“The report’s authors based their assessment on the city’s …….. access to overseas markets through the Port of Prince Rupert”

So tell me, oh wise people of the Real Estate Investment Network, why are the tri cities of Prince Rupert, Kitimat and Terrace not on that list? I mean, they are a days drive from PG, the places where all the action which PG is supposed to benefit from is happening or is supposed to be happening.

PG is certainly not a supply centre for the Peace region activities.

It is hard to decipher what is real and what is a figment of people’s imagination. Well, actually not, based on past experience of announcements and hopes of those who are sitting on the edge of their chairs waiting for something to happen.

Well we do have the wood building on George to look forward to.

Now, if we would only get to know sometime soon who is going to occupy an empty building.

Not very positive responses from Oland and the mayor. Same from Kamloops. When your city is way behind Dawson Creek you have very serious problems. Typical when your city is taken over by the art students (mba’s) and tree huggers.

“IPG’s Chief Executive Officer, Heather Oland, says, “The report’s findings are in line with our knowledge that the city’s role as a service and supply hub for the billions of dollars worth of major projects currently planned or underway in Northern BC over the next decade will continue to drive economic growth in Prince George”

Oh would they please stop with this nonsense!

“Continue to drive economic growth”? That implies that the city has been growing economically and it hasn’t! For the last decade and a half, the population has either been stagnant or in a state of decline.

For as long as I can remember (I’m 37 so that’s a fairly long time), PG has been on the cusp of a “boom”. I remember Colin Kinsley saying it, I remember BCTV news saying it (that was before they became Global), I remember Tony Parsons wearing his cowboy hat saying it, I remember the Chamber of Commerce saying it and now we’re saying it again. The only problem is that this “boom” hasn’t happened.

It was supposed to be forestry, nope (at least not recently). It was supposed to be Oil in the Nechako basin, nope. It was supposed to be a mass immigration of call centres, nope. It was supposed to be spin-off from mining, nope. It was supposed to be a stop over for international flights and the spinoff from that, nope. It was supposed to be an inland container port, nope. It was supposed to be a logistics distribution centre, nope. Anyone seeing a trend here?

I think PG is in very tough to be honest. I suspect that the population will remain stagnant for the foreseeable future and that any increases will simply offset reductions from the decline in forestry. Until PG can develop into a community that people want to move to and settle down in (as opposed to people chasing jobs), it will be in the same cycle it is now. I suggest that they stop throwing up hail mary’s and focus on building the community. Clean it up. Address the AQ concerns as best as they can. Plan city development more effectively. Address the crime. Fix the reputation of the place.

Please stop with the “it’s going to boom” talk and focus on what you CAN do. All this nonsense does is distract people from the core issues that need addressed so that people want to set up shop there in the first place.

At what point does PG want to become a place that “people have invested in” as opposed to a place that people “should consider investing in”? Think about that PG City Council and reflect a little bit on the rather significant difference . . .

Couldn’t agree more NMG. PG isn’t a place I particularly enjoy living. But I settled here established a home for my children and have a decent job. I don’t think there will ever be a boom here… steady as she goes PG. However, there is a lot of wealth here and I have friends and colleagues who see have an opportunity to make some money and have become successful.

Unfortunately, like me… I doubt they will stay. The terrible and petty decisions from City hall and little value coming from all of the tax increases are becoming exhaustive. Then there is the downtown revitalization that never seems to happen, pot holes, sub-par snow clearing. I hope this place shapes up or I am shipping out. There really is a lot of potential in Prince George and it could be a real enjoying place to live and prosper, but there needs to be real pro’s at the helm to showcase PG and turn it into a true industrial/commercial/technical hub. Riding on the back of the north doesn’t seem like a sound economical plan.

And to think that such understanding is coming from a homegrown “PG boy”!! Nice to see. But it took having open eyes and experiencing other places and now living in them to gain such insight.

We have to remember the source of this rosy picture – Real Estate Investment Network. We also have to remember one of the sources of their information – IPG …

The thing has come full circle. IPG feeds the BS into the REIN. The REIN puts it into the blender. Voila, PG moves up a spot and IPG is patting themselves on the back for a job well done.

So the real question is, do real investors give any credence to the REIN and IPG’s of this world, or do they have some real indicators they go by … such as Prince Phillip …? LOL

That is a rhetorical question, folks. I think I have lived long enough to know the answer and NMG has given a long list of projects failed though the hyper-promotions this town is used to.

I think you left out my favourite Kinsley solutions of ethanol plant that was “this” close to being announced, as well as the Iranian developer of student housing downtown BS.

Gee, only2c, another sensible person in our midst. Nice to see. We should form a club. Likely could meet in a living room somewhere with a Skype connection to those who have moved on.

I came here from the largest city in the country, seeing a town with opportunity in the business of architecture. Within 5 years the bottom dropped out of the local scene for that as the city slowed down and we began outsourcing.

I enjoyed the city in those days when there were still proposals that were actually going ahead. I looked with enthusiasm for the CIBC’s plans and the BMO plans …. did not happen. Neither did the proposed development on third on block over from the Bay. A pattern began to emerge.

