Economic Summit Opens Today
By 250 News
Thursday, January 22, 2009 04:04 AM
Prince George, B.C. – The two day “Opportunities North- Economic Summit” will open later this morning with a keynote address from the Premier.
The two day summit is based on the foundation of the Natural Resource forums and trade shows which have been hosted in the past by Minister of Forests and Range Pat Bell but Bell says there is an expansion of content "The summit will see not just natural resources but transportation and low carbon economic issues. We hope that by bringing together decision makers from all over the province we can develop some concrete strategies that we can implement in our respective communities."
The summit is sold out. There are two panel sessions today, one on the state of the global economy and the other is titled “ the emerging northern powerhouse”.
Federal Minister of State (Sport) Gary Lunn will be the luncheon speaker and the afternoon sessions include examinations of opportunities presented by the Pacific gateway and transportation, highway 37, mining and the northern energy corridor, UNBC Interim President Charles Jago will deliver an address on productivity, and there will be a panel on environmental technologies and the low carbon economy.
There are several Provincial Cabinet Ministers in attendance;
- Pat Bell, Minister of Forests and Range
- Shirley Bond, Deputy Premier and Minister of Education
- Blair Lekstrom, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources
- Kevin Falcon, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure
- Kevin Krueger, Minister of community development
- Gordon Hogg, Minister of State for Mining
- Barry Penner, Minister of Environment
- Murry Coell, Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development
- Premier Gordon Campbell.
The two day session will be hearing from some of the key players in the resource industry, the same key players who have recently announced cutbacks so production can match demand, while others (especially in mining) have put projects on hold until the commodity prices rebound.
Minister Bell says while the format is a little different, the summit has the potential to bring about change "If just one community can use the information from this summit and bring about a new busines, then it will have been a success."
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Posted by: Andyfreeze on January 22 2009 8:16 AM
Hopefully, the gang of "let us rob the taxpayer politely" will concentrate on these issues:carbon tax/Olympics/pine beetle crisis/better health care for Northeners and finally, Bond could concentrate on special education and class composition. These summit are never publicly available to the working class as they are the ones who knows what goes in the PG area - not politicians sitting in Victoria. I wonder if the group can come up with a fast solution for the workers of Mackenzie and Fort St. James... Oh well, my carbon tax is at work!!