Taking advice from Campbell to "think outside the box" when he has his head in a cloud?

CAMPBELL THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX....NOT.

THE PG AIRPORT AUTHORITY IS THINKING WELL OUTSIDE THE BOX. WHERE'S THE 11 MILLION MR. CAMPBELL? LOTS OF DEVELOPEMENT IS WAITING FOR OUR AIRPORT EXPANSION PROJECT.

Interesting polititcal spin.Campbell is simply downloading any responsibility on the government's part to deal with the bug kill situation throughout the northern interior and the cariboo.No suprise there.And if anyone thinks all will be well within the forest industry in 8 or 10 years,or less,they had better think again.This entire region will be devastated.Smaller,out of the way sawmills will not survive and communities will suffer and die.Jobs will be scarce.They have been downplaying that fact until now.They can't hide it anymore.That's why Campbell is now so gung-ho on mining even if it is not done in an eviromentally safe manner.(can you say Duncan Lake?)He knows how long it takes to grow a tree and he knows the government dropped the ball on the Pine Beetle devastation away back.If anyone doubts that,they need to go for a drive and see for themselves just how bad it is.Drive through Wells Gray Park or to Bowron Lakes.Or to Vanderhoof,Kenny Dam, or Fort St.James etc.It will scare the hell out of you.
Campbell has no interest in the north.If you don't live on the lower mainland somewhere,you are to be tolerated and ignored.This guy is a disgrace and it's time his party ate him if they are to survive.He is an insult to the taxpayers of B.C.and he and his government will have destroyed the northern B.C. economy by the time they are done with Olympic cost overruns and mega projects that only benefit the lower mainlandand.We will get nothing for our tax dollars other than tidbits.
Today is budget day.Guess where our tax dollars will be spent? If there is any left after bailing out the Olympics.

Can't think "outside the box" because we won't have enough wood soon to build the friggin box. Campbell has been spilling the same old line that numerous politicians spout every time there is a problem in the industry. Unfortunately, these donuts don't have the where with all as gov't too try and direct these changes. I have heard that tired line about "we can’t continue to think that we are going to make a living producing 2x4s and plywood" from so many politicians over the past 20 years and to date little effort has been made to change that mindset. Ah, if wishes were horses...

"...and he knows the government dropped the ball on the Pine Beetle devastation away back."

Yes. It was dropped by Campbell's predecessors.

Thinking outside the box. A cliche that is kinda getting dog eared. The box to some business men means , "the box as in the province of B.C.". By that I mean trucking yer business off to Alberta for better tax breaks, lower fuel costs and such. Dave Zirnheldt was the "quarterback" with the "beetle ball". He dropped it. He didn't want to log Tweedsmuir Park. Ah, principles. Ain't they nice?

Not much research and development needed to cut down trees. And selling just plain logs. So where does B.C.s R&D money go? Dunno. You tell me. Not up in these parts, that's fer sure.

Lots of complaining and blaming the Government going on here, however I think that Campbell was asking people to come up with some ideas to get and maintain some employment in this area. So far I havent heard any suggestions from anyone on how to create some jobs.

Mostly all you hear is crying and complaining and blame the Government. Lets get some ideas. Surely with all the brain power available in this area we can come up with something.

Problem is most projects in the area are funded by Government and Taxpayers and actual real live entreprenaurs are few and far between.

Its time to quit whining about the 11 Million from the BC Government for this **stupid** airport expansion, because if you would think for a moment the BC Government already gave them $4 Million for the Terminal Expansion. The Federal Government has foregiven another $4 Million in debt, and the 11 Million loan that came from the Northern Trust Initiative is money that came from the BC Government, so the loan is effect is from the BC Government, and the interest will be paid by people who fly out of Prince George and pay the Airport Improvement Fee.

So in effect we already have 14 Million from the BC Government, and 11 Million from the Federal Government, and we want another 11 Million from the Province.

What we dont have is a business plan from the Airport Authority, nor any money from the Airport Authority. All they have done since they have been established is to solicit money from various levels of Government.

Hope everyone is following the softwood agreement situation. USA very unhappy with provincial governments bailing out forestry. That was their whole argument - we are subsidizing the industry.

