P.G. Hopes to Twin with Jiangmen China

Monday, June 21, 2010 10:25 PM

Prince George, B.C. – The City of Prince George is going to take a look at using the Shanghai World Expo as an opportunity to twin with the city of Jiangmen in the Pearl River Delta of China.

Initiatives Prince George will be attending the world expo with a view to marketing the opportunities presented by the Prince George Airport and the City of Prince George.

A proposal would see the Mayor and some Councillors join the IPG delegation at the end of the expo in Shanghai in mid September to make a side trip to Jiangmen.

Councillor Dave Wilbur says it is important there be a more detailed plan for the trip and there needs to be a followup plan as well, otherwise, he says, people will just view this as another junket which achieved nothing.

Funding for this initiative is provided through a provincial grant.

There will be some more detailed work done on the trip's "business" plan and that plan will be brought back to Council on July 5th. At that time, Council will decide who might be the best people to send to achieve the goals outlined in the plan.

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Posted on Monday, June 21, 2010 10:25 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: seamutt on June 21 2010 11:23 PM

Taxpayer funded fun trip. What a crock. SPEND THE MONEY FIXIN THE FRIGGEN POTHOLES!!!!!!

Posted by: Andyfreeze on June 22 2010 7:11 AM

I could not agree more seamutt!
An absolute mess,and getting worse by the day!
The roads are as bad as they have ever been,and yet the city does nothing!
This needs to become a major election issue at the very least!
Why do PG taxpayers put up with it?

Posted by: shesmiles on June 22 2010 8:14 AM

It looks to me like they are using a GRANT...this what these things are for. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on this one and hope that something comes of this trip...I really wish that there is some sort of countability on the spending of these trips...how many people are going because it doesn't take a lot to do this...two would likely be sufficient but if the whole lot of them are going then this will raise my eyebrows...we can only hope they will be responsible, mature adults and go there and do what is needed and be successful and FISCALLY responsible. That being said I must say...enough about the potholes! Put some more garbage cans around the city!!!! Sometimes they are almost impossible to find, its no wonder people chose to litter (BTW, I'm now one of them, I'm radically opposed to littering). MORE garbage cans in and around town please!!!! i.e. good jobe on university hill...but we need more! One at the bottom and n the middle and at the top on BOTH sides...

Posted by: yellow shovel on June 22 2010 8:16 AM

Ya ok....time for a holiday on our dime. Another globe trottin mission with no results!

Posted by: bustedbetty on June 22 2010 8:42 AM

I'd like to see something that shows me that these trips are definitely the right thing to do. Haven't to date. Nothing has ever come out of any of the many trips to Russia or China that have been taken in the past. IF they have, please tell me what they were.

Posted by: seamutt on June 22 2010 9:11 AM

A grant is taxpayer money, it does not grow on trees.

Posted by: gus on June 22 2010 12:03 PM

The same as with some of the other comments, my main concern is that we have seen nothing of any of the other trips. Some accountability needs to be there, grant or no grant. As was said, it is still taxpayer dollars. If people will not go, then the grant does not have to be as large. We save.

That being said, to some people these are not actually perks. Some people feel they spend too much time away from home already living out of suitcases.

How about an open public meeting after a trip with images, individual comments by people who went of what they saw, the opportunities that are there, what actions they feel should be taken as a result, etc.

Followed, of course, with adequte time for a question period or possibly a panel discussion with some others in the community who have been on similar trips for their organization that will actually benefit from closer ties.

As far as twinning with other cities.

What cities are we currently twinned with and what are the results of those twinnings? In other words, what has happened as a result of those twinnings that would not have happened otherwise.

Posted by: gus on June 22 2010 12:09 PM

This article gives some more background of what seems to be going on.

[url]
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Sister+city+agreements+have+long+history+their+success+attracting+business+trade+been+mixed/3179287/story.html[/url]

Note the response by Delta when they could not get a city to repsond:

"She said Delta will try again, but “then I think if we don’t get a good response in the next couple of months, we’ll probably give the [$50,000] back to the province and say, ‘Sorry, it didn’t work.’”

Posted by: gus on June 22 2010 12:10 PM

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Sister+city+agreements+have+long+history+their+success+attracting+business+trade+been+mixed/3179287/story.html

Posted by: gus on June 22 2010 12:16 PM

I do not know how accurate this list is. It shows Quesnel's sister/twin city, but I do not see Prince George on here. So, do we have any arrangements?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sister_cities_in_Canada#British_Columbia

Posted by: opinionated on June 22 2010 1:14 PM

Ok so here is my opinion..I think that the Mayor and three Councillors should definately go. I would suggest a First nations rep as well. As far as who goes it should be three that actually look at the whole picture of PG.It should be three that even look outside the box.
I think too many people especially on this site try to micro manage. I do not know other aspects of the trip than what is said here. There may be other reasons to include others but based on what I know this is just my opinion.

Posted by: Harbinger on June 22 2010 3:28 PM

Maybe when they go to China maybe they can ask the city fathers there how they placate their local residents when they start moaning and bitching about the state of their roads?

Posted by: Eagleone on June 22 2010 7:35 PM

Government waste.

Posted by: Palopu on June 22 2010 9:57 PM

Harbinger . The Chinese are no different than those at City Hall. No matter how much you bitch and com;plain they just ignore you and do what the hell they please.

These running dogs have no respect for the taxpayers of Prince George, and they live in a bloody dream world. The Councillors and Mayor are led around on a string by the City Managers, and the other Managers, and basically rubber stamp anything they want.

Such is life in the Civil Service. A bunch of overpaid, uderworked people, making life miserable for real workers and taxpayers.

We need to clean out the top brass at the City and start over. We also need some of the Councillors to get off their asses and start to look into some of the capital projects with a view to cancelling them, or reducing the cost of them.

Whats the chances of that happening. Nil, Zilch, Nadda,

Posted by: opinionated on June 22 2010 11:13 PM

Palou then move if in your opinion PG is such aa awful place to live. Personally I like it and am proud to live here.