I certainly have to agree that if you have an accident halfway between Pr George and Quesnel, or Vanderhoof, or MacKenzie, there is a serious time delay in getting you to a hospital.

We need to have a serious look at how we spend money in this Province, and what our priorities are. Millions upon millions spent of roads, bridges, etc; and significantly less on what could be considered basics.

Its issues like this that we need our elected representatives to come forward, and explain to us why we cannot have this type of service.

When it comes to locating a Wood Innovation Building, that basically serves no useful purpose what so ever, they are all over the newspapers telling what a great project it is, but when it comes to air ambulance, we get silence.

Palopu; That would be $240 Million for phase 1 and $200 Million for phase 2 of the Cariboo Connector. Almost half a BILLION dollars twinning our highways!

I think many of us are questioning this government’s spending priorities. What are the odds this tightwad government will buck up towards a $5.5 Million dollar helicopter highway rescue program, when they are too cheap to spend a couple of hundred thousand dollars to help search and rescue find drowning victims?

Side scan sonar and an ROV are not that expensive and are proven technologies that increase the recovery rate of drowning victims, bringing much needed closure to those grieving families.

But then again, by posting our legitimate concerns there will be complaints that we are biting the hand that feeds us!

Long overdue for the interior to form its own province.

To add and keep our resource money here.

Isn’t that the great thing about opinions? Like uh… noses, everybody’s got one.

For me, I consider roads, bridges, and infrastructure to be ‘the basics’ as Palopu referred to. As traffic levels increase, the old goat trail that was Highway 97 isn’t cutting it anymore. I support the twinning fully.

And for me, finding lost relatives and recovering hard to find bodies (who have drowned, etc) is the responsibility of the family, not the government.

And sorry to say, Seamutt, just because we live close to the resources doesn’t mean we in the interior ‘own’ them any more than someone living in Vancouver. This is a common misconception many people who live around here have.

Hmm… lets look at another way that $440,000,000 dollar highway twinning money could be spent.

The City of PG’s annual public safety (RCMP and Firefighter) budget was a million under 20 million dollars. That’s 22 time smaller than the amount spent on the Cariboo Connector to date.

Imagine… we could have doubled the police force in this city, and doubled the size of every RCMP detachment in northern BC for 10 years. Prince George would have NEVER been the crime capital of Canada 3 years in a row!!!

Lets pour more money into asphalt in the middle of nowhere between our northern communities… because what we have now is a very expensive four lane highway connecting one crime ridden and infested community to the next up here!

Keeping our roads up to date, with the necessary passing lanes etc; is basically what the Government should be doing. Twinning a Highway in the middle of nowhere, that has very little traffic is nothing short of ludicrous.

The Sea to Sky Highway is another example where the Government spent $500 Million dollars to service an area that has less that 20,000 people. We in the interior get to pay our share of the Sea to Sky, and other major projects. Giving us goofy projects in return is not a solution.

Highway projects for the most part are about contracts, paving, cement, etc; look at who makes money on these projects. Certainly no one in this area.

Roads, bridges, and infrastructure, are in fact basics that a Province needs. Useless roads, bridges, and infrastructure is a totally different story.

Palopu: “Roads, bridges, and infrastructure, are in fact basics that a Province needs. Useless roads, bridges, and infrastructure is a totally different story. “

So you’re naming yourself as the final authority on what is useless vs. what is not. Good to know. Others may differ from you, just so you’re aware.

People: “Imagine… we could have doubled the police force in this city, and doubled the size of every RCMP detachment in northern BC for 10 years. Prince George would have NEVER been the crime capital of Canada 3 years in a row!!!”

I don’t think bloating the public sector and the police beyond what it already is is the answer to how the government should spend money. But that’s just my take on it.

Hmm… lets look at yet another way that $440,000,000 for the Cariboo Connector could have been spent!

In 2011 the City of Prince George spent a record $3.5 million dollars on road rehabilitation. I think most of us remember, and are still driving over, some of the worst paved city / village roads in our province!

Imagine that, our city spending a record $3.5 million on re-paving our pot-hole riddled and dilapidated city streets… that’s 126 times less money than what the province spent laying that much needed asphalt out of town, twinning our highways!

If that much needed half Billion dollars had been diverted to our city, and northern municipalities, road rehabilitation budgets, we could quite literally be driving on city and village streets paved with gold!

Instead we have potholed filled city and village roads, and crumbling underground infrastructure in the very places where we LIVE, and use EVERY DAY!!! Yet we have a government that continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars laying down asphalt out in the middle of nowhere between our pothole filled and crumbling infrastructure laden northern communities!

HEROS is a great cause but like Children’s Hospitals shouldn’t have to scramble for funding. Tax dollar spending priorities have been ass-backwards locally and provincially for a very long time. This has to change and fast. Our governments are on debt train wreck with no end in sight. To boost local economic development tax dollars MUST be reinvested back into their communities. It isn’t enough to leave a footprints behind. Employing local contractors is a start. We also have to say no to fluffy projects that give appearances of development. If we can fund road maintenance, snow clearing, water, sewer and basic protective services, why in the hell are we spending elsewhere??
I don’t know what world others live in but I live in this place called reality – and my world requires practical living.

When will our elected officials roll up their sleeves, dig out their calculators and make the necessary cuts to superfluous projects?

*can’t fund, rather…typo city today. Sorry folks.

People: “In 2011 the City of Prince George spent a record $3.5 million dollars on road rehabilitation. I think most of us remember, and are still driving over, some of the worst paved city / village roads in our province!”