That pattern has not changed significantly. I really do not understand why there is no one who has a good handle on how to move this city into the new reality of marketing the community for things other than jobs. Sure, the jobs go with it. But there are so many other things that go with it also. PG has some of those amenities. But there are a whole lot of others that it simply has been unable to provide.

WHY not???? That is the question. I think the answer lies in the lack of good leadership. We are just not a winning team anymore. We are having too many losses. We need some better coaches. The ones we have now are all loud mouthed rookies.

This town, the Mayor, Council, IPG, etc; etc; need to come to terms with reality, rather than operating on hype, and less than truthful information.

As an example we talk about the access to overseas markets through the Port of Prince Rupert. In actual fact very little production from the Greater Prince George area goes through the Port of Prince Rupert. The majority of it goes through the Port of Vancouver, and to the USA.

We seem locked in on this Prince Rupert thing, even though our big exporting Port is Vancr. Why?? Why do we not see statements like.

**Prince George has heavy reliance on Port of Vancouver, to handle its lumber, pulp and paper**??

Other than a few thousand containers from Prince George every year through Rupert, all the other commodities come from other parts of the Country and pass through Pr George only. Just like they pass through Hinton, McBride, Terrace, etc;

We need to get away from the hyperbole and deal with the facts.

A little missive from Robbie Burns should give us an indication of what our problem is.

**O, wad some power the giftie gie us,
To see ourselves as others see us;
It wad frae monie a blunder free us.
An’foolish notion.

Have a nice day.

I’m more or less in the same situation as only2c, but substitute children for family and extended family. I think they’re really the only reason why I’m still here. I have a good job and own a house here, but I can find that anywhere. I’m in my mid-twenties and have only just started following local politics and am completely disgusted by how this city is being mis-managed. I pay how much in taxes for it all to be pretty much thrown away on ridiculous decisions because the people in charge want to leave a legacy, be it good or bad.

I’m actually heading to Kamloops this weekend then continuing to Edmonton for a few days. Maybe even Calgary, who knows. Supposed to be vacation but I think I’m going to have a look at job opportunites and housing. At least these other cities have vibrant downtowns and a nightlife that doesn’t involve the Generator and underage kids. Kamloops in the summer has nightly entertainment and bands in the park, even during the week. Can’t say that for PG. Or maybe we do and the advertising sucks? I know our city website is useless for finding out what’s happening around town.

Were number two on the list, hooray hooray.

oh its #2 from the bottom of the list, oh well, we will just tax the citizens more next year.

Your perception is your reality. Luckily for me I don’t base my perception on blogger’s often narrow and rather sad comments about this city. If you have a depressed and unhappy life, then I guess PG sucks. But if you’re like many others who love this city and understand that like 100% of communities we have our strengths and weaknesses, you’ll tend to create a fantastic life for yourself and hopefully contribute to the well being of all. Investors hopefully don’t rely on the ten grumpy people who regularly post and try to ensure everyone else is unhappy as them.

Bang on Lenny. The truth lies somewhere between the crowd that always says that “PG Sucks” and those who constantly spout off hype and say “We’re on the edge on a boom!”.

Like someone noted above, we’ve been on the edge of a boom for 30 years. Having said that, PG has a lot of good things going for it as well.

Hmmm up from 10 to 9th. Only thing is: there are only about 10 places in this province worth investing in anyways as real estate in the major centres is sky high.

I agree with Lenny – Im here because I like it here. Some people like the Okanagon? Happy for them, I cant stand even visiting that god forsaken desert. You think the big city of Vancouver is the greatest? Good for you – again I personally can not stand being there for more than a couple of days. But thats me – I choose to live here because I like it here. If I hated it as much as some people seem to I would move. But perhaps some people enjoy complaining over making themselves happy. Or complaining is what makes them happy. *shrug*
I certainly dont sit around and wait for a big boom in PG – not sure I care if there is one to be honest

Well said Lenny!

Its like two young boys. One an optimist and the other a pessimist. They were put in a room filled with horse manure, and left for an hour.

When the room was checked an hour later, the pessimist was sitting in the corner crying, because he didn’t like sitting in a room full of horse manure.

The optimist on the other hand, had built tunnels through the horse manure. When asked why he had dug the tunnels he stated that with all this horse manure, there must be a pony in here somewhere.

So a significant difference between the two points of view, however in the real world, the room was full of horse manure, and no amount of optimism was going to produce a pony.

Have a nice day.

IPG there’s another group that can go the way of the dodo, useless tax dollar burning group with eye’s a glow for more chances to attempt to lure business into PG. I agree with Lenny and a few other more positive posters here. Foresight in council and leadership from the mayor leave a great deal to be desired. Shuffle the deck again come next election and put in some folk who will worry about PG and not trying to be the center of attention with every other grab ass cause or event. Let’s focus on the streets, infrastructure, housing and the real important civic issues that directly effect the tax paying public. All the other fluff can be handled later once we have our house in order.

