In other words a photo op....with empty pockets...

Funny thing is its the same photo op cut and paste from each of the last 6-years. Meanwhile project Vancouver moves ahead at warp spead. By the time we catch on he will have moved on to retirement IMO.

If we are part of the Gateway project then why was all the recent money announced by Harpers federal government for Gateway projects in Vancouver. $800 million if my memory is correct. I guess we would be gateway in name only and not in funding...

If we are a gateway for Canada then were is the funding for a proper ring road for PG, highway dollars in general, the airport expansion, or the basics like that. I think Gordon Campbell thinks we can be won over with a smile and some fancy talk, and I think he is right; at least in the case of our local MLA's anyways.

This sounds like the same message since the last UBCM meeting.

From my point of view it does not play well in PG anymore without some finances attached in one form or another.

We know the story; we know the potential; we know we are the backbone of the economy (well, maybe I don't really believe that anymore, but we are still a strong component of it) .... he is preaching to the wrong audience. He needs to tell this more to the south than the north, and he needs to tell that to the markets with some solid proposals ready to strike a few salient deals.

So, he needs to tell us

- what is being done to work on those things ... transportation infrastructure is being improved

- he needs to tell us what assistance is being given to secure markets on the other side of the pacific, how well that has been working and what additional challenges there will be and how will the province assist with that.

- he needs to remind us how trade with Asia has expanded over the last 10 years and he needs to tell us what a reasonable short term objective for further trade expansion, both ways, is and how we will achieve that expansion.

- he needs to tell us if there are supply problems we will encounter should we increase trade further, that we will no longer be able to supply traditional trading partners and whether we will get assistance with capacity building on that end.

- perhaps most important of all, he needs to tell us whether we will simply continue to be the suppliers of wood and refined metals and raw energy sources such as coal and LNG, or whether we will be increasing the value added component at a significant pace.

- and then he could also include in that "state of the northern economy" message who our competitors are going to be, whether we will have a reasonably good chance of competing with them, whether their governments are subsidizing some of their efforts, and how much our governments are going to support our industries in a similar fashion.

So, enough of the global visioning talks in this part of the province. Keep that for another audience who may not have heard it yet and can help make it happen and will be active players. It is time for a new speech. Tell us how the implementation of that vision is in the process of being played out, and how it will continue to be played out and at what pace it is expected to play out.

BTW .. when speaking about that value added component increasing, he needs to be very specific and tell us that he is ready to increase the infrastructure in this region to put in value added industrial developments by expanding land capacity to tie in with the northern part of the "gateway".

As several have said on here before, in order to have such manufacturing going on, one has to be close to the market. Well, if the market is going to be to the west of here, and the way to get there is via sea and air, then we are about as close as one can get if one considers ever increasing market potential and provide enough room for future growth, given the geographic constraints of the North.

In other words, we are not interested in feeding the raw materials via Vancouver to be processed further before being shipped. Add the value here and ship them out of the province and the country from here.

From the Premier's own words:

"We have to work hard, we have to go now, and we have to go aggressively."

Hopefully I, and some others here, are not being too aggressive whith statements such as I made. The province needs to be aggressive in the international market place, and we have to be just as aggressive in the provincial marketplace to strike the best deal for the people of this region and the people of this province who may wish to live in a region without 60 minute commutes and $250,000 450SF condos in Yaletown.

Yawn
Yawn
Yawn

I am bored with this guy, I think I`ll go and do something productive.

I know, I`ll shovel the driveway!

It seems like a lot of ta do about nothing.

(1) Vancouver Intl Airport will need a new $1 Billion terminal by 2015.
(2) A third runway worth *hundreds of millions of dollars by 2025

(3) Thats on top of an estimated $ 1Billion the aiport expects to spend over the next four years on the Canada Line, gate expansions to the international terminal, a new structure linking the domestic and international terminals and associated improvements.

(4) Airport improvements fees that have raised close to 600 Million since 1993 will remain a fact of life for the foreseable future.

