Oh great. Another politician who is in denial about the effect of the lumber industry in PG. So we have a University, come Feb. they will be doing another round of layoffs as the number of students will be dropping again and now they will have to pay for the operating cost of the new sports centre and the loan to build it. So we have people leaving the workforce, typically they also leave town.

I think the last second to last paragraph of his interview sums it up correctly that people do not understand rural areas and I believe this guy is one of them.

"In my opinion, the NDP will make big gains in the lower mainland, it is the rural parts of this province that need the attention from our party."

The NDP always has been able to survive where the social industries are the strongest. Rural areas are where strong, independent, risk takers people live, so of course the NDP doesn't connect with those people. At least Bob has that right.

I think Simpson is another politician in denial about an issue that will really only start to show itself economically down the road.
And sooner than later.
These guy's are not going to admit to anything negative.
Way too sensitive an issue.Better to play dumb.

Never going to make it on the other side of the Legislature.

Just a bunch of pre election hype on the part of this simpson guy...sounds like Homer Simpson...D'oh!

I believe more baby boomers will actually stay in the workforce, now that the mandatory retirement ages have been eliminated and employers wish to retain skilled and knowledable people. In addition a great deal of babyboomers simply cannot afford to retire and enjoy a standard of living that they are accustomed to.

And, how has PG become a trading centre? OH wait, yes, we have the "bargain finder" etc.....and we have a university which is continiously downsizing due to decreased enrollment figures and funding. the fact that Victoria doesn't even seem to recognise the UNBC exists does not help either. Ask Mr. Geoff Plant.

The lowermainland has it's own economy seperate from the rural areas of BC. PG and most other communities within the rural area, have economies which are still dependant on the forest industry indirectly or directly. Buisnesses have clientelle who are forestry related companies....and many white collar businesses have clients who are in the forestry business. Not so for the LMD.

It's one reason why the gov. is pushing mining...in hopes that one resource based industry can step up and fill the void that the demise of another is creating. But it will take a few years!

I also spoke to a realtor the other day, and was advised that there has been a flood of new listings on the market with over 100 price reductions within the past week. This time of year in PG usually marks a busy real estate season, but the realtor felt things were slowing.....
A new home builder friend of mine is now selling off his lots that he was intending to build on because he now feels the market is starting to die.

A real estate market is always a good barometer of where the local economy is headed.

Bob Simpson is one of the more intelligent and honest politicans in Victoria. I would put more stock in his words than all the BC LIEberals combined. Too bad he was not picked as the leader of the NDP in the last election. I suspect that the NDP elected James as a weak sister, expecting Campbell to win again as his propaganda engine was far stronger than the actual truth, thus Mr. Simpson was saved for a more appropriate time. Replace James with Simpson and then wait and see what will happen. And no more whining from those who site the fast ferries as reason to shun the NDP. This Bill 29 fiasco is going to cost the taxpayer at least twice what the ferries did. The only people who do not make mistakes are those who do nothing, but the cost of the Lieberals will be in the billions after all the scandals and court cases are finished. Those who doubt Mr. Simpsons words should look at the facts and decide with their brains and not succumb to propaganda and missinformation for their truth.

I just read that 700 more HEU workers have been laid-off since the supreme court ruling. Despite the evidence they are in the wrong, the LIEberals are still going down the wrong path. How much more will these seven hundred workers going to cost the taxpayer to reinstate?

"From a few infected trees to 6 million in three or four years shows that we cannot control their spread".

Typical politician! It is untrue that there were only "a few infected trees" "three or four years" ago.

The beetles spread from a "few infected trees" to a massive infestation during the reign of the NDP and that was, as most people know very well, more than three or four years ago!

Let's try to stick to the facts, even if it is politically inconvenient.

Like it or not, PG is a trading centre. Ask where people who shop a Costco and WalMart on weekends come from and there will be some from Mackenzie, McBride, Vanderhoof, Fort St. James, Fraser Lake, Burns Lake at the least. Then there are the other retail outlets.

With business goods and services we will find the same thing. The radius is at least as far as that and even farther to the west in some cases. In some cases where there is enough business, PG would be the centre of several other smaller outlets, or the regional centre of a provincial or nation-wide business.

People from the first trading circle will typically fly from PG to elsewhere.

PG will also be a benefactor of mining exploration for the same reason. We really do not care where the mine exploration will be or where a mine may eventually go as long as it is within the radius of that first trading radius. While Ft. St. James may see a direct influence with exploration by increase overnight stays and increase in associated restaurant and other service uses, which will give it a considerable boost, it will be a minor blip in PG and no blip in McBride.

Thus the surrounding communities will only feel the results of mining investments if it is in their area, while PG will feel them no matter where in the immediate vicinity it is.

So, Simpson is right in that we will likely be impacted less than some communities. However, the total draw down of the forest related jobs in the outlying communities will have a proportional impact on PG. We are not part of the “direct” jobs within those communities, but we are part of that other 200% or so spin off jibs created by those direct jobs. On top of that, we have our own direct jobs in the same industry which will likely be impacted in much the same way.

