We may have to change our name from BC's Northern Capital, to the White Elephant Capital of Canada.

I thought Barkerville was the White Elephant Capital of British Columbia and South Armerton was the White Elephant Capital of Canada.

Perhaps Wallow-in-Negative-Comments Capital of Canada would be more descriptive?

But that is just on the blogs, both here and the Citizen.

That has been shown to be a standard for that medium. It cannot be shown to be an actual reflection of the thinking of the community in general.

It's generally the right wing yahoos flexing their muscles because Canada does not have the equivalent of FOX news.....

:-)

http://davidmaister.com/blog/255/Are-we-too-negative

from the above:
"Quite honestly, I’m getting a little depressed by my - our? - negative tone. My message in my writings has always meant to have an optimistic one: true professionalism wins, you can have high standards and still get rich, quality beats volume, trustworthy behavior leads to greater riches as well as personal self-worth, treat people with respect and they’ll repay you with their trust and loyalty.

But somehow I’ve drifted here on this blog, and so have many of you. Actually, it’s largely true of the blogosphere in general – more blogs are iconoclastic in the true sense of that word – ‘tearing down’ the powerful or prominent - and very proportionately fewer are about building up useful knowledge, ideas, tips, insights."

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Sound familiar????

You guys can defend the status quo all you want. You can and do always refer to anyone who disagrees with you as being negative. Rarely do people go beyond their keyboards (Gus is a exception in most cases) and look at the whole picture.

If you want to know what is negative, it is the persistant grovelling in front of Policticians etc;, without the balls to tell them when they are out of line.

Campbell can come to town and make all the fancy announcements he wants, and so can his buddy Colin Hansen, however this is politics pure and simple, and I am always amazed that people think otherwise.

Has no one noticed that there has been a huge spike in announcements in the last couple of months. Is this a coincidence, or is it the result of the HST Petition, and the fact that the results will be coming out on Aug 11th. The Government is doing everything in its power to win you over before the results come out. If they can get a uptick in the polls, then they will try and keep the HST, and still get elected.

Beware of Geeks bearing gifts.

Unless I missed it, Campbell made his announcements and left town without explaining the benefits of the HST as he said he would do through out Province.

Maybe he is coming back

Ive seen enough Politicians with hard hats and shovels in their hands this year to last me a life time. There is a hell of a lot more to Governing a Province than spending money on quasi useless projects, and photo ops, and taking trips to China, etc;

If you want to talk negative then lets look at this crap.

1. Increased gambling in the Province, and on line with a weekly limit of $9999.00

2. Carbon Tax

3 HST

4 Port Mann Bridge (((Toll Bridge)))


5 BC Rail sale ((Court case))

6 Attorney General fiasco

7. Transferring funds from ICBC (would have been rebates to good drivers) $750 Million to General Revenue.

8. Budget over run 1 1/2 Billion or more.

9 Spin off in Prince George from the Olympics. Duhhhhhhhh

10. Creating he BC Transmission Corp, and seven years later dismantling it and putting it back to BC Hydro. Cost according to the Government $9 Million according to the opposition $100 Million, either way a total waste of money.

11. Increase in Hydro Rates.

Why didnt the Government and the News Media let us know a week ahead of time that Campbell was coming to town??? Was he afraid that if people had time to organize he would have had a less than stellar visit???

Have a nice day.

White Elephant.

**A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable possesion of which its owner cannot dispose, and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth**

If you use your imagination Im sure that you could come up with a number of City Possesions that meet this criteria.

Would you rather have it that the politicians don't come here at all, don't decide in favour of building new infrastructure etc here? They can easily spend the money elsewhere (Kamloops, Kelowna, Penticton, Victoria, Nanaimo....) and make their announcement there!

And spend it they will, you can bet on it!

Then watch the negative chorus become even more shrill: They don't spend any money HERE, they never come here, we are totally ignored, why aren't we given the same funds as others...all hope ends at Hope!

No win situation.

I have yet to see perfect politicians and a perfect government anywhere in the world. It only exists in people's imagination and pipe dreams.

Of course it's good to be critical, but people have different views of things and different priorities. Usually it is the overall outcome which counts. What is one person's nightingale may very well be another person's owl.

Maybe those who have better ideas should run for election themselves so they can put them into action rather than only into I-told-you-so criticism?

How to please all of the people all of the time? Impossible.

What does the world look like PrinceGeorge, with your head stuck in the sand?

I am too shocked to speak - Palopu came up with his daily whiney list and it doesnt include the airport runway extension...

I apologize, that was a little catty - it is just a fine line between "accepting the status quo" and "absolute beatching about everything anybody does"
well, maybe thats not a fine line

Once again the point is missed.

I am talking about Photo Ops and dumb projects.

Since when do we start putting up plaques for people who build a bridge. What about those who build schools. ships, coal miners, loggers, etc; etc;/ .

