BC Greens ‘Not Anti-Jobs’ says Andrew Weaver
Prince George, B.C. – BC Green Leader Andrew Weaver has reacted to a letter sent to him (and NDP Leader John Horgan) by the Christian Labour Association of Canada urging him to reconsider his opposition to the Site C project near Fort St. John.
The union argues that a delay or cancellation of the project would have an “immense” effect on its over 1,000 members currently working at the site.
“Well, I did receive the letter and in fact my staff is at present trying to arrange a meeting with them early this week,” Weaver tells 250News. “I’m delighted to meet with CLAC. I believe the role of government and opposition members is to listen to diverse voices to make decisions on all the input they can get.”
(John Horgan and the NDP meanwhile haven’t responded to 250News for comment on the letter.)
But despite his willingness to meet with CLAC, he says it doesn’t change his opposition to the project.
“Site C is economically reckless for the B.C. government to spend billions and billions and billions of taxpayers’ money to produce electricity for a non-existent LNG industry.”
(Weaver admits he approved of Site C as recently as 2010, when he says the cost of the dam was estimated at $5.5 billion rather than today’s $8.8 billion. He said the cost of wind and solar at the time was also “through the roof” but now it’s “the exact opposite.”)
He adds his opposition to Site C doesn’t mean he’s “anti-jobs” in northern B.C.
“Look, there’s lots of infrastructure projects that need to be built. You’ve got the Taylor Bridge up in the Fort St. John region that needs to be fixed. It’s been a long-standing issue,” says Weaver.
“It’s not a question of jobs versus no jobs, it’s about putting people to work in projects that actually make fiscal sense and actually providing stability and long-term jobs.”
Besides, he says, there’s plenty of opportunity up North. Take for example making Prince George a data distribution centre.
“Why is there one in south Oregon and not in Prince George? It would take $6 million to create broadband redundancy in Prince George.”
Weaver says Prince George would be a natural fit for a data distribution centre considering the biggest cost of running such operations is cooling making “Prince George a no-brainer.”
He also proposes making Terrace a centre for manufacturing considering its location on the rail line between Prince Rupert “the gateway to Asia” and Chicago “the gateway to America.”
Weaver says the BMW plant built in Washington State was a lost opportunity for B.C.
“BMW wanted three things: they wanted access to clean, renewable power and we’ve got plenty of that. They wanted access to a highly skilled workforce that they can attract and retrain,” he says.
“And we are the most beautiful place to live in and it’s absolutely beautiful up in the North and people can actually afford to live there. And they’ve got access to foreign and domestic markets and the railway positions us beautifully.”
Comments
Mr. Weaver may not be “anti-jobs” but his “green” mantra is. We are a resource rich province, if we can’t develop them, then we are heading for poverty.
As far as Weaver is concerned, BC ends at the Swartz Bay Ferry terminal.
sorry, i just find it funny when CLAC starts complaining about anything. They took the Teamsters wage and cut it in half, just to get the Lomak and other chip hauling sectors. The Green party thinks we can somehow move forward with the same outdated electricity methods. They are 100% against job creation, their history proves it on how they vote.
Lomak employees were on strike, (not sure of what union represented the employees at the time) Garland, (the owner) closed the doors putting everyone out of work. Shortly thereafter Lomak reopened under a new name and had invited CLAC into their operation. New employees didn’t have any choice. CLAC isn’t a true union.
CLAC…the best union a company can buy.
On another post on 250 News, someone referred to these two as Abbott & Costello. I agree. If, and that is still an IF! they get into power; the top 2/3rd of the province will suffer mightily!! And they don’t even realize that it will affect the lower 1/3!! I also agree with Axman.
I just think of them as the Abbott & Costello show, now. I don’t have a crystal ball, but it’s obvious that the next (soon?) election here, everyone and their dog in the north- needs to come out to the polls, if we don’t want to return to the 1990’s NDP govt again. I remember those days, and it wasn’t pretty.
More like Statler and Waldorf.
I’m not understanding how the example of repairing the Taylor bridge is creating long term jobs. And what exactly was the third thing BMW was looking for? This sounds reaching. As a person with experience in broadband communications transport, where did the 6 million dollar figure come from? It would certainly cost way more than 6 million, and redundant for who? Might want to take a closer look at the geography first, maybe do some actual research into the cost of communications transport. I don’t see any long term jobs out of that either.
“Look, there’s lots of infrastructure projects that need to be built. You’ve got the Taylor Bridge up in the Fort St. John region that needs to be fixed.”
Lefty math – replace an 8 billion dollar project with a 100 million dollar project (that is going to he done regardless) and call it a job creation program.
