Having someone from Prince George say they choose Prince George is pointless. It just proves you're willing to eat your own dog food.

Finding someone living in Victoria (one of the cities listed in the top ten best cities in Canada) say they wish they could live in Prince George because they like Prince George better would be far more ingenuous.

I'd wager if you were to ask the average person in Prince George if they could trade communities and live in Victoria at no cost, a lot of people would leap for joy at the chance. I doubt anyone in Victoria would take up an offer to trade communities and move to PG at no cost.

Heck, I know for a fact you can ask UNBC students if they wish they had gone to UVic instead and a lot of them say yes. Maybe you'll get an answer like, "Well, my grades weren't good enough." I doubt you can find too many in UVic who say they wish they had gone to UNBC.

Not so Pojeb_sa.

In the office I work in only 6 people out of 20 are actually from Prince George. The rest came from larger cities such as Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton, Winnipeg and even one from the states. They all came here for the lifestyle. No one could afford both a house and a cabin or motorhome in their hometowns but they can here. You live in PG for the lifestyle, the outdoors, and the affordable living. University students are hardly a good measure of anything, most of them are kids with no real concept of community or money. Waite until they have had a few years of trying to make it in the real world and ask them again. It's amazing how many young people leave, just to return a couple of years later.

Reposting for those who missed my original post.

THANK YOU Prince George!
We moved from Vancouver Island to Prince George to be active over the winter months (cross country skiing, snowshoeing, ice fishing & sledding) and to enjoy the bright blue, sunny skies. We were tired of the gray skies and continuous winter rains from November to May. Over the past two years we have learned the following about Prince George:
• Otway is an amazing cross country skiing area where you can be night skiing after work!
• Hart Highlands Ski Hill (where every child can learn to ski and snowboard very young and be home in time for bed)
• The huge Greenway Trail System behind UNBC, and the many city trails around PG
• We love the little community outdoor skating rinks, where families can teach their children to skate.
• The big skating oval.
• Six indoor skating surfaces.
• You have one of the few surviving Drive-in Theatres in BC.
• Two beautiful community pools.
• Northern Sports Centre - Wow…what a place!
• YMCA Facility - Need I say more…
• Innumerable outdoor sports fields.
• Snow removal, clearing out the mouth of your driveway (unheard of on the Island, and the Maritimes).
• The easy garbage container pickup system here, it was a drag lugging garbage cans to the curb.
• UNBC & CNC – Your kids can go to College and University and still live at home.
• CN Centre – (rock concerts that you can drive home after in 15 minutes, instead of getting a hotel and taking a ferry)
• BIG Airport – Direct flights to Mexico!!! Woo hoo!
• Four Directions of Travel – Standing at the crossroads of 97 & 16 deciding which direction for our next road trip. North, South, East or West.
• There are tonnes of Lakes, Trails and Hiking to explore.
• Wildlife in town for the viewing – Moose, Moose, Moose & Bears, Coyotes – very cool!
• You are the Hub of the North – everyone else comes here to shop for groceries, cars, sports equipment and entertainment.
• Great passenger trains that will take you to the Coast or all the way across Canada.
• Amazing Live Theatre.
• Nechako and Fraser - Two Rivers that meet and provide lively summer entertainment.
• A STABLE economy…many diverse industries that allow for lots of employment and growth.
• Affordable housing, wow you can buy your first starter apartment here, most were only rented where we were from.

And best of all, you are a young community with lots of babies, families, students and a bright future in front of you.
PS…about the air quality…we climbed the 5th highest mountain peak on Vancouver Island on a clear, sunny summer day only to view the pulp mill plumes from Powell River, Campbell River, Port Alberni and Nanaimo. Keep up the good work PGAIR & PACHA, for bringing attention, accountability and improvement, so we can continue to enjoy all the great things that Prince George has to offer. Have a great day!

"I doubt you can find too many in UVic who say they wish they had gone to UNBC."

Well, I know one. And I am only one person in PG. I am sure there must be others.

The student applied to the UNBC med prgrams, but was not accepted and offered a spot at UVic.

In addtion ot not getting the first choice, that is an indicator that UNBC had no spaces left and that UVic did. One could possibly extend that to suggest one is more popular than the other.
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"I doubt anyone in Victoria would take up an offer to trade communities and move to PG at no cost."

Another case I know of is a person who moved here because horses were a hobby. They (a relatively young couple) sold their place in Victoria and bought acreage here where they could raise horses.

Many people find a way to follow their lifestyle choices. To some, that does not include living in an urban environment.

It is because people make such choices that communities the size of PG have an untapped potential.

If Ottawa, Edmonton, Charlottetown, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, North Bay, etc. are livable Canadian cities from a weather point of view, then certainly PG is as well.

We are 36th out of 179 communities in Canada with the largest percentage of disposable income, and the 60th with the largest household income.

Victoria is 28th and 61st.
Repentigny (6) is 56th and 50th
Kingston (2)is 52nd and 69th.
Winnipeg (9)is 93rd and 70th
Fredericton (4)is 85th and 95th

Moncton (5) is 113th and 109th
Brandon (7) is 142nd and 104th
Levis (10) is 98th and 72nd

Burlington (3) is 15th and 16th
Ottawa (1) is 32nd and 36th.

So, if we were to sell this community, one group of people to sell it to would be to those who want to earn as much as possible and keep as much as possbile to spend, invest or save as they please.

We could identify that we are better in that aspect than 7 of those communities.

One just has to know how to use the information to market our community. Cost of living is certainly one of the big ones.

