This city never fails to amaze and puzzle me.
What in the world does a strong tie with Barkerville and China have to do with Prince George?
Are they trying to push barkerville out of the picture or just try and seee how much they can skim of the top, (so to speak).
Didn't we go through this with a previous mayor, who made many trips to China and I still don't see much to show for it.
If , and I say , If, it works , then maybe this trip will be worth it.

I'm asking because I don't know, but what does "twinning" a city actually do for us?
Also are we paying for 3 people to go to China or 3 people and there wife's and children to go to China?

I would hope it doesn't include family and /or friends.

There is no need for the local politicians to be going to China. We have business that has contacts with them. We have Provincial and Federal Governments who have contacts with them. Local Politicians are only remotely aware of what takes place in their own City let alone some City in the backwoods of China.

The business of the Mayor and Council is to look after the basic needs of the City of Prince George. They have no business on the world stage burning up taxpayers dollars.

Prince George suffers from a severe case of **Big Shottism** and has for some time.

Quesnel has twinned with a City in Japan years ago, and I do not see any difference.

So, what is the purpose of bringing up China and Barkerville in the same sentence. Really, understand history. The chinnese that ended up on this side of the ocean were used as expendable work force, and they all had to pay a head tax to get into the country. They were treated like slaves and had no civil rights. So why bring that up. I truly hope you embarass yourself, for not studying history.

I think they should pay half of the cost themselves. The 'delegation' would probably be reduced to less people.

I think the provincial Liberal Party that is paying for this trip should have combined this money with the money used to send the teachers to Vegas....and put that money towards services for our communities..like keeping rural schools open?? Or hiring more conservation officers to watch over our wildlife...OR...where the heck are their priorities anyway????

Let the vacations begin. Its summer time'
Cheers

Conservation officer to watch over our wildlife??????

Yeah right, we are gonna have one person following one bear, "yep #24529 is taking a crap, and it is in the bush, over"

You got a problem with stopping poaching?

I think we have to keep the "big picture" in mind.

Rightly or wrongly, the sister city development in Asia has been part of the program used by BC to further trade with that part of the world.

Here is a web site that will explain it within a larger context to those who might be unfamiliar with it.

http://www.gov.bc.ca/fortherecord/asia/as_economy.html?src=/economy/as_economy.html

Here is Richmond's site which gives some activities information of whre we could end up and also explains how long these processes take.

http://www.richmond.ca/discover/about/sistercity/about.htm

http://www.richmond.ca/__shared/assets/report0823624.pdf

I know one thing. Countries like Germany, Sweden, Danmark, Japan, etc. do not become and remain economically strong for their size by just producing world class products. Just like businesses, the get out there, participate, network, make themselves known to the rest of the world and they do so through a multi-source presence.

For those of you who do not understand that simple truth about world trade and participation in the world outside of the confines of the boundaries of this city, I cannot help you.

That being said, I am hoping that those we send out as envoys understand that and understand how to get to the end goal. Sometimes I have the feeling that is not the case as often as it should be. The fact that this city is not one of those that has a history of twinning by now tells me that we are not only late bloomers but that we really do not understand what it is all about and how to get to the end goal.

We have a lot to learn and I suspect those who know some of it may not even be sharing their knowledge!!

Here is a list of who other cities in BC are twinned with. Not all are shining examples, to be sure.

http://www.bcasiatwinnings.gov.bc.ca/docs/BC_Local_Government_Twinnings0709MM.pdf

Posted by: Jim13135 on July 20 2010 9:58 AM "I think the provincial Liberal Party that is paying for this trip..."

Gee, what a relief that the City is NOT paying for this! At least we as homeowner tax payers don't have to foot the bill!

Evidently its impossible to have a Video conferance .... does China not have the technology to achieve a video conferance call .... I know it exists here in PG ... I use a system all the time ...not including free web ones like Skype for instance ....

what a waste of fucking money .... I guess the city is out of the poorhouse again

It is impossible to share jiu over the phone. One still has to be in the same room together.

Just another chance for our city to waste money. Does anyone know that the 'new again' city hall lawn cost over 1 million dollars? What the hell? Is being on city council becoming a "make a friend rich" position?