Who ties this guys shoes for him?
I have a feeling both parties use velcro straps on their shoes…
Mr. Weaver and Mr. Horgan would never even entertain the idea of competing for a vehicle manufacturing/assembly plant once they find out how many hundreds of millions in cash gifts (to a corporation!) and tax free years make up the standard package that need to be offered to attract such a plant!
It is not just clean power and a re-trainable workforce! It also requires a realistic business and development friendly government!
My take on these two is more along the lines of Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne (Dumb and Dumber). If left to run this province we will be heading for Poverty as Cheetos suggests.
The commercial viability of solar and wind would be exploited by large corporations now if it made sense. The problem is to achieve the same scale as site c in one project. BC will be selling the surplus power from site c for many years to come just as we are now with other hydro dams. Wind and solar do not offer storage capabilities like hydro.
Lets build the Bird Slicers, they are efficient for 2 years and need to be rebuilt every 10 years, just think how much coal we can use building these things over and over again. And in the winter we can create a whole business of deicing companies flying their helicopters around deicing the blades for the thousands of Slicers it will take to satisfy the greenies need for power. The decaying flesh under the slicers will promote green growth, of coarse the deicing stuff will tend to kill it.
What a bunch of pc winners.
Chees
The PC’s won? The Progressive Conservatives haven’t existed (with that name) for years, so how and what did they win?
Cheese to you too.
The number of jobs created in the North by the BC Liberals would be zip, zero, nada, zilch, none.
People in Northern BC cant seem to understand that since the Liberals came to power BC has lost 30,000 plus jobs in the North. We have lost jobs in mining, lumber, pulp and paper, railways, etc; etc;.
There may have been some two bit jobs, paying minimum wage, and part time hours in the Greater Vancouver area, and some jobs in construction, and infrastructure but overall a very dismal job.
The Liberals/Socreds/Conservatives/ have passed their best before date. These guys could not survive without their cushy Government jobs, nor could a lot of these construction companies survive without working on projects paid for by tax payers.
There is very little money invested in BC by private business. They are mostly on the Government dole.
Christie and her liberal buddies are much like Monty Pyphon’s flying circus. The only difference is that they are not as smart.
“People in Northern BC cant seem to understand that since the Liberals came to power BC has lost 30,000 plus jobs in the North. We have lost jobs in mining, lumber, pulp and paper, railways, etc; etc;.”
Either your completely full of shit trying to justify your existence on this board or you are you flat out just don’t have any idea of industry in Northern BC. Which one is it..? All the following projects have been approved during a Liberal government.
Mining:
-Gibraltar, Re-Start
-Mt Polley, Re-Start
-Red Chris,-New Mine
-Mt Milligan,-New Mine
-Brucejack,-New Mine
-Brule Mine, Re-Start
-Wolverine Mine, Re-Start
-Willow Mine, Re-Start
-Bonanza Ledge, New-Mine
-New Afton, New-Mine
-Copper Mountain, -New Mine
-Kemess Underground, -EA Certificate Passed
-Blackwater Gold Project, -EA certificate filed.
-Endako Concentrator,-Approved.
Forest & Energy:
-Duz Cho Mill Start Up
-Pacific Bio-Energy
-Premium pellet (2 plants)
-Northwood pulp upgrade.
-Intercon pulp upgrade.
-Tumbler ridge windfarm.
-Meikel windfarm
-Fort St James bio energy/power generation.
I can keep going but I will leave it at that..
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NDP had a mining start in their 10 years of rule – Mt Polley
@ Slinky..Kemess & Huckleberry as well during the last NDP govt..Actually the BreX scandal & low commodity prices had a more dramatic effect on the BC mining industry during the last NDP reign..This was because new mining projects weren’t able to generate capital because no one trusted the stock market until the national instrument standards were brought in.
I guess if you want to close down a mine and then re-start it and call it creating new jobs you can do that.
I believe that the Brule and Wolverine mines have re-started, however not sure a decision has been made on the Willow Creek mine.
Its pretty bad when all you can come up with for new lumber mills is the Duz Cho Mill start up. How does that stack up to the closure of
Eurocan Pulp and Paper, Abitibi Paper, Rustads, Clear Lake, Netherlands, North Central Plywood (burned down and not rebuilt) The Pas Lumber planer in Prince George and sawmill in Bear Lake. Mills in MacKenzie, Quesnel, Houston, etc; etc;. Pinnacle Pellet south of Quesnel.
Sale of BC Rail and the loss of hundreds of jobs.
Canfor has upgrades to their mills which is normal procedure of pulp and paper mills, even so they have a net reduction of jobs in the past 20 years.
I could go on but you get my drift.