Its all well and good to spend money on these projects, and give the politicians the glory, however it would be much better if it was spent on someting that would create long term employment. I would much sooner spend $100 Million on tree planting, paving, sewers, water, parks, lakes, etc; than on a Wood Innovation Building that will cost us an arm and a leg to maintain, and create a few jobs, for a few people in green v neck sweaters, waxing philosphically about the life and times of a pine beetle.

In this town BS rules supreme. The only reason, and I repeat the only reason, we are building a Community Energy System, is because there is $10 Million dollars available from the Feds for a green project, and the best we could come up with is this bloody project.

The only reason we are upgrading River Road is because the Feds have $3.5 Million available under the Pacific Gateway Program.

So my point is. Its not that we need these projects, or that they have any over all value. They are being built because the money is available. We of course have to come up with some matching funds, which means my taxes go up.

This money from the Province, and Feds should be made available to Municipalities without any strings attached, and it could then be spent on projects (infrastructure) that over the long term would be a boon to the City, and eventually reduce our taxes.

To force us to come up with hair brained projects that meets the criteria of the other levels of Government in order to get some money is insane. I dont know how this ever got started, but it would be great to see it stopped.

An overall reduction in taxes paid to all levels of Government would put a stop to it pretty bloody fast.

I had not understood the purpose of this article, but after a study it more deeply, I know now. http://www.superior-replica.com

The Provincial Government borrowed $1.9 Billion a few months back at 2.85% over 5 years. Is this the money they are promising to hand out over the coming year? $1.9 Billion folks. Or, was that to cover the Winter Olympics? Or, maybe just operating funds to weather the economic challenges we still have to face?

I see a lot of money spent during a time when we could least afford it. However, someone made money working on those projects. So, I guess borrowing at 2.85% is a small price to pay to showcase all that has been done for us in the north. And let's face it, we have received a lot of money and projects. Who can deny that?

lost it all: "What does the world look like PrinceGeorge, with your head stuck in the sand?"

Pretty good! Where did you stick your head?

Palopu: "The only reason, and I repeat the only reason, we are building a Community Energy System, is because there is $10 Million dollars available from the Feds for a green project, and the best we could come up with is this bloody project."

The official reason given is that the City will replace the use of carbon based non-renewable energy (to heat buildings)such as natural gas and heating oil with green energy heat derived from carbon neutral material such as wood waste.

Has that green initiative been replaced with something else in the meantime?

They also calculated the annual tonnage of fine particulates that would NOT be released into the air anymore - two tons was the number tossed around, quite a large amount.

I think when those who we have elected to the legislature start speaking in public about their “visions” , they sometimes forget that the public includes those who are quite aware of the matters those politicians have “visions” about.

The “wood Innovation centre” is a case in point. I, for instance, wonder:
1. Okay, I’ll play along, but where are they going with this?
2. Does this mean the existing organizations are not working effectively?
3. Or are they doing their work, but they need additional resources?
4. So if we become that additional resource, how will the responsibilities be re-distributed?
5. Where will the expertise be developed here?

The wood innovation centre has not been well articulated in public and, I suspect, also not in private. In my view there are too many competing interests. I think none could be more intrusive than the notion that the centre should go downtown. Then again, I may have a totally false impression of what that centre’s part in the big picture of wood products research and developing is “visioned” to be all about.

What has been becoming clearer in the public recently, and the Premier’s words are very telling, is that I am not the only one who is a bit fuzzy about what it is to be. It does, however, appear that the players are now assembled and are finally putting some meat on the skeleton of a “vision” that has been there.

I pray that those who are the ones that will be able to make a success of this new centre are not pulled into compromising what has a great potential to be another shot in the arm for Prince George in general and force it into a location that is picked for completely different purposes that this centre can serve in Prince George.

There are those out there who work in this area such as design engineers and architects, product developers, suppliers, marketers and builders. Most of those will already be aware of much of what is happening in this field. For the others, I thought I would share with you what Canada, BC and Quebec are already doing in the Wood Products research and development fields:

1. UBC’s Centre for Advanced Wood Processing http://cawp.ubc.ca – BC centred formal education and product research, often in conjunction with “Forintek”.

2. UBC’s Bachelor of Science in Wood Products Processing
http://www.forestry.ubc.ca/Students/Undergraduate/Prospective/DegreePrograms/tabid/59/Default.aspx/undergrad/prospective/STUDENTS/Undergraduate/Prospective/DegreePrograms/WoodProductsProcessing/tabid/463/Default.aspx

3. FPInnovations – http://www.fpinnovations.ca
This is a modern bundling under one organization of four key aspects of the fibre use part of forestry – forest operation (used to be FERIC); Wood Products (used to be Forintek); Pulp and Paper; Canada Wood Fibre Centre
The Forintek arm appears to be the important one in this case http://www.forintek.ca/public/eng/E1-about/0.about.html since it deals with wood product research that is geared to developing and testing new products or new uses for existing products.

