Maybe the Teamsters should start "organizing" Initiatives Prince George. But then again, with their wages, why pay union dues, eh?

What is IPG`s mandate? should he be doing this?

Ipg wouldnt know a Rail Strike from a whoopy cushion.

If they were so concerned about the CN having a monopoly here, why did they and Colin Kinsely support the sale of BC Rail. If BC Rail was still here shippers could still load to Vancouver and the USA by routing traffic South. However not anymore. CN is the only game in town.

I doubt if there are any Customer relationships between shippers and CN Rail. Most shippers are not happy with the present rail service.

In any event it is **moot** because firstly the CN would actually have to go on strike. Secondly the CN Management would continue to run the Railway with Management personel, like they did the last time, and thirdly if there was serious disruption the Government would order them back to work.

Railways and Unions have had many strikes over the years, and they managed without any input from IPG. Im sure they can again.

So you're allowed to have your opinion but IPG isn't?

Disparage any opinion. It's a free country. Right now, anyway.

.....and the city of Prince George taxpayers pay Timmies wages? Just another political hack at the trough.

Exactly... IPG mandate, if it has one, should be purely in the realm of facilitating economic development... not trying to manage the economy with a political angle to all their announcements. They have no part to make political announcements in private matters. If the politicians want to speak up, or IPG staff would like to as private individuals, then that is their prerogative.

I think at the cost of $20+ million over the last decade the city of PG got little to no real value out of IPG.

PG got a (property) tax payer funded group that spear headed the privatization of BC Rail (a completely corrupted process), which led to the collapse of Mackenzie (rail car shortage in a just in time business)... we got an organization pushing downtown properties to the cities (home owner) tax payer... we got subsidized call centers and foreign airlines... and we got not one single tangible industrial success from their efforts of any significance worth noting.

What we have is people advising how to spend tax payer dollars, and advising how our economy should be managed according to insider politics... with little to no real accountability by the tax payers that fund this organization. Its like privatized government safe from freedom of information requests and real stakeholder transparency... a hidden layer of bureaucracy that PG does not need IMO.

Where is the accountability for their (IPG) support of the privatization of BC Rail now that the true purpose of having BC Rail has come to haunt both the union workers of CN, and the economy of Northern BC?

.....

IPG already showed they work with the agenda of monopoly capitalists, and oppose free enterprise through their BC Rail gift to CN Rail. This situation is a result of the ideology that has come out in political announcements from this organization.

One thing that burns me about the BC Rail deal is the $2 Billion dollars in paper loses the government of BC created on BC Rails books for tax purposes as part of the sale of BC Rail... so that CN could use these tax write offs against their profits to stiff Canadian tax payers for the equivalent amount that CN supposedly paid for BC Rail.... we gave it to them for free... a strategic asset critical to the viable sustainability of the northern transportation corridors... basically treason against our economy and for 999-years committed by ideology all on the take of our tax dollars... and IPG supported the sale of BC Rail as its biggest cheer leader despite the protests and public will against it.

This is what the City of PG tax payers pay for to the tune of $20+ million a decade.

Thanks for these excellent, insightful comments about what has happened to BC Rail.

I'm going to post some of them on my blog which is focused entirely on what happened to cause BCRail to slide from public ownership into private pockets headquartered in Texas. With many details still kept secret.

The BC Rail Political Corruption Trial (now in its 5th year) is giving off a nasty stench in Vancouver Supreme Court ... even a child could detect that there's something very rotten going on.

Loyal citizens are sitting in the public gallery of Courtroom #54 and my blog keeps track of what they, and others, see and hear. We figure it's the least we can do, to keep hope alive for someday bringing BC Rail back into public ownership where it belongs.

The Legislature Raids
http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/

Here's a comment coming back to EagleOne:

cfvua has left a new comment on your post ""BC Rail.... we gave it to them for free ...":

Wow. EagleOne hits the nail right on the head. The Economic Development wizards of the world are so controlled by funders in Victoria that they can only trumpet the tune dictated by Camp Campbell.

WHO didn't (beside them) know that this giveaway couldn't put northerners at the mercy of CN. Witness CN boxing BC RAil in at Dawson Creek by saying their bridges were unsafe(Were they really?)

How much extra does it cost northern residents to get rail freight to the NOrtheast when it can't come direct and goes about 800 kms further via Prince George?

What industries are not being pursued because of inadequate rail service? And how many of the 200 people being laid off are BC residents? How will it improve safety?

Will additional revenues accrue to the Province (oops forget it). None will any more.

The only thing left to do is to punt Campbell and take it back. Buy all the land back and blame Campbell as being the worst premier ever to pillage a province in Canada.