Palopu, you need a remedial economics lesson.
We lost those jobs because of modernization. For example, one sawmill now produces 10 times more lumber than the old ones did with half the number of workers. This lowers their cost of operation and enables them to compete on the world stage. If they hadn’t modernized, they would likely all be shut down.
Abitibi mill mechanical pulp-high power user with limited on site generation producing not paper but newsprint. Market drying up with the number of papers biting the dust it is no wonder they closed.
NCP Hard to make plywood with MPB severly limiting the amount of peelers available
Rustads Clear Lake Pas – old outdated mills too expensive to rebuild especially given the effect of MPB and reduced AAC.
Pellet plant in Quesnel. Closed due to lack of fibre as a result of MPB
Mills in Houston and Qusenel. MPB….. nuff said
Tumbler mines- Tied to world steel demand.
Netherlands- Closed in 1998 when an NDP government was in power with 160 jobs lost. During that time Interfor closed a mill in Port Moody with a loss of 210 jobs. Doman closed a Vancouver mill with 125 jobs lost. MB closed one in Nanaimo with 200 jobs gone.Once again all during the NPD time at helm.
NCP sold 85% of their product in the Canadian market and was the most profitable mill in PG at the time. The lack of peeler logs is a lie as Quesnel has two plywood plants and far more pine beetle. Now the peelers are stockpiled at Bear Lake and other mills and exported as whole logs. Canfor didn’t rebuild NCP at the time because the corporate heads from Wall Street were reinvesting Canfor profits into American mills so they could collect more softwood lumber duties. Our government facilitated this move with the elimination of auprentacy regulations keeping the fiber local.
Clear Lake and Rustads were both profitable mills. Clear Lake had the highest profits of any of the local saw mills, but was the only non union mill, so was the easiest mill to close. Clear Lake outperformed Isle Pierre (heavily modernized mill) by a wide margin, but Isle Pierre was union and Clear Lake was not.
Pellet plant in Quesnel had issues where they could not process bush grind, and only the sawdust and shavings from a sawmill. This should be fixed shortly and then the MPB issue becomes an advantage for them with decades of wood available for the grinders.
Mills in Houston and Quesnel again a result of greed for profits by the elimination of auprentacy and local milling.
Tumbler mines closed despite record world steel production. They closed because they were branch plants of larger American corporations that replaced their Canadian production with production from their American operations due to political considerations.
Netherlands closed because they were a big wood mill cutting things like 24′ 2×12’s and the like from the biggest trees. Those trees became more valuable for export whole log rather than processing locally.
Eagleone …….
Do even you believe your own BS?
How many times to you mention whole log export in your fabrications? There is virtually NO whole log export from this region. 2 peeler plants in Quesnel? When did the 2nd open? Where is it located?
Peelers stockpiled at Bear Lake and other mills and exported as whole logs? Really?
Got any actual facts to prove your BS or are these just observations from the seat of your chip truck?
Eagleone one wrote about 24′ 2×12’s.
24′ 2x12s don’t span a thing in residential buildings without intermediate support. Too much deflection under load. Requires two workers to set in place by hand or small crane.
If one wants to span 24′ in a 24′ x 44′ or so standard house (College Heights special), use an 18″ truss joist with built in rectangular openings for air ducts. That provides a nice basement ceiling without drops for ducts and plumbing pipes below bottom chord.
Eagleone, the two original Tumbler Ridge coal mines both had life expectancies that were met.
Quintette had project a life expectancy of 25 years for it’s original ore body while Bullmoose opened with only a 20 year expectancy.
Both mines lasted as long as they were expected to last and both were shut after the ore bodies depeleted.
Quentette had planned to reopen their processing facility as they had other ore bodies available to them that they were in the process of developing, but those plans were shelved when the price of coal and the market for it went south!
Other mines have since opened and shut based on market conditions, not based upon who is in power in Victoria!
NCP was barely breaking even at the time of the fire. It wasn’t rebuilt because of declining demand for plywood and the unlikelihood of profitability. There is one plywood mill in Quesnel and other mills sell fir peeler logs to it.
The wood stockpiled at Bear Lake belongs to Dunkley, and it gets hauled to their mill south of Hixon during breakup.
Union or non-union is irrelevant when it comes to shutting down a mill. Unionized Upper Fraser was shut down years before Clear Lake. Upper Fraser, Clear Lake and Rustad were profitable but Canfor had sawmilling overcapacity for the timber available, so it was only a matter of choosing which mills to close. Clear Lake wasn’t on a rail line, that might have had a bearing.
