Time for Reality Check: Simpson
By 250 News
Cariboo North MLA Bob Simpson waits as Opinion250's Ben Meisner is set with a microphone in preparation for the cameras to start rolling for a special Shaw T.V. "The Daily" interview
Cariboo North M.L.A Bob Simpson, says it is time for a reality check on the way we are dealing with the mountain pine beetle crisis. The beetle problem is one issue, the changing climate is, in Simpsons words "The real big elephant thats in the room that nobody wants to discuss, and my recommendation to governnment, is that we need to call it what it is, its climate change, and our strategy has to be a climate change strategy, not a mountain pine beetle strategy."
In an interview with Opinion250's Ben Meisner, which will air on Shaw T.V.'s "The Daily" Simpson says in order to plan for the future, there needs to be a change in the way we think about the woods industry and that the survival of communities may hinge on the development of smaller mills to handle value added product rather than mega mills which can produce more but need fewer employees in order to do it.
Simpson says when the beetle kill harvest hits the wall,Prince George has a more diverse economy so it won't be hurt as badly as communities like Quesnel, Williams Lake and Vanderhoof. But the New Democrat predicts there will be other challenges to face around the same time the beetle battle is done. He predicts the whole lumber market will shift "There's wood coming from all kinds of sources that we have never competed with before" He points out that a recent study suggests China won't likely be one of B.C.'s customers, rather it will be a competitor in the North American dimension lumber market .
Simpson says it is easy to brand him as being negative, or a naysayer, but says there is little to be gained by sugar coating the realty "I think its fool hardy then to say lets not talk about it because we're afraid that it will chase people away and people will sell their houses, they already know. Let's reverse it, let's embrace it, I think true leadership is embracing whatever the challenge is and then getting people the creative energy to roll up their sleeves and go after it."
Simpson says necessity its the mother of invention, but that won't happen if we don't look at the worst case scenarios "The minute you allow people to start burying their head in the sand and say everything is going to be o.k. then as human beings we're not forced to get those creative juices flowing. So I don't think we do anybody a service by sugar coating this stuff."
The complete interview with Simpson will air this Saturday June 10th and Sunday June 11th at 9.p.m. on Shaw T.V.'s "The Daily" on channel 10.
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Posted by: Chadermando on June 5 2006 9:55 AM
Simpson is in government and thinks that government is there to design the economy. It's a seductive song, but the fact is people will not work for nothing, the purchasers will only buy what they want and investors have money because they are not stupid.
The "Bob's" will always have the "Great Leap Forward" plan, and some idiots that think it's good for others, will always vote for what this years "Bob" is singing.
The problem with the "Bob's" is they PREVENT real long term investment. Builder and investors have to have short term return on their efforts because every five years there is the socialist threat on the horizon.
The long trem investments in Alberta are taken for granted, but they have had a stable, non-socialist government policy that even endures through boom and bust, and has for a long time. BC has a greater range of economic potential, but lacks the long term stability with people still voting "Bob's" into government.