Mayor Colin Kinsley of Prince George states, “China is, and will become an even more important economic partner for Prince George and Northern BC.

What does that Mean? Will we be able to sell more logs to China? And they will be able to sell their junk furniture to us? Got to Home Depot and check ou their Kitchen cabints if you have some doubt.

Cbeers

Maybe we can export various words of wisdom and sayings from "people on the street" in PG and sell them for future use in fortune cookies that are then shipped back our way.

Check that. Fortune cookies typically have positive messages and outlooks in them and that seems to be something that is non-existent for the average PG resident as of late . . . LOL.

People should always keep in mind what is driving all these announcements. We are going into Municipal, Provincial, and Federal elections and we are being bombarded by all kinds of announcements, some valid and some no more that thinly disquised Bull-S---.

The announcement of a memoradum of agreement with the Chinese is nothing more than a group of people talking about the Northwest Corridor and putting on some forums, however there has not as yet been any announcement of any industry that is thinking of locating in North Central BC. In addition the ;people making up this group are IPG, The City of Prince George, the NW Development Corp., and the Chinese Communist state owned Chinese Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. These are all for the most part entities that are funded by taxpayers dollars and the chances of these blow hards actually getting anything off the ground is very slim. I wouldnt bet a lot of money on them, however I would suggest that a lot of this hype will disapear once the three elections are over.

The areas where some real growth will take place will the the new aluminum plant in Kitimat if it goes foreward. (2500 construction workers over 5 years)
New mines North on highway 37 plus the ;power lines if they go forward, and the new mine northwest of Mackenzie (Terrane)

Prince George is scratching like a chicken to find some new industrie to locate here, however to date nothing has happened. Why we make a big deal about the Port of Prince Rupert which is 500 miles west of here is beyond me. We have been exporting through the Port of Vancouver for the past 75 years which is 500 miles South of here. It makes little difference to Prince George at the end of the day as to which Port our products are shipped to. Transit times, and freight rates for all intents and purposes are competitive.

The growth in areas like highway 37, Kitimat, and Prince Rupert, along with the growth around Ft St John, and Alberta will draw unemployed people from Prince George,and over time we will notice a significant drop in population.

If anyone has anything ***specific*** to indicate that we will be getting some new industry I would be glad to hear it. Nebulous announcments by politicians, or people who*s salary comes from tax dollars would not in my opinion be **Specific**

Watch out! China will own us. Alexander Mackenzie King said "Beware the yellow peril". They may have been racist way back then and unabashedly vocal about it, but he saw it coming. He was PM from 1873 to 1878.
The U.S. is seriously broke. Thus, we're next. Our economy is very dependent on our exports to China. I have no idea how we can maintain our standard of living without exporting to China. Any ideas anyone?

Look at countries that have few natural resources. Find the ones of those which have a high standard of living and high wage rates. Learn what makes them successful. Follow their example.

Paplou has an idea that absolutely nothing is going to happen. Does that make everyone feel safer?

I see that everyone is still rowing in circles. When are you guys going to get both oars in the water?

Which one is chicken little in disguise?

Palopu:"It makes little difference to Prince George at the end of the day as to which Port our products are shipped to. Transit times, and freight rates for all intents and purposes are competitive."

Actually, the shorter shipping distances and shorter shipping times that our customers enjoy from going through Prince Rupert are what matters most to our customers.

Nobody can stop politicians from doing what they do best: Strut around and bamboozle the public, at least those in the public that allow themselves to be won over by the endless hot air!

BTW: just found out that I damaged a tire going through a deep water filled pothole and I will have to junk it! Don't know if the alloy rim is still o.k. - but it was either go through the pothole, hit the ditch or an oncoming vehicle!

I hate potholes...

Potholes potholes is all we see. The sky is falling.

Cheers

Diplomat. What shorter shipping distances and shipping times are you talking about. The rail miles to Prince Rupert and to Vancouver (Old BCR Line) are equal. (Approx 500 Miles) If you go to Vancouver via CN to Jasper and then to Vancouver it is approx 200 miles further but the service and rates are the same. Road miles to Prince Rupert and Vancouver are about equal.

Now comes the shipping times. Although the shipping time and distance to Prince Rupert from China is approx 1 day shorter, this time is lost however because the container ships loaded in Prince Rupert are then routed to Vancouver, Seattle, and back to China, or
Longbeach, Oakland, Calif and back to China. So anytime saved by going into Prince Rupert is lost because of these ships going South before returning to China.

On those containers that are off loaded in Prince Rupert to go to destinations in the American South East. Ie; Chicago, Tennessee, etc there would be a savings in transit time of approx 2 days because of the shorter distance and lack of congestion. This faster transit time is benificial to the Container companies, Rail companies, etc as they get better utilization of their equipment. Its also good for the Port of Prince Rupert because they get the business. Its benificial to customers in the USA because they get their product sooner, however it has no impact whatsoever on Prince George.

Palopu: "Diplomat. What shorter shipping distances and shipping times are you talking about."

Palopu: "....the shipping time and distance to Prince Rupert from China is approx 1 day shorter...".

There! You answered your own question already.

"So anytime saved by going into Prince Rupert is lost because of these ships going South before returning to China."

The companies that operate the ships count all the beans all the time. I leave it up to them as to how to take advantage of the 1 day time saving and the shorter distance - I am sure that they will have even greater savings once the new route is in full swing.

Nothing ventured - nothing gained. We can't sit on our butts, do nothing and complain when the world is not beating a path to our door.

You claim that nothing has any impact on Prince George. Well, at least there is no negative impact and positive impacts on the Prince George economy may already be happening which we don't even know about.

Negative thinking creates its own limitations.

Diplomat. You miss my point. Prince George is constantly touting the Port of Prince Rupert as a great boon to PG, however they never give any specifics as to how we will benefit from this Port.

Prior to the Container Terminal Prince George didnt give a fiddlers about Prince Rupert. We didnt care that the Pulp Mill shut down, that they were suffering great economic hardships, and that the City was on the verge of bankruptcy.

We only took an interest in Rupert when we thought that maybe there was a dollar to be made., We are the North Central Interior **Carpet Baggers**

Prince George has ventured nothing for this port and that is what it will gain. **Nothing**

You need to take an indepth look at yourself and try to ascertain why you find it necessary (like a lot of others on this site) to suggest an alternate point of view
or someone who disagrees with you are negative.

I have had a lot of experience in the Transportation Industry, certaintly more than any of these pseudo politicians, Government employees, and others such as IPG etc; and I can tell you that most of what they are spewing is garbage.

Most of them wouldnt know the difference between a Northbound train and the North end of a cow going South.