Greed for profits??? There is only one reason that any company exists, and that is to make profits. No profits = no mills and no jobs. That isn’t greed, it’s economic reality. Logs in the Houston and Quesnel areas are still cut locally, only with half as many mills. West Fraser in Quesnel now cuts all the wood that Canfor Quesnel used to cut, and Canfor Huston now cuts all the wood West Fraser Huston used to cut.
Nobody cuts 24′ – 2×12’s. Netherlands close because it was obsolete and like the others, a victim of overcapacity. There are only two mills in this area capable of cutting the bigger trees, Polar and Dunkley. That’s because we don’t have much big timber and there is little demand for big dimension lumber – it’s been replaced by trusses. Both those mills cut small wood as well.
Stomping Tom… semantics… no whole log exports from this region? Really? Common now. I talked to a guy last year had a regular haul hauling peeler logs from Bear Lake to Richmond Plywood. Is Richmond Plywood in the Prince George forest district? You can thank getting rid of aupurantacy for that. Even Quesnel is an export of peeler logs from this region in my view.
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GoPG it doesn’t matter what they will and will not span. The facts are that Netherlands was a big mill that handled the big wood at the time. I know because I worked there when it closed. The big wood wasn’t as profitable milled and was becoming more scarce.
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I also worked at NCP before it burnt down as well. It was common knowledge that it was a profitable mill with stable profits because 85% of its sales were in Canada and not exported.
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Hart Guy I wasn’t talking the 1980’s coal industry. Specifically the Willow Creek mine had American ownership that needed to keep their American mills running for political reasons, so they shipped their product through our ports to replace our exports from our mines. This was the biggest factor in the coal mines closing in that region last time around IMO… China’s growth in use of steel did not slow down during the last decade, in fact it doubled every couple of years for much of that period as they built entire ghost cities. Under American ownership we became the overflow stockpile to be used when needed… last opened and first closed.
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When Upper Fraser was closed down Canfor didn’t have full ownership of Clear Lake and I do believe Rustads as well. Had those mills remained owned by separate entities they would still be open today albeit with times of shut down… but from a community aspect it would be much more profitable for the community, and employ more people than the consolidated industry of today. All the profits from consolidation left this community for the pockets of the hedge fund owners on Wall street.
Less consolidation would have meant higher unit costs and less pressure from Americans for tariffs changing the whole profitability dynamics of the industry without the government and finance induced race for the lowest common denominator IMHO.
Palopu: “People in Northern BC cant seem to understand that since the Liberals came to power BC has lost 30,000 plus jobs in the North.”
How much are private business and corporations going to invest in B.C. if and when the Socialist and Greens (2nd and 3rd place finishers) are trying to run the government?
You do not like bringing up the past decade of the Harper government and you probably do not wish to delve into the dismal decade of the NDP.
If we do not remember the mistakes of the past we will have to learn the same lessons all over again!
Palopu is completely deaf on the subject of Harper. He is so far up Harper’s backside all you can see are his BOOTS:D
The third thing BMW wanted along with access to skilled workers is a workforce who would start at $17 an hour to build luxury cars without the option to join a union. That is why they opened their plants in SC and Washington. Weaver supports this wage rate for building cars? Maybe offer this to Ford and GM and I bet they will move their plants. By 2015 numbers with benefits included GM is running $57 per hour and BMW $39, even Hyundai is $41… only VW is lower at $38
Wrong! VW USA encourages its workers to form/join a union! Every time a vote was taken the VW workers voted against joining a union!
What is wrong? That beamer wants no union? Or that VW average wage with benefits is $38? Never wrote anything about VW and unions. BMW is expanding in SC because workers have the choice of working non-union if they so choose as a state law even if others vote in a union.
Hard to compete when your wage rate is 20 bucks higher than the competition. That is why Mexico looks so good to the big 3
Mean while school district 67 started trying to lower their electric bills by creating jobs in the solar cell business by covering the roof of Penticton high school with cells . They are cutting their monthly bills now , with a push the eliminate it . They could eliminate it now but they use it even in the summer . Besides the obvious monetary gain , their students are being educated for the coming change in real time . Each school has enough square footage to be self funding . The dumb and dumber meme would be more apropreately used the discribe the school boards in the north .
Maybe some of the people on this site need to take a look at China. China just switched on the worlds largest floating solar plant.
Yes oldman and Iceland is planning too export geothermal electricity to Europe via the longest ever under water cable called the Icelink . Meanwhile the second largest group of volcanos in North America here in bc gets no notice even though they dwarf Icelands resource . Dumb and dumber ???
