IPG Committed to Advancing P.G. Economy

Friday, October 29, 2010 03:43 AM

by Tim McEwan, President and CEO of Initiatives Prince George

It’s pre-budget time once again, and Initiatives Prince George (IPG) recently appeared before the provincial Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services to outline our priorities. IPG’s submission builds on a broader meeting with Premier Gordon Campbell on one of his frequent visits to our great city last July.

Over the past two and a half years, IPG has developed a strategic vision for a Northern Decade of economic opportunity for the benefit of all British Columbians. For the forthcoming budget cycle there are three immediate priorities as the provincial government builds its budget for the 2010/11 fiscal year:

Wood Innovation and Design Centre and Associated Programming: In partnership to the greatest extent possible with the federal government, that the province provide capital and operational funding for the Wood Innovation and Design Centre, and that this include support for civil and mechanical engineering disciplines to provide substance to the new centre.

Highway 97 - Pine Pass Technical and Safety Improvement Completion: In partnership with the federal government, that the province expedite required safety and technical improvements to the Pine Pass to enable Prince George and Central BC supply and service businesses to compete for prospective business opportunities flowing from the construction of the Site C Clean Energy Project, ongoing gas industry development in the Peace region, and new inter-provincial opportunities flowing from the terms of the New West Partnership.

Prince George Airport Authority – Additional Infrastructure: In partnership with the federal government, that the province work with the Prince George Airport Authority to address additional infrastructure needs including: additional cargo apron; an additional ILS; hydrant fueling; and, additional ground support equipment.

Beyond these short term “asks”, IPG’s submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services outlines other broader program and policy considerations for thorough consideration in the preparation of the 2010/11 budget.

In this regard the submission speaks to the need for new, long-term funding streams to deal with the significant municipal infrastructure deficit that has accumulated; the enactment of clear legislation for community tourism marketing fund retention (especially now that Prince George has the new Tourism Prince George Society in place along with the Additional Hotel Room Tax); additional health care training in, for, and by the north (occupational, speech and physio-therapy); creative ways to support rural K-12 education in the context of declining overall enrollments; government office decentralization; Chinese investment fast-tracking; support for northern bio-energy cluster development; proceeding with the Harmonized Sales Tax on policy grounds; Open Skies policies to open up opportunities at the Prince George and other regional airports; and, expediting of harmonized federal and provincial environmental assessment processes.

Over the current decade, the IPG submission also recommends that BC continue open up the north in sharp partnership with the federal government and (where applicable) the other two partner provinces in the New West Partnership, Alberta and Saskatchewan. This includes completing the Cariboo Connector four-laning program in partnership with the federal government, but also, joint Federal – New West Partnership support for Fairview Container Port Phase II; Highway 16 twinning; and, support for leading edge communications infrastructure.

The opportunity for the Northern Transportation Corridor is to become the supply chain ‘route of choice’ as trade volumes increase. After all, the northern corridor is the shortest and greenest trade corridor between the two largest and most dynamic market economies in the world – United States and China.

Initiatives Prince George’s Board and senior staff – in full partnership with other agencies – aspire and resolve to build Prince George in full synergy with its vast service base in Northern British Columbia as a knowledge-based, resource economy connected to the world.

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Posted on Friday, October 29, 2010 03:43 AM in Views by Submitted Article

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Comments

Posted by: Municca on October 29 2010 8:19 AM

It would be nice if any or all of those projects actually did something for us other than costing millions of dollars. Has the money spent on the new airport runway actually returned any income yet?
Build it and they will come actually sounds stupid now, right?

Posted by: Retired on October 29 2010 9:47 AM

This is just great news all based on the tax payers dollar. What the hell happened to free enterprise. This is more a capitalists scheme to get taxpayer money. It is beyond their ability to go after the corporations and have them cough up some of their profit to make our province a better place to live. Shame on you.
Cheers

Posted by: Palopu on October 29 2010 10:14 PM

The real question is. Who the hell do IPG think they are????

Has anyone, anywhere, ever voted for these people. This is a prime example of taxation without representation.

We have four levels of Government to look after our interests, and spend our tax dollars. Federal, Provincial, Regional, and Municipal. We sure as hell dont need IPG to be sitting in an ivory tower, pretending to be representing the People of Prince George.

I beleive that the budget for IPG runs around $2.5 Million a year. IPG has served its purpose years ago (if it ever had one) and it should be discontinued asap. These guys are a total waste of taxpayers dollars. We need this money to reduce our garbage, water, and sewer, costs, and to improve our roads.

Posted by: Fuzzy on October 30 2010 9:33 AM

"Aspire" and "resolve" "knowledge-based" "greenest" "full synergy" I'll buy that for $500,000 a word.... anyone know what they promise to actually "do?"

Posted by: gus on October 31 2010 10:24 AM

Palopu writes: "The real question is. Who the hell do IPG think they are????"

As the saying goes, SSDD, right Palopu? Same song sheet you continue to sing from. You need to look for some new ones.

Here are a few other similar economic development offices in BC.

Terrace http://www.teda.ca

Kamloops http://www.venturekamloops.com/default.htm

Kelowna http://www.investkelowna.com

Prince Rupert http://www.predc.com

Nanaimo (the newest one created this year) http://www.nanaimo.ca/EN/main/departments/Economic-Development/NEDC.html

There are certainly some that are run as city departments as well. Either way, the capacity needs to be there to market a city these days, just the same as marketing a province and a country.

Here is the way one city in Canada markets itself with respect to qulity of life:

"You can drink the water from our lakes, breath our fresh air and leave your front door unlocked.

"You can enjoy our symphony orchestra at the largest performing arts centre in the North or hike through our old growth pine forests.

"You can raise your family in a safe, stimulating environment.

"But the real key to our quality of life is our ability to maintain low cost living. Firms can maintain their profit margins and employees can live comfortably on reasonable wage levels. Housing is affordable and a large portion of our health care costs are publicly funded. We have a varied selection of excellent public schools, and cost-effective colleges, plus one of Canada’s top ranked universities."

Sounds like it could be PG one of these days, right?