Pacific Gateway.
600/800 Million from the Feds for specific improvements in the infrastructure for Ports in the greater Vancouver Area.

(1) $125 Million over five years in transportation infrastructure

(2) $20 Million for Canada Border Services for increases in traveller and container volumes, couriers shipments, air freight, commercial trucking and clearing goods.

(3) $10 MIllion for measures by the Standards council of Canada.

(4) $35 Million over five years to fund the secretariat for Canadas Pacific Gateway Council

(5) $400 Million will be dedicated to future initiatives to develop and exploit the Pacific Gateway.

Within the infrastructure envelope , Ministers also announced four specific projects that will receive federal funding beginning in 2006.

(a) The Pitt River Bridge and Mary Hill interchange
(b) Deltaport road/rail grade separations
(c) NorthPortal, Saskatchewan road/rail grade separation
(d) Intelligent transportation systems deployment

China is currently Canadas fourth largest export market. Total exports to China grew almost 90% from $3.5 Billion to $6.7 billion between 1995 and 2004. During the same period Canadas imports from China grew more than 400 percent,from $4.6 Billion to $24.1 Billion.

My point.
(1) The Vancouver Aiport is alive and well and spending money well into the future.

(2) The 400% increase in imports and the 90% increase in exports from China, were all handled through the Port of Vancouver between 1994 and 2005 with no economic impact on Prince Rupert, Prince George, Kamloops, in fact most people were not even aware that it was happening.

(3) The extension of the Prince George Airport with attendent additional business and jobs is at best based on crossed figures and wishful thinking. The **plan** is supposed to take place over the next 20 years so dont expect anything in the immediate future.

If Premier Campbell had anything at all **specific** to announce he would have done so. It sounds more like he was just making a speech.
There doesnt appear to be any specifics. Although there are a lot of specifics for the Greater Vancouver area. What does this tell us??

There may be 12 thousand apartment buildings in Shanghai that need new roofs, however if they are like the **Sports Centre on the hill** Im sure that the roof struts are Aluminum. I know for a fact that some of the buildings at UNBC have Aluminum Studs, so does the CN Building on first Avenue, plus who knows how many others.

There will be very little if any spin off for Prince George from the Container Terminal in Prince Rupert.

Government of Canada Pacific Gateway Strategy, states in part:::

**In 2003 the Port of Vancouver and Fraser Port handled close to 250,000 containers that were destined to or coming from the U.S. and this is predicted to grow to almost one million containers by 2020. In addition significant container traffic passing through the Port of Prince Rupert will likely be destined to or Originating from the US Midwest.** The key words here are to and from the US Midwest.

I think its time we got our heads out of the clouds and came back to earth. There is no big projects in the immediate future for this area, politicians are making vague references to various projects, but nothing specific.

Having 3 Provincial MLA's from this area makes it imperative that they at least give the impression that something is happening, however I fail to see what it is.

I think you mean galvanized steel studs and structural members.

Most commercial buildings of any reasonable size use that and have used that for as long as I can remember. There have been repeated attempts back east over the last 30+ years to switch to steel joists and studs in single family housing but has not caught on that much. Steel joist designed for residential construction to match wood stud sizes can easily span 24 to 28 feet so that a centre beam with teleposts is avoided. No squeaky floors either. But hey, who is interested in supporting the steel industry.

:-)

I saw one project during the summer on Shuswap Lake which was a row-house condo project on the waterfront with 1,400sf 2 to 3 storey units going for $700,000 or so.

They had started off with wood and converted to steel. Could not find out why. Could be a supply problem. Someone else told me it was a customer preference. In that case they may be European buyers.

PG should be tapping into Gateway funding for highway infrastrucutre funding towards a ring road IMO.

Who knows it could get us off the hook for the Cameron street bridge if we were smart about it.

I see he's flying around in a private jet! I thought they flew commercial? Sure as hell not Gordo, go in style on our dolar