Subsidies, wouldn’t be doing it without grants to make the cost near zero to the school. Even in PG they raised funds through the PAC to install the solar system. The school had a structure fire and it was lost during demolition but they did generate some power. The board would not do it to reduce costs,
They will save 10,000 annually with a government investment of 250,000. So 25 year ROI makes a 25 year lifespan a huge savings for everyone, as long as nothing goes wrong requiring any repairs. Imagine paying interest, what would the ROI be then?
It is more a training tool than a savings tool
That also applies to Site C . No business would do that without subsidies from our taxes in a falling price market for product . That would be the height of stupidity or pure and simple graft .
Slinky , you do know that hydro bills only go up , right ?
Funny, one post about prices for electricity being low and next prices are high. Go talk to any solar installer about putting a system on your house. If you are not talking about a place that has no grid connection they will tell you to save your money, you will make more keeping it in the bank at 2 percent or less.
What is the cost per kWh of BC electricity? Now compare it to the rest of Canada. Dams can sell power whenever they want – just turn on the water – solar and wind does not have that luxury. Why do you think they added the connections in Denmark to Norway so their Hydro dams become a battery to restore the power when Denmark needs it back? Can’t have one without the other. Schools do work for solar if they get enough grants. I don’t see Hydro getting any grants, the project payback is determined by the rates – same thing as Hydro Quebec the rates spiked just as their dam built in Newfoundland came online. The Newfoundland government tried to recreate the scenario in record time but delays became costly (chime in Weaver and Horgan) resulting in price overruns but their dam will be built and the price of power will go back up. All Hydro partners have to do is say dams will no longer be a solar or wind battery and overproduction will become very costly and the ROI for solar and wind will increase ten fold.
You have to look at the numbers – if you spend just as much as you get back that is not a profitable venture. A 25 year ROI on a 25 year lifespan would never get built in the real world.
One would think you would have the good sense to learn from other people’s mistakes.
Apparently not.
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Awareness is slowly permeating through the media that renewables inevitably lead to higher electricity prices – and that the Australian energy grid is in deep trouble. But this awareness is too little, too late, to save what is left of what was once one of the cheapest electricity grids in the world.
ht tps://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/06/17/daily-telegraph-there-is-no-such-thing-as-affordable-renewable-energy/
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We live in one of the most competitive economic regions in the world. We are also a country rich in natural resources which has delivered us a record-breaking 26 years of economic growth.
We will never beat our neighbours when it comes to cheap labour but Australia’s abundant energy has always been our saving grace. We are the world’s second largest exporter of thermal coal and will soon be the largest exporter of gas. We also have the world’s biggest reserves of uranium. We should be an affordable energy superpower and, 15 years ago, we were; because the power system was run to minimise price and maximise reliability. Affordable power made us highly competitive, delivered industry and jobs, and gave us all a high standard of living.
Since then, green politics has trumped sensible economics and the result is subsidised wind farms and solar panels that make unprofitable the very coal and gas fired power stations that we need for baseload power. It’s a policy induced mess and we’re all paying the price, particularly our small to medium businesses who are doing it tough.
ht tp://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/climate-change-zealots-need-to-get-real/news-story/68b4abe189f80355b8fcaf5230ef482a
Ataloss, how many very highly paid unionized school district employees will we have to hire here in PG to get up on the roofs of our schools to clear off the snow from the solar panels that you would prefer that we install up here?
Penticton? Not so much snow! Prince George and many many other school districts in BC, well that’s a whole other story that you seem to ignore!
So, solar power sucks! Let’s go with wind! Oh, wait, that sucks as well!
From June 13, 2017,
Oldest commercial wind farm in Canada headed for scrapyard after 23 years
By: DAN HEALING, CALGARY HERALD
an excerpt:
“TransAlta is very interested in repowering this site. Unfortunately, right now, it’s not economically feasible,” Wayne Oliver,
operations supervisor for TransAlta’s wind operations in Pincher Creek and Fort Macleod, said in an interview.
“We’re anxiously waiting to see what incentives might come from our new government. . . . Alberta is an open market and the wholesale price when it’s windy is quite low, so there’s just not the return on investment in today’s situation. So, if there is an incentive, we’d jump all over that.”
ht tps://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/06/13/wind-power-fails-in-canada-a-23-year-life-span-not-likely-to-be-replaced/
So, let’s summarize shall we….solar SUCKS! Wind Power, SUCKS!
Sure glad that we have Site C in the works, at least until Elon Musk creates some batteries that have the storage capacity of Williston Lake, Dinosaur Lake and the new lake that will form behind Site C!
Weaver has been banging the drum endlessly about how a $6 million dollar investment in broadband would be a panacea for all the economic ills that ail the north. News for you bub, if it was this simple and such an great idea I could knock on a couple of doors on Howe street and find that much venture capital in an afternoon, there would be no need for government money.