Posted by Prince George: "Gee, what a relief that the City is NOT paying for this! At least we as homeowner tax payers don't have to foot the bill!"



So...where do you think the provincial government gets the money??? That's right from the taxpayers! ;-)

GUS>> boy you took the twinning idea hook line and sinker didn't ya? Our companies can become economically strong by producing a good quality product at an excellent price. Just like China, Tiawan, and Singapore have done to convince us to buy their products. The last time I checked none of their cities were sending delegations over here to twin our cities!!

"good quality product" - China? Good Quality? Most of the crap they make lasts less than a year if it's electronic, or made with caustic materials that will poison you or your pets. I wish Canada would stop dealing with the Chinese totally as far as trade goes. We are getting far too reliant on thier crap by opening huge box stores that can only compete by selling junk.

The Chinese are capable of producing whatever level of quality we want. If you want to pay for junk that's what you'll get. Like anything else you get what you pay for.

JIM >> I hate to burst your bubble … well .. actually not really .. LOL

Twin, sister, friendship and other types of agreements are not exactly new. They have been around for at least 100 years and probably even longer. As with everything, some work well, others do not.

This link actually refers to a twinning that goes back to 836 between Paderborn and Le Mans.
http://www.highland.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/1C07A195-EF04-454D-81B8-ADAEE15058FC/0/ICC9908.pdf

An example of twinning for cultural exchange and aid purposes, Maastricht (Netherlands) and El Rama (Nicaragua) share a common double objective: “Helping the development of El Rama and using Nicaraguan culture and global issues to increase awareness about Rama in Maastricht itself.”
http://crossroadsmag.eu/2007/06/a-tale-of-two-cities-the-twinning-between-maastricht-and-el-rama-nicaragua

You say China and other countries are not seeking sister cities. How do you explain these 13 Chinese cities seeking sister cities? http://www.sister-cities.org/seeking/SCS_Select_CommName.cfm

Here is an example of one of them, just to give you an idea of what they offer and what they are interested in. http://www.sister-cities.org/seeking/SCS_Display.cfm?zCityID=521

As far as Asian and other less developed countries coming to us to sell their wares, that is not really how it started. The relationship started with us going to them to outsource the manufacturing of products originally designed in Western countries.

Thus, as an example, one third of Nike shoes are manufactured in China. Most of the rest likely in other parts of the world rather than in the USA.

Here is the kind of service provided to anyone willing to set up a manufacturing contract in China. http://www.itimanufacturing.com

Mountain Equipment Co-op – shoes made in China under contract to MEC http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_listing.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302734037&bmUID=1279693055177

Mephisto, a high end French shoe manufacturer, go to the bottom of the page, MADE IN CHINA … $150 a pair …. Not exactly cheap …. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002GU6HBS/ref=asc_df_B002GU6HBS1182594?tag=the004-20&creative=395261&creativeASIN=B002GU6HBS&linkCode=asn

We are now in a situation where we need to sell some things to them! We have to market our resources … well not really … and our secondary manufacturing products to them.

If we are REALLY good, then we can develop a relatively equal partnership with a Chinese company and jointly enter into a manufacturing agreement such as Bombardier does to supply China with high end rapid transit rolling stock. Here is a news item on Bombardier and their relationship with Chinese manufacturing companies [url}http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Delegation-From-Peoples-Republic-China-Visits-Bombardier-Aerospaces-Toronto-Facility-TSX-BBD.A-1282091.htm[/url]

We do not have that level of relationship at the corporate level. CANFOR does in part, but miniscule to Bombardier’s capacity. Thus we have to work at a much different level of relationship building.

Can networking through sister city agreements help in paving the way to a better two way trade relationship. You bet!!! It is not a political partisan issue. It is a business issue.

Commercial alliances through cooperation among cities and their merchants is nothing new. On of the most famous ones is the Hanseatic League. It organized and controlled trade throughout northern Europe by winning commercial privileges and monopolies and by establishing trading bases overseas.

Those who understand such processes can establish smaller and more modern versions of the same kind of symbiotic economic relationships.

But, for those who are blinded by left and right wing politics ….. well, they are blinded and cannot see. :-)

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Delegation-From-Peoples-Republic-China-Visits-Bombardier-Aerospaces-Toronto-Facility-TSX-BBD.A-1282091.htm