IPG Budget Categorized as Lean

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 08:36 PM

Prince George, B .C.- “It is a very much mixed picture we are seeing, but overall, Prince George is showing remarkable resiliency in the economic crisis” says Tim McEwan, CEO of Initiatives Prince George.

In the budget presentation to Prince George City Council, McEwan says IPG's goals remain long term.

“In 2008 we were able to leverage the City’s dollars by 40% in other words, for every dollar from the City we were able to leverage another 40 cents.” He says revenues for 2009 are expected to increase through advertising in the Prince George, ‘More than you can imagine’ tourism guide.

The budget presented is what McEwan calls “lean” but when pressed by Councilor Garth Frizzell about “wriggle room” McEwan explained it is critical for the organization to have stable funding in order to leverage other dollars. He says programs would have to be cut and that would translate into staff cuts. Other funding opportunities include the Western Economic Development fund “Wherever we see a fit, we are going to pursue those opportunities rather than coming back to Council over and over again looking for enhancements.”

“There are a lot of very small bio-tech firms in town here, so if we can get a commitment to a bio energy research centre here, we are very well positioned for that. It’s a matter of connecting good thought, research and innovation and commercializing that, that is going to make a difference in the forest industry”

He says the north should not present a case that the south of the province is draining the region of its resources, rather, “We should press for more education and research in the north to develop projects that will benefit the entire province.”

The budget for IPG is $1,351,904, up $44 thousand from last year.

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Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 08:36 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: realitycheck on February 19 2009 8:59 AM

W-A-S-T-E

Posted by: tombstone81 on February 19 2009 9:26 AM

I guess that extra 44-thousand dollars will pay for a few more flyer inserts into the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to convince people from the Emerald City to come up here and smell our fine air and see brown snow.

What an unbelievable waste of taxpayer dollars. You just know they gave them all raises, too.

Posted by: Resident on February 19 2009 9:58 PM

Wonder how many constitutes "a lot small of bio-tech firms in PG". Usually these firms consist of some one with a dream that has no chance of every being economically viable. They can only exist with government grants. I am sure some of the wonderful things going to be made from wood are bio-oils, syn-gas, activated carbon. Better check out the syn-gas idea. The BC MOE NOX emissions standards are some of the most stringent in North America. The secondary emission equipment required will kill the viability of any syn-gas project. All these kinds of ideas have come up at every conference for the past 20 years and probably will for the next 20 years.
As tax payers we need to have some accountability from these IPG people. Who are these small bio-tech firms? Council is getting the smoke and mirrors once again. Can the IPG and put the money in the snow clearing budget.