As for the local climate being a “no-brainer” for a data center it kind of goes against the grain of him being a greenie if his solution to dealing with excess heat is taking advantage our lower mean temperature and release it to atmosphere. Wonder if he has ever seen this formula?
Q = mc*Delta T
Q=heat energy M=Mass C=specific heat Delta T= change in temperature
That energy(Q)could be used for power generation or for heating buildings etc hence facility could be located anywhere.
Up at the airport they have model of how the industrial zone around the airport would be developed and they have almost all the land from the airport to the cutbacks filled with data centres and computer chip production… In a dream world maybe, but we do have everything else in place infrastructure wise.
The irony is that for that ever to happen we need the guaranteed power from site C. So Weaver is against site c, but is for high energy use computer technology for jobs in the North?
sparrow, let’s not forget that Weaver will have to convince a whole bunch of those spoiled tech geeks in the lower mainland to move to Prince George to fill the new positions that exist only in his pipe dreams!
I can just hear the cries from those tech Geeks:
?Prince George, You’ve got to be kidding! I’m not moving to Prince George! For crying out loud, it’s cold and snowy up there!”
He is not anti-jobs per say. He is anti resource based jobs. He should be more honest about what he is saying.
“Meanwhile the second largest group of volcanos in North America here in bc gets no notice even though they dwarf Icelands resource . Dumb and dumber ???
If your trying to compare BC volcanic geothermal to Iceland you cant. Iceland has near surface volcanic activity while here in BC the hot spots are around 25km deep (based seismograph data for the Nazko cone and coastal volcanoes range) In addition to this our volcanic arcs have high sulphide mineral content. If you punch a borehole into these mineral deposits introducing 02 to sulfide minerals above 65 degrees Celsius you will have just created a sulphur dioxide or H2S well..
Those points aside..I still do think we need some more action on the geothermal file in BC but the question is..Should the taxpayer foot the bill for this speculation or private industry..
Too funny northman . The hot springs all over BC are 25 Kms under the earth and the steaming volcano that I drive by weekly is 25 Kms below the surface . It must be an optical illusion even though I have to look up at it .
They tried geothermal in Vancouver, how did that turn out? The city is on the hook for 9.9 million dollars to fix the aquifer and the property is worth 2 million that they can recover in a tax sale…
The fact of the matter is there have been roughly 30,000 jobs lost since the Liberals came into power.
We can blame the NDP, and the Mountain Pine Beetle, or whatever. My point is we have a huge loss of jobs in the Interior of BC with nothing on the drawing board to indicate how we will create new jobs.
The Liberals take credit for all job creation, and blame the NDP and MPB for all job losses.
Some, on the other hand state that the mills closed because they are old, and it would cost to much to upgrade them, while at the same time BC Forest Companies are buying and upgrading some 38/40 mills in the South East USA. Ie; Tennesee, Nth and Sth Carolina, Georgia, Texas, etc; etc;. So it seems we can invest in old mills in the USA but we cant upgrade BC. Mills. Hmmmm.
Meanwhile lets export our raw logs.
The logs being exported are mainly coastal species and therefore not suitable for interior mills. The cost to build a modern mill complex near that supply would approach a half a billion bucks and transportation costs for residuals, chips, hog, etc further makes economic viability questionable at best.
BC companies are investing in the states because the mills have a supply of timber that will keep them operating for the foreseeable future. From what I have heard they are also bringing modern technology to these mills as opposed to the decades old stuff they are currently using.
Resource based economies are always subject to market forces-feast and famine if you will. Having them to continue to operate below shutdown costs will do nothing but keep the commodity prices down and put them at rick of going belly up.
Was on the news a week ago that stats can numbers indicate that BC led the pack in May in new full time jobs. Stick a pin in this fact and revisit it next May(if the ndp/greens last that long)to see how the new group compare. The 2019 numbers would be a better indicator as it takes the wheels of the wagon a while to get wobbly with a dipper on the tiller.
Will also be interesting to see if BC’s record of 6 balanced budgets in a row continues.
BTW millions of dollars have been spent for improvements BC mills over the last few years.
what ever happened to that old saying…money makes money or you have to spend money to make money.
Canfor policy is to be a 2×4 stud mill producer, and export all the big wood whole log for greater Wall Street profits.
Where do you get that nonsense?
What nonsense? 2×4 is the mainstay of most mills in this region. Some mills like Plateau only produce 2×4 and 2×6. Mill the small wood and sell the big wood either as peelers or as whole log.
