Toronto Sending Six To China and Surprise, So Is Prince George

Monday, March 31, 2008 03:45 AM

If you add up the number of people Canada’s largest city is sending to the trade mission in China it is six. When you add up what you as a taxpayer are sending to China from Prince George, well surprise, it equals six.

Now the population of greater Toronto is about 5 million, the population of Prince George is 77,000 although we like to fudge the figures and tell you that we have 81,000

So considering those figures doesn’t it seem a little odd that a community of 77,000 would send the same number of people to attend a business conference, given that the gross product of greater Toronto for one day is larger than those same figures for PG for an entire year?

Bit of over kill,? Of course it is, and will the Prince Goegre contingent tell the Chinese that if they don’t tow the line we will cut trade or at the very least reduce it given their record in Tibet? They would I am sure be very disappointed with that prospect.

I may also have forgotten to mention (and many of you are already aware) that 49% of the population was not born in Toronto a good percentage of those people are from China which would suggest that there is a conduit there.

Instead of taking the 10 to 15 grand that we have spent for the past 8 trips and putting it to some good use we're off to China one more time. Those dollars could be used to getting all the communities to the south and north of here to put pressure on the province to twin highway 97. That would allow us to get some of that lower mainland money back instead of having it flow to the Okanagan because they have a great road system.

When the trip is over we will again be fed the same gobbly gook we were the last time when we went to Turin... it’s in the bank just watch it's coming…yes indeed, we have been watching.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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Posted on Monday, March 31, 2008 03:45 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: Resident on March 31 2008 7:22 AM

Yes Turin. Wonder what happened to the one lone Keyan skier who was touted as a prospect to train for the 2010 olympics in P.G? Then again I may have seen him practising on the moguls in the BCR site. (AKA Prince George pot holes). Maybe he decided not to come here because of the air quality.
Remember when election time rolls around it is time for a big change at city hall and not just a recycle of old bodies into new positions.

Posted by: Bridge on March 31 2008 10:29 AM

Maybe a Councilor would step foreword and reduce those numbers or eliminate the trip completely.

Unfortunatley the event is before November so there isnt much hope.

And Resident I sure hope that those that stayed home last election to watch Opra and drank whiskey will be able to get to the poles this November. Vote early and then you have the rest of the day off for your favorite pastime what ever that might be.

Cheers

Posted by: diplomat on March 31 2008 11:54 AM

"Instead of taking the 10 to 15 grand that we have spent for the past 8 trips and putting it to some good use..."

My guess is that if we total up the cost of the last 8 trips it would certainly amount to somewhere between 100 grand to 150 grand.

I think that this *expedition* shouldn't be called a *trade mission* but what it really is - an opportunity to travel for some privileged people at taxpayers' expense, to see the world, have a good time, meet some interesting people, promote our city to the Chinese and help them find it on a map once they have been made aware of the fact that we actually exist.

Be friendly, shake hands, smile...be ambassadors for P.G. and B.C.

That's all and it is not an altogether bad idea in my opinion. I am resigned to the reality that traveling the globe is a fringe benefit and that those who see it as an entitlement are going to make full use of it.

I just don't like to be told that it is an official trade mission and that verifiable commercial and trade benefits will accrue from it. That raises my expectations and in every case so far it has been a disappointment.

Posted by: owl on March 31 2008 1:02 PM

Guess what, some people travel to all sorts of exotic places as part of their business. There are tons in the travel business who do so, tons more in sales when their territory is more than just their local area.

Those who travel the world for their business on a regular basis, or even just Canada or even just Canada/USA typically become rather jaded. The same thing over and over again - taxi, airplane, taxi, hotel, restaurant, meeting, shaking hands, smiling, hotel, taxi, airplane, and eventually back home.

Then there are those that do not do it that much for their expertise and business, but may have opportunities which allow them to participate due to other circumstances. In those cases, it becomes a perk rather than a chore.

So, it looks to me like this is one of those grey areas.

Interestingly, there is someone in this region who has considerable experience in China who is now living here and is working to develop Chinese oriented tourism opportunities in this region.

So, who should go from here, if anyone? Someone from Tourism PG and/or the regional tourism office along with the individual who is trying to build that business.

Remember folks, its a job. The end goal is new business for this part of the world. So, success needs to be measured on that basis.

Posted by: lunarbase on March 31 2008 1:31 PM

I guess we are still waiting for the business part. This would be a total of what, something like 7 trips the Mayor has made to China and still not a single job added to PG. China is not a market that we can sell ourselves into. They will take what we have to offer, learn from it and make it better and cheaper and then market it to the world. When you have labour over in Canada costing $20-$30 an hour on the factory floor and the same person doing the same job over there gets $20 a week it is hard to compete.

What we should be doing is marketing PG as a data centre power house. We have cheap power ( could be cheaper but the liberals have screwed that up ) and an abundance of cooler air to help cool the heat generating data centres. The extra heat could easily be ran through a heat exchanger to heat buildings, etc. A little bit of work on this regards will see several high paying jobs added to PG in no time.

Posted by: Bridge on March 31 2008 3:21 PM

The end goal is new business for this part of the world. So, success needs to be measured on that basis.

I believe that diplomat answered the question. We have trade deligations around the world that provide interested parties with information that want to do business in Canada, BC or Prince george. So why should the tax payers who are already stressed to the limit send six people to China?

Hmmm this is stretching the imagination that a Mayor and his pal Mr Bates that represent a community of 77,000 people should recieve such a fringe benifit as a trip to China. But then the cup is half full.

Cheers

Posted by: Palopu on March 31 2008 4:26 PM

If Prince George has it right, then all Citys in Canada shud get on the Band Wagon. We could have 6 delegates from 2000 Citys all go to China at the same time and sell their local ideas. This would not generate any new business from China but it would be good for the Airline Industry, and Chinese Hotels.

Prince George is a prime example of how elected officials can waste tax dollars. We should go on the Rick Mercer show so that other Cities can see how stupid we are.

The Mayor recently announced April as Daffidil Month. Maybe he should have announced it as Daffy Duck month. This would be more in line with how we do things in this town.

Posted by: Harbinger on March 31 2008 5:28 PM

Like I said earlier, have some one plant a fictitious clerk at the airport and seripticiously change the mayors round trip ticket to a one way. He might not notice til it is time to come home. Then he can work his way home on an old tramp steamer. Just like in the movies. Maybe meet someone like Peter Lorre. Might take til November. Here's hoping.

Posted by: acrider54 on April 1 2008 3:44 PM

Citizens of Pr Geo should protest by blocking the doors at the airport preventing Kinsley and his holidaying buddies from entering the airport and jumping on the plane.