4. Canada Wood Council http://www.cwc.ca the organization that promotes the use of wood, especially for innovative uses since most designers and builders are used to the traditional uses and construction methods.

All of those are already working in the areas talked about and each has played an important role in creating and promoting the use of some of the products that designers and builders now take for granted and use as part of their materials palette when they design a building.

So, what I am waiting to hear is exactly how this proposed new/additional facility will fit in with those existing organizations. We never hear anyone speak about those organizations when they speak about the “Wood Innovation Centre. It is almost as if they do not realize those organizations exist or that we are to think that this is a recent brain fart.

The topic is also not new on this site. It is almost 4 years old, if not older. Here are some past articles on Opinion 250 which deal with funding being given to some of those organizations.

1. From February 2006 –Money for wood research going to UBC not UNBC http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/1838

2. April 17, 2008 – money for research and forest products – http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/9060/3/premier+announces+dollars+for+reforestation+and+forestry+products

3. March 24, 2009 – plan on value added – http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/12395/3/plan+on+value+added+released?id=140&st=1629

4. From June 25, 2010 – money for research in wood products http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/16765/3/value+added+wood+products+get+funding+for+marketing

So the Premier said the Province is working on partnerships with the University, CNC, Emily Carr Art and Design and probably some other universities to create a critical mass.

These same organizations are already partnered in similar ventures across the country and especially in BC and Quebec. I wonder if anyone had asked them whether a new centre is required and, if so, where that should be. I would love to see a new centre here even if it is just a small component of that type of research and development consortium.

In fact, I wonder if we are actually going after the right part of the research and development. I think the FERIC, woodland based research and development as well as the ArboraNano arm would be more appropriate.
http://www.arboranano.ca

But we missed that last one. It has already been given to Quebec and they will get a brand new research oriented manufacturing plant out of it that will move towards value added products from the fibre that we are burning under the guise of “green energy” in these parts. Plant cost of over PQ$30 million. That would be BC$40 million. 
http://www.fpinnovations.ca/pdfs/BinderEn.pdf

The premier is quoted as saying: “It’s not a matter of saying it would be nice, it’s a matter of saying here’s the program, here’s how we will deliver it, here’s how we will fund it.” And that is what they are working on now. I think what we have been seeing so far is a cart before the horse process.
‘
The words I find a bit bewildering are: “It is a core part of our wood strategy in British Columbia.” It makes me wonder where they think all those other organizations fit in.

Be that as it may, let the folks who are going to “own” the centre and working in it decide where it fits the best. I feel the City fathers and mothers should keep their hands off and look for other better fits for this centre than the heart of the CBD.

Here is where the existing centres are, what they look like and the kind of facilities they contain. I think it will become relatively obvious that if the proposed centre here will be similar, with offices and heavy manufacturing research labs, that the CBD is not exactly a good fit.

On the other hand, such a facility would be an ideal fit as the seminal plant in an industrial research park such as the one in Quebec City in which one of the facilities linked is located. Let downtown be populated with more appropriate buildings and let this facility be built where it belongs to bring much more benefit to this city over the long term than it ever could in a CBD location.

The buildings and an example of a High Tech Park:
http://www.forintek.ca/public/eng/E1-about/0a.historic.html
The building at UBC and its case study in support of wood as a building material for such buildings:
http://www.forintek.ca/public/pdf/buildings/case_study_west.pdf
The building in Quebec City and its case study in support of wood as a building material for such buildings:
http://www.forintek.ca/public/pdf/buildings/case_study_east.pdf
The Quebec Metro High Tech Park http://www.parctechno.qc.ca/eng/interactive_map.asp

I think it is high time to give the City some direction. They say they want input into these things. I do not think they really mean that though. In reality they want to be left alone.

So, if it is to be an industrial research park, where should it go?

1. The UNBC grounds as it has been planned from its inception?

2. Boundary Road to the west overlooking the City?

3. A new greened-up PG Golf Course lands with the wood innovation centre at the intersection of the highways?

4. A progressive infill into the Queensway east dying industrial area with the Wood Innovation Centre at the entrance to the City from the east with a "greenway" Patricia Blvd parkway leading into the City, past the new creative economy industries of PG?

Some pictures from google earth.

The industrial park from the air.
http://i32.tinypic.com/aph10m.jpg

Forintek East from the street
http://i31.tinypic.com/vem334.jpg That is not concrete, that is wood allowed to turn grey which will allow it to last for 100+ years if there is air circulation behind.

Forintek East from the air
http://i32.tinypic.com/2ica9f4.jpg
You can see that they need yards for the materials, roof exhausts for the industrial fumes from the glues, paints, etc. and even space to have outdoor fires (notice the plumes to the right)

Forintek West
http://i28.tinypic.com/2073vgi.jpg
Similar layout with offices in the lower half and industrial labs in the upper half.

These are workspaces for doing real industrial applied research. I am thinking that is what we are talking about here, not some cyber research stuff that has to be tested and tweaked somewhere else.