Canada North Resources Expo attendance nears turn-out during ‘glory days’

Prince George, BC – After a three year hiatus, Resources Expo has returned to Prince George with a vengeance…

Speaking with 250News yesterday on the last day of the event at CN Centre, Chair, MaryAnne Arcand, expected final attendance numbers to the two-day event to top 8,000 adults.  "The highest ever for Expo – back in the days when it was Forestry Expo – was in 2006, when it was about 9800, but that included children," said Arcand.  "This year, we’re only tallying potential buyers and customers for the exhibitors and it’s very good, very strong."

It’s a strong return, after a disappointing 2010 Expo.  Despite the industry downturn, Arcand said,  "We wanted to perservere and not just shutdown, so we took the risk – it didn’t go so well."  The biennial event was to have been held last year, but local organizers decided to allow one more year for recovery and Arcand said it was worth the wait.  "Now there’s just so much optimism about all the work that’s out there, and all the capacity, and all the projects going ahead in the North that it was time."

Exhibitors and attendees came to Prince George from across Northern BC and Northern Alberta.  For the first time, the Expo was organized by a private event management company, Master Promotions Ltd, out of Saint John, New Brunswick.  "We’ve had a little bit of criticism for that because, in previous years, it was all volunteers," admitted Arcand.  "(But) it’s just too hard these days to put on something of this scope just with volunteers and off the sides of people’s desks."

"They took all the risk – we’re just going to get a percent of the profit – and we didn’t have to do all the work, so what’s not to be liked about that," said Arcand, the Executive Director of the Central Interior Logging Association.  She added a local steering committee was still in charge of programming, but removing the ‘logistics’ of the event from its plate allowed committee members to make the most of the event.  "To spend time networking and talking to our people – I mean, I’ve seen so many of our contractors that we haven’t seen for years, so it’s just been wonderful to have Master involved."

In talking about the economic benefits of the event to Prince George, Arcand said millions went into the local economy this weekend – with hotels booked solid and restaurants full.  But she added there was another spin-off that will have even longer lasting effects.  "It (was) grad weekend – those kids could come straight from their high school ceremonies down here to hand out their resumes because there’s a whole pile of people here recruiting.  What’s not to like about that, right?"