IPG Submits Budget Wish List
By 250 News
Friday, October 16, 2009 03:57 AM
Prince George, B.C.- Initiatives Prince George made a couple of requests in its submission to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services during it’s hearing in Prince George this week.
IPG President and CEO Tim McEwan said there have been numerous success over the past ten years, which have helped Prince George diversify. While noting the unemployment rate is more than twice what it was a year ago, McEwan pointed out it is still well below the rate experienced in the early ‘80s when the city was dependent on a single industry.
McEwan says there is much more to do, “ In the forthcoming decade – the Northern Decade – we must continue our efforts to layer on “hard” and “soft” infrastructure that will at once diversify our economic base and unleash the staggering economic potential of Northern British Columbia for the economic benefit of all British Columbians. A knowledge-based resource economy connected to the world – for Prince George and the North this is our aspiration, and it is our collective resolve.”
McEwan offered praise for the HST saying it will make British Columbia more competitive but laid out some requests for change.
He said there needs to be a single stream for environmental assessments, that federal and provincial assessments duplicate work and “stymie much needed investment and job creation in Northern British Columbia” He called upon the committee to recommend “that provincial and federal authorities conclude an arrangement that would end duplication of federal and provincial environmental assessment processes”.
Other recommendations were:
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That government continue efforts to accelerate the Cariboo Connector four-laning program, and to establish a deadline for completion of the entire 463 km length by 2015 or 2020.
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Government give priority funding to the improvement of the Pine Pass
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Government should give priority to reducing remaining gaps in broadband coverage and to eliminating cell-phone dead-zones over a fixed timeline (i.e. 2015 or 2020).
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Government should give priority to working with private sector telecommunications firms to address the need for fibre redundancy in Northern British Columbia, particularly at the key transportation nodes of Prince George and Prince Rupert.
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Make engineering “in and for” Northern British Columbia a top priority in its recommendations for the forthcoming provincial budget.
The Select Standing Committee will continue public hearings through to the 21st, in other B.C. communities, but submissions can be made by the public until the 23rd of October. You can click here, for more information.
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Posted by: gus on October 16 2009 8:40 AM
Are we paying for advocacy with out accountability? Isn't that the role of our politicians?
I won't criticize without a solution, so I would suggest they get out some more and dream a bit if they are going to start becoming advocates... not dreaming about new ways to tax the working stiff, but ways in which we can actually create some more industrial or economic development.
First thing these guys need to do is to recognize that PG is a ‘price taker’ town and not a ‘price maker’ town. We deal in commodities that are at the hostage taking of derivative commodity speculators... our economic future is not in our hands other than how much we can cut costs to our foreign buyers. This is no longer acceptable, but it is what we are geared for, and we need to find a way to change that first and foremost.
If I was to dream for a moment of a way we could create ‘price making possibilities’... it would have to come by creating a product that adds value and not simply relying on the idea of scale.
Top of mind for me would be to build pulping operations in places like Fraser Lake and Houston where they are located close to the pine beetle kill wood. Use this pulp to make things like cups, plates and other food stuff containers... this is an industry that is not located on the western half of this continent. Jimmy Paterson already has the logistics in place for this through his other operations in the states that already do this kind of stuff. We could make it so that our market exports directly to China and Japan and India via the Prince Rupert Port... cutting off logistically all our competitors that are currently shipping from the East coast to these markets.
If we built two pulp mills in those towns and the plants we would require for the moldings, then we would be able to utilize the pine beetle wood and the split off product of hog fuel could then be utilized for the co-gen or pellet plant operations, thereby increasing the available feedstock for their use and providing additional support to the lumber industry in those regions. This would create 2500 direct jobs in the first 5-years and 40,000 indirect jobs over that same time doubling our job base. It’s an area we already have the resources for, the expertise, the market, the capital, the connections... the only thing we wouldn't have yet is the workers to man the workforce and the molding designs we wanted to market.
I look at the area saw mills and in just the last year the change in the amount of lumber actually recovered from a stick of wood is falling fast. The efficiency is disappearing quick because the quality of the pine wood is deteriorating. Hard to sell wood to the Japanese if you have no J-grade. Some mills are hauling 50% more chips now than before due almost entirely because of the quality of the trees going through their mills. This is a big problem in the near future IMO and turning those logs to pulp is the only realistic solution. Pulp for paper isn't the long term answer... pulp for condiments is, especially in a fast growing market like Asia that is currently not very well served. I have a friend that is selling utensils made out of wood (spoons, forks, and knives) to the Asian market through Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in Asia, and his sales are growing faster than he can increase production... the market is there for the taking IMO and we have everything from location to the resources... we just don't seem to have the vision.
Time Will Tell