A large tree going for $8000 is more valuable to a corporate executive sold whole rather than milled into 2×4’s. That is why they have almost no industry on the coast anymore, when some of those trees sell in the tens of thousands per tree. Its simply more profitable for those with tenure to sell the logs whole, rather than send them to a mill to be cut up.
Our mills were NOT closed because they were old, they were closed because the mills we still have were upgraded and could handle all the timber that the closed old mills did. We have the most modern milling technology in the world, bar none.
Our mills are buying up US mills in order to grow their business and to have an increased market share. It also gives them some stability during times of countervailing duties. They are modernizing those mills up to our standards.
We have monopoly capitalist forestry policy in BC that allows the consolidation of industry under Wall Street ownership.
This ownership does not reinvest its profits into the local forestry sector, but rather uses it to modernize our chief competitors on the American side; and from that side also pushes the tariffs on our industry that are retroactive only for the smaller operators not owned by Wall Street… thus the small players in Canada get squeezed out from tariffs, and the smaller players in America are getting bought out from monopoly capital forest companies based in Canada… the end result will be 5-6 conglomerate forest companies controlling 90% of the North American industry that in effect own the rent on public forest resources through their ownership of manufacturing monopolies that see all profits flow not so much to the employees and communities where the resources are harvested; but rather flowing up to the capital shareholders on Wall Street that own these companies (yes I agree employees do own some of the shares too, but the vast majority of ownership is Wall Street hedge funds).
When we only have one company that owns the entire forestry manufacturing industry for entire regions, it becomes those forest companies that call the shots on public policy and the values we could get from our public resources.
I believe in free enterprise and equal opportunity for competition as the most stable business model for a region as a whole. More local ownership so the profits circulate locally building up the local economy, rather than flowing immediately to New York and Toronto.
Palopu, so why don’t you get off your arse, go gather some likeminded investor’s, put together a business plan, go see a banker about some financing and then buy some land, secure some harvesting rights, build a mill, create some jobs, hire some people to fill those jobs and then contribute to the economy and the tax base?
Oh wait, you’re a follower, not a leader!
Interesting. We’re up to 40 comments on a story about a man who won 3 seats in the legislature – as if his opinion matters. What matters is what the other 84 MLA’s think.
Well despite Weaver’s looney environut ideas, he does have far too large an influence on government policies with those 3 seats. He’ll be wielding far more power than his small caucus should, so his plans might just come to be fact.
All I can say is it’s a good thing there is two of them-Horgan and Weaver-because it looks like they are going to have to drag Christy away from her desk kicking and screaming. Guess what-now she wants to raise welfare rates a $100 per month.
You mean Christy, the leader of the party that actually WON the election?
oldman1, tell me how Horgan or Weaver for that matter would be doing anything different if they were in Clark’s shoes!
Clark is doing exactly what Clark should be doing in this situation, and if you had a clue, even a small clue, you would understand that!
You may not like it (obviously you don’t) but Clark is playing by the rule book, the rule book that has been in place far longer than Clark has been in hers!
Hydroelectric Dams are more green than wind mills, i guess Weaver did not get that message.
NEWS FLASH … NEWS FLASH …..
This just in
“Weaver says Prince George would be a natural fit for a data distribution centre considering the biggest cost of running such operations is cooling making “Prince George a no-brainer.”
OLD NEWS …… 23 Years ago
Read headline in September 1994 PG Citizen
“COMPUTER DATA BUNKER”
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“City to get 100 high-tech jobs”
“A $7-million high-tech bunker for computer records and other data will be the showpiece of a business and government information consortium announced here Thursday.
The consortium is expected to generate about 100 long-term jobs over the next five years as well as about 135 construction jobs when construction of the storage building begins in Prince George later this year.
Premier Mike Harcourt made the announcement at the University of Northern B.C. as part of an information technology industry launch in Prince George.
“These are not government make-work projects.” Harcourt said to an audience of business executives and students. “These are hard-nosed business decisions that are going to have benefits.”
Included in Thursday’s announcement was a $250,000 gift of computers and training to UNBC from Sun Microsystems Ltd.
Prince George’s location near the centre of the province and its seismic stability were among the reasons DBFT decided to build here, said company president Michael Weston.
“We are very concerned about earthquakes, floods and that sort of
thing in the Vancouver area and therefore wish to be up here on stable ground and be able to bring people up to run their businesses through here,” Weston said.
The building will be one of the most sophisticated in North American, said Weston. Built to withstand 250 km/h winds and earthquakes up to 9.5 on the Richter scale, the entire facility will be computer-monitored for variations in humidity, temperature and air particles.
Soil tests are being conducted on three possible locations. Weston added. One of the potential sites is on Cranbrook Hill near UNBC’s main campus.
