Prince George, B.C.- The city of Prince George will be the host city of a Northern Economic Summit in 2011.

Word of the conference came during the news conference with Premiers Campbell and Stelmach following the joint B.C. – Alberta Cabinet meeting. 

Premier Gordon Campbell says the first such conference will take place in Edmonton in 2009.

Northern infrastructure will be one of the specific issues to be discussed at the Northern Economic summit set for Edmonton says Premier Campbell “Northern infrastructure won’t be built just by the provinces, it will be built by the private sector if we get out of their way and let them build it.” 

Premier Gordon Campbell says the discussions will be a benefit not only to B.C. and Alberta, but to the whole country “There’s probably three or four pipelines that are being discussed for what I call the Northern pacific corridor, that’s representing $10 to $12 billion dollars , we have a major port expansion we want to take the next step with in Prince Rupert, there’s the Airport runway expansion in Prince George. We need an open skies policy that removes the historic bias that says you want to fly over British Columbia and Alberta and land in Toronto or Montreal. If I’m part of the Asian Pacific economies I want to land in British Columbia or Alberta, get the resources I need and get out of here. Those are the things we are asking at the summit, we have a very constructive agenda for rail improvement, road improvement, pipeline improvement. This is a huge opportunity for Canada, and I think that Alberta and British Columbia coming together and saying lets invest in that infrastructure , lets build that economic momentum will help pull the whole country into the Asia- Pacific century.”