Regional Economic Collaborative Session in Quesnel Tackles Mill Closure
Thursday, October 31, 2013 @ 2:52 PM
Quesnel, B.C. – A regional economic forum, scheduled long before Canfor announced its plans to close a mill in that community, brought key stakeholders to Quesnel yesterday to talk about the economic diversification opportunities for that community.
Key decision makers from local, regional and First Nations communities, as well as representatives from the Provincial government, got together yesterday to talk about pooling their resources, identifying action to support the community and setting immediate regional economic priorities as part of the Quesnel Regional Economic Collaborative (REC).
Nearly 6 months ago, economic priorities had been identified. Those priorities were in the areas of tourism, business and labour market development, and infrastructure.
With the meeting being held in the wake of news of a Canfor sawmill closure in Quesnel, the focus was also on making sure workers, their families, the contractors suppliers and the broader community get the support needed to deal with the impact of the mill closure.
Through WorkBC, College of New Caledonia, Service Canada, Community Futures and other agencies, community members will have access to numerous supports including career counselling, job matching, skills upgrading, business start up support, financial advice and potential retraining.
Participants also started work plans to:
* Ensure impacts to suppliers and contractors are assessed and ensure they have access to employment and community programs and supports.
* Promote greater support of the local business community and buying local, now and through the holiday season.
* Upgrade and market heritage tourism product and integrate First Nations heritage tourism products.
* Prioritize projects within the Quesnel area that will create jobs and diversify the economy into the future and ensure the City and Province are working to support those projects.
Further work will be undertaken in the coming weeks to move work plans into actions and to ensure support services are in place for all those affected.
Comments
I’m sure there are a lot of “Regional Economic Collaborative Sessions” going on at Tim’s. Between husbands and wives and lastly the banks who hold all their mortgages and toy loans. I love the English language. Sounds impressive, don’t it? R.E.C.S.? Euphemism for between a rock and a hard place?
I just don’t get it. How many years ago was it when we truly began to see the massive effects of the mountain pine beetle epidemic. What was it … about a decade ago when all those pine trees started dying in and around Prince George and had to be cut down. Some areas in Prince George had less pine trees than others, but we can all remember what the Pine Valley golf course and Prince George Golf course use to look like over 10 years ago.
So can anyone tell me why the government of the day (10 years ago), which is the same government today, did not even think to start economic diversification planning knowing BC’s biggest and most valuable natural resource was being decimated by the MPB?
Any reasonable person would have thought, and expected, economic diversification planning would have been undertaken years ago and be in full implement ion by now!
*shakes head… and kicks a can down the road*
“Ensure, promote, upgrade, prioritize, etc?
Hey! That’s a good idea. Why didn’t some one think of this before? Get right on it. That oughta fix things rightly so.
People: “economic diversification planning”
Torn right out of the NDP’s playbook, this is the type of bafflegab that lost them the election.
The City of Quesnel has been backwards for years. Getting something done through all the negativity from the Mayor down in that community has been a challenge for many, for years. Now, it takes a further negative event to get everyone out yelling and screaming at how they are now going to “be open for business” is way too late…RIP Quesnel!!!
“So can anyone tell me why the government of the day (10 years ago), which is the same government today, did not even think to start economic diversification planning knowing BC’s biggest and most valuable natural resource was being decimated by the MPB”
There was virtually nothing they could do. Economic diversification for the rural areas of BC should have been a consideration 30, 40 or 50 years ago, not in the last decade when all of sudden it became an urgent issue. By then it was too late.
Maybe we’ll have something in place for when the oil and natural gas runs out. I doubt it.
Economic diversification is not an overnight thing. I can takes years and even decades to see transition, and most of the time, real chaneg doesn’t happen until there’s a shock to the system (positive or negative). Quesnel is community that has a lot going for it. I have no doubt the city and its residents will adapt. Houston and Moricetown, however, may not be so lucky.
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