They do not measure the friendliness of the people, volunteerism, etc.

I know professional people who moved to the Okanagan only to return to Prince George again a short time later.

Poor water quality, shortage of water, traffic jams, air pollution from burning at the orchards and too many unfriendly people.

When it comes to how long it takes to buy a house, there are 7 on the list of the top 10 that are ahead of us. We are better than 3 on the list.

"time to buy a house" = average house cost/average household income.

When it comes to what percentage walk or bike to work, there are also 7 ahead of us and we are better than 3.

So what are the real killer?

Again ....

- Unemployment, which is really tied to the lack of diversification
- Culture, which is tied in part to the way this is defined as well as the people living here.
- Air quality which is tied to the amount of industry, its location, and the unwillingness of the province and the municipality to face the reality of that so that they can work with industry to do something about it.

We are working on it, but far too late and far too slow. During economic down times there is supposedly no money, during economic up times everyone is hoarding the money and no one has the time.

"This is the wrong time" is an excuse that simply does not work.

It is never the wrong time to invest in a community's well being!!!!

So, when we discover that we have a relatively higher percentage disposable income than almost 150 other communities and a higher average household income than about 120 other communities, why the hell are people so much against spending some more money on property taxes to make this a more livable city when we are about middle of the pack in the province for property tax levels?

Bunch of misers?!

Considering our population has either stagnated or gone down in the past 20-25 years, it would seem that PG is not a major destination for people.

I would guess if it weren't for the relatively high paying jobs at the local mills, many wouldn't be here.

164 out of 179

We are far closer to the end of the list. That to me is not something to be proud of. After the air quality affair that topped the headlines for weeks, it is no wonder. What is most disheartening is that not one word has been spoken about our air quality since. Swept under the table? Yes! The whole world knows we stink. Nothing is being done about it so we will be closer to last next year. We are getting a Cancer Clinic for a reason people.

I am cheered by the mostly positive comments posted here so far. I have always thought that, over all, P.G. is a pretty good place to live. We have always made a good living, and have been able to own the various properties we have lived on. Of course quality of life went up for me and my family years ago when we were able to move out of the city, so I may be a little biased. We don't get the kind of services enjoyed in the city like water, sewer, cable, high speed internet, and snow removal is unreliable, as is road repair and dust abatement. When I lived in town though, I thought P.G. was okay.
Municca, I don't believe that people would flock here if the pulp mill (and don't forget the refinery!!) odours were to go away, we are still far from big city culture and conveniances etc. No, people move here for employment, proximity to recreation, and affordable real estate.
Two awesome rivers right in town, loads of other rivers, and wonderful lakes in every direction, caves and mountain climbing fairly close by, eight hours away from the big city headaches, this city has a lot going for it. Naysayers can always move.
metalman.
It's not so bad.

Well Gus you have given us a good rundown on the positive side of our city. You just missed one point and that is “Pride of Place”. All people worry about is “Potholes” and “Survival” They miss the fact that our entire infrastructure is slowly eroding in the bowl area.

That our city is being mismanaged appears to be of no concern. The Mandarin at city hall are only concerned about more tax dollars to spend on their airy fairy dreams which comes under the pretense that the economy is most important when in fact they should be managing the affairs of our city.

With such an attitude how can you be #1.
Cheers

" Nothing is being done about it ...."

Not so! Canfor is doing 126 millions of dollars worth of environmental and odour control technical updates.

That is quite a bit more than nothing.

Next, the refinery and FMC and all other industry will have to be in the limelight.

Im here because of the lifestyle...Had the choice to move to lower mainland.. Access to the outdoors in this reigon.. You cant beat it.

I like pretty much everything about PG except UNBC sucks!!

UNBC sucks big time. Sucks federal and provincial dollars from the rest of the country and province and deposits it right here onto our doorsteps in PG.

Gotta love it!!!

Retail stores? Most sell products made elsewhere, so suck the money made at places like UNBC and sends it right back out of the community to China, Germany, Mexico, etc.

Luckily the government picks up some of that in the form of taxation and sends it right back to UNBC.

:-)

Boy, the genius who dreamt that up, eh!!

i heard taxi driving is a good job here

Right on gus... I'm not sure how anybody can be against UNBC. Of all the bad things you can say about PG, UNBC is not one of them.

Actually it is Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership that is doing the upgrades. No upgrades to the Canfor sawmills.

The primary upgrades the money is being spent on will increase the energy capture efficiency. These are "green" energy projects due to the requirements under the funding conditions. The money is federal money. There are some small side project that are being added in is my understanding.

The effect that any emission changes will have with respect to PM levels in the airshed is anyone's guess. Based on past changes, they will likely not be measurable when it comes to annual averages but might be measurable during episodic periods. it will take at least 5 years of ambient data to tell whether there are changes and what might have casued them. There are too many other variables to pinpoint the cause.

There are expected to be changes in the reduction to odour generated by sulphur compounds.

This is primarily a "green" energy project.

Here is the promotional presentation to Council

http://www.canforpulp.com/_resources/greenTransformation/20091130_PresentationtoPGCityCouncil.pdf

I moved here from California, taking a similar job to the one I had there but at a lower pay in a city with a much higher cost of living, but I never looked back. Now I have lived half my life here and I have no regrets. Two years of that latter half were spent in Victoria, an overrated town if I ever saw one.
For reasonable amenities and a good style of life, I'll take PG.

This is SummerSoul and this is just SummerSoul's opinion.