Where we differ in a big way is that we likely have a much better chance of diversifying our economy. We already have other opportunities we can lean on which true single industry towns cannot do. The question, of course, is what are we doing about that push to diversify? So far it looks like very little other than mining and providing improved capacity in the goods transportation industry.
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Aging population. While the population is aging, we still have a relatively young age profile compared to other communities in BC. Percentage of population wise there are fewer baby boomers in PG than there are in virtually every city to the south of us for a number of reasons including that we have a younger work force moving in here during the boom years and we have a large number of retirees moving elsewhere. Some of those may now stay since it may be too expensive to move south in the Province, so the only place may be trailer havens in such places as Arizona, Texas, etc. although states like Texas still have very affordable housing prices.

So, the theory is that there will be less jobs but also less people to fill the jobs, thus having the possibility of low unemployment rates. The thing Simpson forgets is that the average income is going to go down and look more like some of the southern BC communities. People will have to change lifestyles.

Statements such as “the aging population will mean that a large number of baby boomers will leave the work force and that will make this city safe from the effects of the down turn in the lumber industry” are oversimplified to such an extreme that they are essentially BS.

There is where I am having the problem. Simpson is smarter than that statement. So, I will have to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that it really needs some explanation before it can possibly make sense.

"So, Simpson is right in that we will likely be impacted less than some communities."

BTW, as far as I am aware, this is not his original thinking, this is "thinking" done by economists and is the basis on which the current party in power works from as well. He is simply relaying what is a multi-partisan message. So, it would be helpful to kee politics out of it. This is a problem which transcends politics, other than the notion of whover is in charge needs to get off their butts and needs to be seen to be getting off their butts.

Yeah I agree owl. No offense but all this political lingo makes me want to go chew on the trees that the beetles left behind.....which wouldn't take me long. We need more starving woodpeckers, colder winters and/or a good forest fire and because none of this is logical....... yeah they need to get off their butts ;)

I agree owl, but only to a certain extent. I don't feel that mining can come online fast enough to offset the economic impact that the decline in forestry will have in local economies. Additionally, I don't think PG is a trading centre as you put it...trading involves importing and exporting of goods and although PG may be a retail sales centre for a lot of smaller outlying communities, It isnt diversified enough to be classified as a trading centre since PG major ( and only big money generating export) is lumber. (which is or has lost it's value). And I think that once the economy cycles downwards again, these outlying communities might cut back coming to our town to buy.

"trading involves importing and exporting of goods"

It does, no doubt. But it also involves the importing and exporting of services. Services are much more important in the world economy than goods.

You are talking about primary goods, which typically deals with natural resources such as the products of mining, forestry, agriculture, fishing, etc.

Look at mining, forestry, agriculture and fishing communities throughout the world. Do they comprise the major cities? Not one single one. Many, if not most major cities in the world started off hundreds and even thousands of years ago due to primary industries. Then they progressed to secondary industries of manufacturing, and tertiary industries of service. Some even skipped a step and moved from primary to tertiary. That is the case with most coastal tourist communities which typically moved from communities dependent on fishing to communities catering to tourists. The Costa Brava and Costa del Sol as well as the Canary Islands in Spain are prime examples of that.

The university and college is a service industry which provides services to people not only here, but also from other areas. We are “exporting” services. It is actually a great export of such services since there is not only a money transaction for fees moving into town that generates employment in town, but the students physically move here, live here, and often bring money from earned in other parts of the world to this community to pay for rent and food and other services. In fact, those are all services – rental accommodation, grocery and other retail stores, entertainment, video rentals, etc.

The other aspect which people often forget about, and the UNBC and CNC provide excellent examples of that as well, is the loss of opportunity. If we did not have such facilities here, we would have hundreds and even thousands of young people relocating for a time to another community to get that service. There is a double whammy there. If they moved, we would not only not benefit from the money staying here for the tuition which generates jobs, but we would loose the money to other communities for not only tuition, but all those other costs. Thus, rental services, retailers and entertainment facilities would suffer. The money made by people working in primary industries would be going to other communities.

Every dollar brought here by a business or a leisure traveller are tourist dollars going into local service industries. Every business and leisure traveller who leaves here to go elsewhere takes local dollars with them and buys services outside of this city. Follow those dollars and you will see that we are doing service trade world wide, both ways.

The trick is to increase the services we provide here to outsiders and decrease the services we buy elsewhere. That trade, I believe, is very one sided against our interests. We provide commodities, they provide services. That equation has naturally been changing and we have to keep plugging away to improve that.

We are talking about prince george, not the places you mention, owl. ANyways, UNBC and CNC were here during the last downward cycle of the economy and had no real impact on staving off the economic downturn in my opinion at any rate.

A trade center is still primarily based upon goods (not services) imported and exported. That is why vancouver's or the lower mainland's economy is strong. Any services existing are support services.

And the cities you speak of that were successful hundreds of years ago prior to the industrial revolution were based upon the trade industry in which smaller sattelite communities brought their goods to town. (england for ex.)