get used to it.

There are at least three key kinds of businesses which can operate from any community in the world

1. A business offering services and products to people who come to Prince George = tourists and other travellers

2. A business that can thrive on a small limited regional market which would typically be a service business.

3. A business that sells products/services to a large geographic area such as the entire country, North America, the world. The larger the geographic area the less important it becomes on where it is located. If it relies on feedstock to create products, the further the feedstock is spread geographically the more economical it is.

Some examples of “successful” businesses that are located in relatively remote communities.

1. Coeur d’Alene, ID – Sunshine Mint http://www.sunshinemint.com/CompanyProfile.htm
3-year growth 304%
2010 Revenue: $698.6 million
Employees: 220

2. Meridian, ID – Scentsy – http://scentsy.net/en-ca/about-scentsy/scentsy-story.aspx
3-year growth:2904% (yes, that is correct)
2010 Revenue: $381.8 million
Employees: 740

3. Buffalo, NY – http://usedc.com/operations.htm
3-year growth:36%
2010 Revenue: $51.9 million
Employees: 106

The last one is not in a small community, but is located in a University light industry/Research park on the outskirts of Buffalo, NY. It operates in the USA and Canada as a small independent oil drilling company. It is not located in Texas, as an example, where one would think they would be more likely to ne located. Oil fields are in diverse locations these days rather than concentrated. Again changing conditions change the way people have traditionally worked. They can be located anywhere tht is close to transportation.

So, I gave you three diverse kinds of businesses that could be located anywhere where they have access to good transportation.

Your turn, Palopu. How about instead of putting your negative hat on, you start thinking through the problem from its basics and come up with 3 examples as you see them?

Then, when we both understand why such businesses do not have to be located in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, etc. in order to be successful, let us discuss how we can nurture that type of industry to sprout in PG or locate in PG.

If you think it is a waste of your time, then please condier to stop posting on a topic you really have no interest in or even ability to deal with other than to shoot ideas down.