Meteorologist Dennis Fudge and family will be heading to the prairies. Photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – Sometimes the offer is just too good to refuse and you move your talents to a new team.

That’s the situation Dennis Fudge finds himself in following a 21-year stint with the Government of B.C. as a Ministry of Environment meteorologist in Prince George.  Fudge got together for reminiscences with a bunch of buddies and a couple of pops Friday afternoon as he prepares to leave the city.

Is he retiring?  “No, I wish I was,” says Fudge, “I was offered a better job at the Ministry of the Environment in Regina doing air quality issues similar to what I’m doing here.  But it’ll be covering the full province (of Saskatchewan), I will be the only meteorologist for the province.  This is just a new position they developed because they realized they needed somebody with some air quality experience to focus on just that.”

Fudge came to Prince George in 1994.  “I was in Ontario for eight years doing air quality work there and then I was offered the job with the ministry in B.C. and I came here.”  He admits it was a bit of an eye opener.  “When I first came from Toronto to Prince George, the first winter it was minus 30, you know you’re not used to that cold temperature in Toronto.”

“So I used to have two photographs of the 401 traffic on my wall so that when I came in when it’s minus 34 I’d look at the traffic jams and say, o.k. that traffic jam will be there every single day.  This minus 30 is going to be gone in a couple of days, so suck it up.”

Fudge says there are many differences, of course, between the two places but one in particular stuck out.  “Here people are more laid back, they’re a lot friendlier, too compared to Ontario.  That’s one thing I liked about it when I came for the interview, is how friendly the people were here.”

He says he asked himself a simple question:  Will I be happy here in Toronto in ten years or will I be happy after ten years in Prince George?  “I said I don’t know and I will never know if I don’t move, and it will always be on my mind haunting me for the next twenty years whether I would have made the right move or not.  So, make that move because at least then I know if I’m not happy, well I tried it and it didn’t work.   But, it worked, I was happy, we had a great time here.”

So why the move?  Simple, says Fudge.  “The pay was too much to turn down.  What we’re getting paid here with the provincial government is a lot less than the Alberta government, federal government, Ontario government and now Saskatchewan government, the GVRD in Vancouver and even the Oil and Gas Commission.  For the same work that we’re doing here with the ministry, they’re getting paid at least $15,000 more.  So when you’re offered almost 35% more than what you’re making it’s really hard to say no to.  I don’t care how cold and how windy it is in Regina.”

The married father of two young children and one adult offspring Fudge, who took an active role in the education system in School District 57, says he wouldn’t be surprised to take a similar interest once settled in Regina.

Asked for some parting thoughts to the people of Prince George he says “we spent a lot of years and investment working with the City of Prince George, the regional district, industries, PACHA.   We worked together on improving the air quality, we’ve seen some improvement and hopefully that improvement continues.”

“And the thing is it would be nice if these agencies will continue to work together and not just fall apart because of changes and people having too many other responsibilities.  But the air quality, yes it has definitely improved.  You may still get the odor some days but the air quality has improved.”

What’s he going to miss about Prince George, Fudge says “the people I know, for one thing.  I mean you’re here for 21 years, you know all kinds of people and all kinds of people know you.  So that’s probably what I’ll miss the most.”

Meteorologist Fudge, born in Newfoundland, says he’ll be in Regina for a while longer than the four years he would have been to retirement here.  But he won’t be staying on the prairies and definitely won’t be heading back to Toronto.  “I’m thinking of having a look around Vancouver Island,” he says.  No 401 traffic or minus 30 temperatures there.

If you’ve ever received an email from Dennis you smile because firstly, it came from Fudge, and secondly because you appreciate the humor and the optimism behind his signature phrase, “If you wake up in the morning breathing, congratulations you got another chance”.

“A lot of people thought I was putting it in as a shot at the air quality in Prince George, but it was more of a “make something out of your life, don’t procrastinate on issues just go in and do it, you got that chance to do it again and do it”.  So I chuckle because despite what some people thought,  it wasn’t about air quality at all.”