"Two companies with a "local presence"...and what exactly does that mean?
Are they local or not?

IDL and WIC are local, while Giffels is an international consortium.

although they may be local companies, they don't support the local community. The business they support arent local dont keep the money in the local economy, which is, very sad

IDL has done many projects for the local mills in town with employ many local people. They are currently locally working at the local airport to help in a new airstrip to bring more people to visit our local businesses.

WIC has done massive amounts of local work at our local University which is a large draw for local business.

Sad? I think not unitas77.

unitas.. have you been standing in the cold to long.. or are you one of our city councillors in disguise.. please get the facts before you allow your mouth and fingers engage..
WIC Projects.. university, the Treasure cove, numerious projects at all the pulpmills. Wic also does projects all over the province.. the new port in Rupert is a big one
IDL the airport expansion, the new gaming hall, the new brick. lots of commercial construction.
And both companies employee lots of local people both on in town and out of town work..

they also support the apprentiships for young people getting into the trades..

i also aplaud the School District for selecting local companies, but one suggstion.. lets use local building products.. ie. beetle kill pine..

Do they really support local union subcontractors, or do they have a history of hiring out of town non-union or worse yet company-union subcontractor companies?

Drive up the Hart and check out WIC head office...It has been there for years.

www.wicltd.com

surely everyone in this community has heard of them. Why the bloody dumb questions.....

Get constructive and go shovel some snow!!!!

Geez people- give your heads a shake. Do your homework before you start spouting off like you know everything about everything. Both WIC and IDL are locally owned and operated companies, owned by local people and between the 2 companies they literally employ hundreds of people locally (directly and indirectly). It is great to see local companies doing the construction in this city and using local trades. Unlike Rivers Point (The Brick) which was completed by a Vancouver based contractor with only a few local trades.
Unitas- where do you dream up your info?

I think the question that should have been asked is "Do we need this school when PGSS is so close and enrollment is declining?" Possibly DP Todd, PGSS and CHSS could have been expanded. We might have saved a few million dollars in doing so.

I was at the SportsPlex a couple of weeks ago, and counted 6 Plastic buckets strategically placed around the running track to catch water leaking from the roof. This was an obvious problem that you could see. Are there others that we cant see??

There is lots of problems with NSC. The University is about to spend $200,000 just to fix the sound system, plus there is issues with the control systems.
The leaking roof is covered under warranty, for now.

For what it's worth, I wonder if the roofs were completed by non union or union contractors?

1) it's $30M cost of construction; $37M total SD57 budget
2) WIC is > 30yrs old in Prince George and solo; IDL is < 3 yrs in Prince George and under control of Giffels from Toronto
3) WIC contributes and sponsors > $100K locally per year
4) WIC is ranked +/- 50th in construction contractor size; IDL is not ranked
5) We need new schools for new kids - not just new paint
any questions?

1) it's $30M cost of construction; $37M total SD57 budget
2) WIC is > 30yrs old in Prince George and solo; IDL is < 3 yrs in Prince George and under control of Giffels from Toronto
3) WIC contributes and sponsors > $100K locally per year
4) WIC is ranked +/- 50th in construction contractor size; IDL is not ranked
5) We need new schools for new kids - not just new paint
any questions?

Houle Electric has been in Prince George nearly 50 years and is now the largest contractor in Western Canada and always hires real union subcontractors when doing a job as the general contractor. They don't underbid jobs so they can get the job and then turn around and play the cost plus game for minor changes encouraged after they get the job (they also do very little work in PG anymore), and they never ever subsidize their costs by hiring out non-union and company union subcontractors. They also don't play the politics game around the triple P concept in order to get their projects, and insteed just build projects with guaranteed quality. Between BC and Alberta they employ over 3000 employees. in construction.

"although they may be local companies, they don't support the local community. The business they support arent local dont keep the money in the local economy, which is, very sad"

It is sad .... we can't buy glass from a local manufacturer, door hardware, toilets, toilet partitions, mirror , doors, flooring, ceramic tile, gypsum board, steel studs, structural steel, roofing, cement ......

well ... you get my drift ... at least 50% of the money spent on this sort of thing will go out of town no matter how hard one tries ....

"I was at the SportsPlex a couple of weeks ago, and counted 6 Plastic buckets strategically placed around the running track to catch water leaking from the roof. This was an obvious problem that you could see. Are there others that we cant see??"

One can see them .... the concrete is cracking like crazy inside the building .... far too much .... likely too much water used, too little steel mesh, possibly dried too fast, etc.

The Brick was not built by IDL, they only did some of the site work. Norson Construction (N. Vancouver) was the general contractor for Riviere de Pointe, local companies did the mechanical and electrical, the two largest non structure components of most buildings. I believe that Norson hired local carpenteres and labourers, not out of any sense of loyalty or support, but because it is cheaper. A least a lot of local pay cheques were generated by work at River Point.
I think the credit for the best point of the day has to go to Astro; Why indeed do we need another high school, if enrollment is declining at PGSS (is it?) It could be that the brains in charge of SD 57 are planning ahead to get rid of PGSS. Although they have spent a truck load of money there in the last five or six years upgrading mechanical and electrical, it is, after all, forty one years old (in Europe the building would still be 'new' at forty years old, lol) I don't really believe that the School district is intentionally supporting local contractors, there has to be more to that. They are so p.c. that the concept of favouritism would not be entertained,
i.m.h.o.
W.I.C. and I.D.L. are both good local companies, and they both buy local, maybe not everything is sourced locally, I don't know, but I bet the majority of their purchases are local.
metalman.

Western Industrial Contractors Ltd. is owned and operated out of Prince George, the owner of this firm also owns Farr Fabricating and Farr Installations Ltd. all three of these companies are signitory to various building trade unions. wic also operates sattelite offices in various parts of B.C. The owner is very hands on in the support of local communities for each office ie: Prince George office supports PG, Kitimat office supports Kitimat. The origins of this company date back 35 years locally.

Giffels Partnership Solutions is owned and Operated out of Toronto. Idl Projects is 50% owned out of PG and 50% owned by JV Drivers Group out of Edmonton.I believe that Idl is signatory to 115 operating engineers in some goofy wall to wall union deal. JV Drivers is a leader in the dvelopment of a clack union in Alberta.

Eagleone I do agree Houle is a large company with roots in PG. They support the local communities for which they work. I think this is a good practice to follow.

commonsense is right - he offers honest answers