Actually, I think the City’s roads are in pretty good shape compared to last year. They’re not perfect, but things don’t change overnight, as much as we’d like them to.

common: “HEROS is a great cause but like Children’s Hospitals shouldn’t have to scramble for funding.”

See, once again, there are more organizations who need money than there is money to go around. Everyone has a different idea of which causes should get funding vs. those who don’t.

Currently, education and healthcare take up the majority of the provincial budget. The only question is, how much more are you willing to pay to make sure everyone gets the funds they need?

People: “If that much needed half Billion dollars had been diverted to our city, and northern municipalities, road rehabilitation budgets, we could quite literally be driving on city and village streets paved with gold!”

Hardly. And you may want to refresh yourself on the definition of ‘literally’.

OK JB gold was a bit much… would you believe city and village streets “literally” paved with semi-precious stone?

JohnnyBelt, I guess there isn’t enough to go around when pet projects take priority over things like infrastructure, education and healthcare. The vast majority of the budget isn’t taken up by these things – it is taken up by administrative costs and bureaucratic delivery systems. There must be lots of money somewhere since these politicians think they and Crown CEOs can receive nice wage increases and golden handshakes.

These little bookkeeping games and diversion tactics have to stop. We have a serious shortfall on our hands and all of us need to ensure those given stewardship over our tax dollars are held accountable. It is not acceptable to use the public coffers as a personal or political slush fund so one may smile for the cameras. It ticks me to no end that few take civil SERVICE seriously anymore. It seems to me winning an election now equates to “hey, look at me I am loved and can do whatever I want”…really..
That’s our money. Not the government’s for poorly thought out projects – like 1.6million for pay parking that will never break even as proven by previous system that was a dismal failure. Give your head a shake JB. Needs first. Wants second.

You raise some good points commoner! It amazes me that there are some people on this comment board that have publicly stated; “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.

I find that train of thought both fascinating and alarming. No doubt that’s OUR money and NOT the government’s. Yet there is a perverse notion out there with some that it is the government’s money and if we complain about how that money is spent, then we are biting the hand that feeds us! Truly a bizarre and perverse way of thinking!!!

Although the cause and the need is a valid one, it concerns me that our local governments can’t even support the needs of the Prince George Highway Rescue. Its already here. I wouldn’t count on them for much funding or support for the air rescue ambulance.

No need to shake my head, actually, I couldn’t agree more commoner. You’ll never get an argument out of me that governments at all levels waste funds in a variety of ways.

My point was that there are tons of special interest groups out there all with their hands out. For instance, People#1 thinks that the government should be in the body retreival business. I don’t agree with that. My personal opinion is that government needs to get smaller and manage less — not get bigger and manage more.

Hey JB, the government is already in the body retrieval business… the RCMP and various Search and Rescue groups have been dragging and diving our rivers and lakes for decades looking for drowning victims.

What’s wrong with giving these organizations access to new technology that greatly increases the likelihood of body recovery, and family closure?

Thank you for clarifying your position, JB.

As I stated on another thread, interest groups will always lobby. They lobby because they are a segment of our society that feels neglected in some form or fashion. Yes, I agree there are many interested parties that have special requests for access to the public purse. However, our Canadian way of life does not consider things such as access to health care a “special” interest. Every Canadian has the right to expect equal access to care especially in a medical emergency. That isn’t special. That is a need. HEROs should be publicly funded as should Children’s hospitals and other health care services that are being neglected by governments.
Special interest groups are another thing. They do deserve attention as well because our society is supposed to be guaranteeing human rights declarations and associated legislation that these same wasteful policy makers are ignoring for their own special interests. The solution is not that complicated – it’s just been obscured in decades of propaganda and spin to suit special interests.

The so called “Cariboo Connector” is inteded, as far as I know, to better serve the ever increasing volumes of traffic using that route.
So, it stands to reason that ever increasing volumes of traffic on a given route means an increase in accidents.

So, it makes sense to me that enhancements to rescue systems on a busy highway that has many kilometers between ambulances and hospitals will be needed. If the Provincial Government believes otherwise, then they are apparently willing to live with increased fatalities on our highways.

Further, the Ft. Geo. Hwy. Rescue Society, a very deserving organization, has always been overlooked for funding support by every level of government in B.C. Must be that no politician in our area has ever lost a loved one to a car crash in a remote area, or conversely, never had a loved one’s life saved by that fine group of people. I can’t figure out why they are ignored by our government.
metalman.

“it stands to reason that ever increasing volumes of traffic on a given route means an increase in accidents.”

Actually it does not stand to reason at all.

Given a specific traffic volume a two lane highway is less safe than a 4 lane highway.

Each have different levels of safety associated with them based on safety features such as frequency of passing lanes, width of shoulders, lane separations with barriers, treatment of direction changes with superelevated curves, improved surface drainage, surface maintenance, etc.

People: “Hey JB, the government is already in the body retrieval business… the RCMP and various Search and Rescue groups have been dragging and diving our rivers and lakes for decades looking for drowning victims.”

True, but as I’m sure you’re aware, there comes a point where the search is called off because either they can’t find the body or it’s too dangerous to retrieve. That is what I’m referring to.

So JB you know all about finding lost relatives. Hope you never have to find out. Loose a relative in the water, hey hope the waters not cold when you go looking. Guess its up to you to get your relative out of a mangled wreck.

Unbelievable what you had to say I would expect more you. Are you really that cold? Lets put it this way, what about the people who cannot afford any of the above.

Oh by the way JB LA LA land thinks all the resources are theirs.