Premier Opens Summit

Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:10 AM

Delegates take their places moments before the Premier delivers his address

Prince George, B.C.- The Opportunities North, Economic opened this morning with an address by the Premier.

“We are all going to be bruised by the changes that have taken place” the Premier told the delegates to the summit as he talked about the waves of economic change that are rolling over the world. “We are a small open trading economy in Canada and if we don’t work together as Canadians, we will be letting down those we have sworn to serve.”

He says he has told the Prime Minister this is time to think about new partnerships and the focus must be on families. “There is only one economy that matters to families and that is their paycheck if they are getting their paycheck they know they are fine.”

The Premier says the first resource the north has to realize is has is people. The Premier says opportunities can be created if we think differently. “We have the best forestry resource in the world. We have to think about how we use that resource differently.” He says when it comes to buildings in B.C., wood will be the building material of choice. “Most buildings we have in this Province can be built with wood. We have to expand our domestic market first.” To that end he will be pressing the Federal Government to build with wood first.

The Premier said the north is the future for B.C., “When you think of the economy, there is no such thing as government money, its your money, so what we have to make sure we’re doing is investing those dollars as best we can.”

Premier Campbell says he has asked the Federal Government to eliminate some of the hurdles to development, like the Navigable Waters Act. He says that in addition to the provincial reviews, there are often federal reviews, the Premier says the time has come to save time and save money by streamlining processes which he says should be undertaken with the best interests of all Canadians, “One country, one review.”

We have huge opportunities and challenges and we have to look at all our resources. “Let’s think about the long term, let’s think about what we can do to make sure British Columbia takes full advantage of opportunities for British Columbians, for families.”

He says there are great things that can be done although they can’t all be done at once “We can get started, we won’t get to the destination if we don’t take the first step and the step after that.”

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Posted on Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:10 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on January 22 2009 11:02 AM

I like his focus on families, it's the basic building block that evrything else depends on. No families = no future.

Posted by: gus on January 22 2009 12:03 PM

"he has asked the Federal Government to eliminate some of the hurdles to development, like the Navigable Waters Act"

The Act? I think the hurdle in PG is that there are no navigable waters, never mind an Act.

"We have the best forestry resource in the world." Take that Russia and put it in your pipe and smoke it. In know. I know. He is taking a page from the ObamaBible. If you think it is, then it is.

"Most buildings we have in this Province can be built with wood."

Fine for houses. And I thought that is the problem. Try building downtown Vancouver with wood. These are all "pump them up" words with little real sense to them when one looks at it closer. And people actually eat that kind of nonesense up.

Posted by: acrider54 on January 22 2009 12:19 PM

Getting close to election time blah blah blah blah...........

Posted by: Andyfreeze on January 22 2009 2:57 PM

Campbell is really saying and commiting to very little.
This is election spin,nothing more,which is exactly why this is "Summit" is even happening.
And like so many of Campbells rally speeches,much of what he says will amount to nothing.
People have gone from jobs,to E.I.,to welfare,and no end in sight.
Many have lost or are losing their homes, and families are collapsing.
All Campbell gave us was a carbon tax that made sure the unemployed would pay higher heating costs this winter.
Oh, and the Olympics too,which will also cost us!
Thanks Gordon,everyone who is unemployed must feel a lot better now just knowing how much you care!

Posted by: billm on January 22 2009 4:08 PM

Sorry to rain or your party. There are navigable waters in Prince George, both the Fraser and the Nechako are. So you ask how Alcan did then get to drain the Nechako, cause their Alcan.
The act was passed around 1860 and is still on the books.

Posted by: gus on January 22 2009 4:28 PM

Under the Navigable Waters Protection Act the term "navigable water includes a canal and any other body of water created or altered as a result of the construction of any work"

So it is navigable by canoe, paddle boat, jet boat, raft, etc, until one gets to rapids, canyons, etc. and can go no further.

As far as commercial use to carry goods to and from PG to the port in Vancouver, it is not "navigable".

In other words, the Fraser River, other than the part in the lower mainland, is not to BC, what the Mississippi is to the south and mid west of the USA, and other similar rivers are to their parts in the world.

I am just not sure what having to deal with the Act has on the economy of Prince George.

Posted by: Eagleone on January 23 2009 1:44 AM

Site C dam proposal?