You have got to be kidding?

The is the second time this rascal has tried to throw the ball back in our court.

I would think that some of the old timers are starting to scratch their heads.

Mr. Williston would probably suggest something that is not physically possible and would not help the situation.

I suspect Campbell has changed the program and is telling us to get with it.

He has opened the door for the Central Interior to tell it like it is.

Although I hate to do this we better start making suggestions "again" and hold the old fart to task.

I am with palopu on this one. We need to tell the south what we want. Clearly we lack imagination in this regard. Lets face it guys, the BC govt cant tell us what we want and they dont know what we need. They are clueless about us. We need to figure out how to improve our lot, other than twinning bridges (to solve our rediculously small traffic problem) and paving all the back roads in the north. The money is there fro projects up here if we devise them, pitch them and them convince the govt. of the political benefits as well.
Myself i have little imagination and i suspect insufficient wit to figure out any solutions to our loming problems. However, even i know better than to expect the provincial govt, elcted and based in the lowere mainland to guide us.

Thinking outside the box any more than I already have requires Northern BC to become its own independent province so we can allocate our own resource taxes to ensuring we have a future economy in this region for future generations.

One example I can think of is the $350 million dollar over run now running at $800 million for a project originally projected to cost $800 million, but we were told it would only cost $450 million when Campbell announced it only 3 years ago. It went to $650 million last year, and now we are back to the original $800 million. It makes fast ferries look like pocket change this project alone. Where is the $11 million required for the airport expansion in PG where all the taxes are coming from? VANOC is in the billions now with our tax dollars for their two week party.

This is how Campbell advertises his convention centre....
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The Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre is expanding...

...and the Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project Ltd., a company wholly owned by the Province of British Columbia, is responsible for building it!!

IMO access to land is the number one thing that holds back development in Northern BC. If a large forest company doesn't own the land, then it was sold to foreigners who hold it as an insurance policy and have no intention of developing it.

Our government has a policy that you can not buy crown land unless you are an existing farm owner that has at a minimum of a 100 acres of farm land within 10 km of the crown land you wish to purchase. This tells me that unless you are an existing farmer with 100+ acres of land, a multinational corporation, or a foreign investor than you are not allowed to invest in Northern BC.

I talked to Dave Buyer of the Integrated Land Management Bureau and he told me that in his 30 years in his position he has never once approved of a land sale for tourism related purposes because those types of land use do not generate enough tax revenues. He says the only way he will sell crown land for tourism projects is if the project can show that it is guaranteed a 20% Return on Investment from year one on out.

The BC governments own internal reports list eco-tourism as the number one opportunity for Northern BC over the next ten years for generating employment.

If you look anywhere else in the province tourism land use is very common and in fact is the sole economic driver in some very prosperous regions of this province. I can not see that ever happening in Northern BC under current government policy, nor can I see any growth in agriculture under the existing rules that exempt land acquisitions for local residents that wish to diversify.

"20% Return on Investment" ... ????

Get the land for next to nothing, put up tents, cook on pellet barbques, dig latrines, etc ... and at $300 per day per person for experiencing the outdoors (eco tourism), it should be easy to generate that much return on investment.

Put up a $20+ million dollar log building, hire European chefs, build boat docks, pools, tennis courts, stables for horses, helipad, operate heli hiking tours, etc. .. and you are in deep chit.

How is the log house doing these days? How about Terracana? I notice they have a nice new web site.

[url]http://www.terracana.com/[url]

Campbell is an idiot. Throwing the problem into the North's lap when by god it has been forestry that has driven the province's economy for decades. I say..cancell the olympics it'll only put the province into hock for 30 yrs ( didnt montreal just finish paying off their olympic debt?)and use the money to at least try to develop a northern economy not so dependant on forestry.....

We will never see the true cost of the Olympics as long as the Liberals are in power because they will make sure we don't.But we WILL notice that it will become increasingly harder to secure funds for anything in the future.About the only thing that IS a given here is yes,Campbell IS an idiot.Unfortunately it is also highly unlikely anyone will unseat them anytime soon to get a good look at the books.