PG has a lot to offer if you actually look with an open mind and a little ingenuity. Then you need the right people, in the right places, to just get it done. Enough debating and pissing around with stupid needless delays to appease the whiners in the community. Enough with the tax funded groups that do a lot of complaining and very little of anything else, IPG, DBIA just to name a few truly useless groups. Just my opinion.

Exactly my point Palpou. Your perception is that the room is full of horse manure. That’s not my reality here in PG.

I guess if a person works at IPG and gets top dollar for wearing a pair of rose coloured glasses once a month….life would be pretty good.

Keepnig on topic to the article; what we are talking about here is investment dollars. While perception has alot to do this a persons level of satisfaction it does not mean it is a great place to prosper.

Add a third boy to the room, the opportunist and he’d have started a compost company.

Question is as an investor and opportunist sucess can be dampend by those who hold the keys to the room by continually putting up barriers.

That’s also part of my point only2c. An investor needs to want to come to PG for a bunch of reasons, including whether they simply want to come to our city. Some of the manure spread by certain bloggers is not helpful to anyone.

I hope that most of us understand that the first step towards a solution to a problem is to understand that we have a problem.

What if I were to take this view.

We have a problem here because we have found the right size for PG. Why do I say that. Because there are many people who are happy to stay here once they get here and others do continue to come.

So, the population has remained relatively level over the last 30 years.

Kind of interesting. We have managed to find the right size for us.

The problem really is that we have a bunch of people at City Hall, at IPG, and a number of other associated organizations that are not happy with that and keep pointing to indicators of growth and studies that show that we will be benefitting from all this activity to the north of us and to the west of us.

But that is not who we are. We do not want this growth. Throw it to Prince Rupert, Kitimat, Terrace, Smithers, Burns Lake, wherever you want, but please keep it away from us. We do not want all the negative stuff that is brought by a boom.

I wonder if people actually know what attracts people to PG?

Here is one example. We were sitting at a table a few years back with some people who had moved to PG from one of the more rural places in the GVRD.

Why did they come here? It was getting too expensive to live their “horsey set” lifestyle there. Prince George allowed them to continue that lifestyle at a much lower cost. On top of that, their property there was much more valuable than it was in PG, so they were able to enhance their living space from where they came.

So is this just a one time situation? I do not think so.

What part of PG is actually growing? We have enough land that one can find almost any type of living accommodation within the City limits. BUT, the part that is growing faster than the City is the CMA, which means that people are moving to the regional district immediately adjacent to the City. That is the common experience in Canada as well as the USA.

So, are we promoting that we have that lifestyle here? Is IPG doing that?

Just got done a tour through the Kooteneys and Alberta. Now sitting at Cluculz lake and thinking this place isn’t so bad. I’d like warmer weather for gardening and to be closer to other centers, but can live with my lot in life.

The NLG projects are huge. The New gold mineral deposit is huge. PG will feel the impacts of these and the development in the North. Boom? maybe. But I am optimistic the next 10 years is more active than the last.

Dow7500 The next 10 years to be more active than the last, is a positive statement and within the realm of possibility.

We still have a long way to go just to get to where we were in the late sixties/seventies/eighties/and nineties.

Many, many industries in North Central BC have disappeared.

1. BC Rail sold to CN (Huge job loss)
2. Pulp Mill in Pr Rupert
3. Eurocan Pulp and Paper
4. Paper Mill in MacKenzie.
5. Huge downsizing by CN Rail some 1500 or more jobs gone.
6. Closure of Winton Global Planer
7. Closure of Rustads.
8. Closure of Winton Global Sawmill Bear Lake.
9. Closure of Clear Lake Sawmills
10. Closure of Kemess Mines
11. Closure of (Fire) North Central Plywoods.
12. Closure of two huge coal mines in Tumbler Ridge, Bullmoose and Teck?
13. Closure of Bell Copper Mine and Granisle Copper Mine in Topley BC.
14. Other sawmills/planers shut down during the same period.

So, a long way to go to get back where we were.

Whats your point Palpou? Keep looking in the rear view mirror to predict the future?

So help the poor guy out, dow7500.

Give him your list of new companies or companies which have significantly expanded to offset the job losses.

Then we can see whether history can help us take a look forward.

Ok. I’ll bite. Here’s some examples.

Mount Milligan mine will be starting production soon
Quintette Coal is being prepped for re-start.
Red Criss mine is under construction.
Blackwater gold will most likely receive their permit later this year.
West Fraser Chetwynd sawmill is currently undergoing a major expansion.
Endako mines just completed a massive upgrade.
Most of Canfor & West Frasers mills are running full out & adding weekend shifts.

I can continue if you like. Most of the Fab shops locally are so busy they are booking projects into next year.

And by the way. Every company I mentioned above purchase the majority of their needs from… Prince George. I know because I sell product to most of them. And that spend totals into the millions.

I’m not n here trying to be the glass half full guy. I’m just stating simple fact.

what jaws said gus…

For gods sake gus, move away. Clearly pg doesn’t meet your needs, Except for this forum to spam your thoughts.