Expected to cover 60.000 square feet of building space. Weston said DBFT would employ about 10 people here with other consortium members providing the remaining jobs.
Government Services Minister Robin Blencoe credited B.C. Systems Corp. for putting together the pieces for the project.
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Of course, Weaver does not know the dreams of the past for this part of the province because he has not lived here and does not have a team to do his research.
Maybe he thinks it is a no brainer. Obviously he has not had the expertise of those who looked at it over 20 years ago and decided not to make the investment.
Don’t forget to add the negativity of the 86 shaker or did you miss that ? Andrew knows very well about Prince George’s dreams of the past . You must be right . So stop dreaming . Prince George doesn’t need broadband redundancy . Things are just fine that the young have to go south to work in the high tech field . Who needs a bunch of techie kids around that can’t even stack two by fours or dig up ore for shipping abroad ? BTW harcourt was an NDP , so why smear Andrew with him ?
Did you enjoy your dinner of tripe the other day(or was it crow)after finding out that Weaver is not the white knight that you imagine but just another self serving politician that vilifies the other leaders for their fund raising practices while doing the same thing himself.
I know Harcourt was NDP. In 1994 they had another 6+ years in office.
Remember, UNBC was created in the last month(s) of the Social Credit … not NDP.
NDP’s pushed for the “Data Bunker” … “Government Services Minister Robin Blencoe credited B.C. Systems Corp. for putting together the pieces for the project.”
Nice credit to them …. but did not work. So hollow promise and credit.
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“Andrew knows very well about Prince George’s dreams of the past.”
Show me proof of that. Otherwise it is fake news.
Sorry. Write plain language for me. What is “86 shaker”?
Don’t remember that earthquake? Cracked the foundation of my house.
gopg2015, thanks for your comment:
“Andrew knows very well about Prince George’s dreams of the past.”
Show me proof of that. Otherwise it is fake news.
I was just about to ask the same thing, but you beat me to it, haha!
The broadband redundancy fix is proof enough for me . Why do you think that ALL the high tech industry is in the lower mainland ? He knows Why the North is shut out of the fastest growing industry in BC . That’s where a great many jobs of the future are . Why wouldn’t you want that to happen in the north ? Why wouldn’t you want that avalible for our kids ?
There is a difference between “want” and “need”.
One needs redundancy and security when it comes to sensitive data storage.
I was on the second floor of CNC’s new addition, standing as I was teaching. Reminded me of being on a ship crossing the Atlantic.
The “shaker” in 1986 obviously did not undermine people into data security in 1994. 8 years had gone by.
A seismic range of just over 6? I think it is still not conclusive.
Within 10 years of that the seismic design level for PG was reduced, not increased.
My basement did not crack. I had steel reinforcing in my concrete, something few people at that time had at an adequate level. I kept the formwork on longer than most. My basement concrete does not have a single crack in it and the tie holes are all properly packed with asphalt.
March 22, 1986
EARTHQUAKE SHAKES PRINCE GEORGE
Prince George JBL -1- JL -H- Saturday, March 22,1986
Desk drawers flew open, chandeliers swung and buildings swayed as an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale rumbled and shook Prince George Friday afternoon.
The‘quake, occurring at 3:57 p.m., was believed centred about 200 km east of Prince George, said Bob Horner, seismologist from the Pacific Geoscience Centre in Victoria, which monitors earthquake activity in the west.
Horner said the earthquake, described as moderate but capable of doing damage, may have been the most severe ever recorded in Central B.C. The last similar one centred near here was in 1918 near the Alberta-B.C. border.
RCMP reported no major damage, but some older buildings were affected in a minor way. A door-frame in the older Columbus Hotel, Third Ave., was twisted ajar several inches.
To put Friday’s earthquake in perspective, the Pacific Geoscience Centre said it was 100 times smaller, in terms of ground movement, than the one that rocked Mexico City that destroyed buildings and claimed more than 5,000 lives last year.
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As the article of 1994 stated, the plan was that: “The building will be one of the most sophisticated in North American, …. Built to withstand 250 km/h winds and earthquakes up to 9.5 on the Richter scale.”
The reason I discounted the shaker is because it was meaningless, as so many of your statements are Ataloss. You resemble Trump far too much with so much useless, factless information just hoping to throw the gullible and clueless off.
I think that what with Weaver being a “Greenie” and all, that he sometimes perhaps might be partaking in just a bit to much of that natural green organic herb that some refer to as wacky tobacky, and that usage is causing an abundance of delusions of grandeur!
Can’t wait for the excessive use paranoia to set in! That should be fun, what with having to deal with Horgan, haha!
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